Showing posts with label Nov 5. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nov 5. Show all posts

Monday, October 24, 2011

‘Anonymous’ vows to ‘destroy’ Fox News website on Nov. 5th

By Stephen C. Webster - RAW Story
Monday, October 24, 2011
 
 
In a video statement carried recently by several official channels maintained by members of the hacker activist group “Anonymous,” a digitally generated voice explains that the online collective has decided to take down the Fox News website on Nov. 5th of this year.

The date, Nov. 5, is significant for its dramatic placement in the comic book V for Vendetta, about a freedom-loving terrorist who destroys an authoritarian government that’s come to power in the U.K. “Remember, remember the 5th of November,” is his saying, hearkening back to the “Gunpowder plot” of 1604, in which Guy Fawkes was captured and executed for his attempt to blow up Parliament.

The mask used by the Guy Fawkes character in V for Vendetta has also become a ubiquitous symbol for “Anonymous.”

To mark this 5th of November, the latest “Anonymous” video points to the network’s “continued propaganda against the occupations” as reason for vowing to “destroy the Fox News website.”

“Since they will not stop ridiculing the occupiers, we will simply shut them down,” the digitized voice explains, adding that an Anonymous-driven “propaganda campaign” against Fox News would follow.

“Fox News, your time has come,” it concludes. “Operation Fox Hunt. November 5th. May the hunt begin.”

Another ongoing “operation,” called “Operation Cashback,” is encouraging people to move their money from large banks to local credit unions.

A number of prior “Anonymous” operations have not generated the desired results, although the group has claimed quite a few stunning successes over the last year. Still, some other advertised “operations” have been fakes that never materialized at all.

Because of the nature of the group — whereas literally anyone could be “Anonymous” — it’s irresponsible to say whether this “Operation Fox Hunt” might even happen. And while “Operation Fox Hunt” does seem to fall in-line with many of the group’s stated political objectives in the past, the video also seems to exhibit a lower production value than prior legitimate “Anonymous” releases.

Still, for a group that’s wrecked shop everywhere from the Iranian and Tunisian governments to U.S. defense contractors Booz Allen Hamilton and HBGary, it’s also fair to say that anything’s possible.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

‘Bank Transfer Day’ Causes Credit Union Buzz


by Jim Rubenstein 
 
Even with most credit unions closed for Columbus Day there was plenty of online buzz, and uncertainty, about what the credit union industry role might be on “Bank Transfer Day,” the latest event surfacing from the “Occupy Wall Street” protests.

Industry sources, speaking off the record, suggested any wholesale switch from large banks to CUs on Nov. 5, the day designated by one Californian and carried atwitter Monday, could conceivably put net worth ratios out of whack.

The balance sheet problem was raised by several industry officials as a potential hazard as online articles focused on what “Occupy” supporters are calling now for a specific action to underscore their complaints against big banks and corporate “greed.”

For the record, Mark Wolff, CUNA senior vice president-communications, said only that the trade group welcomes the idea of “a viral 'Bank Transfer Day'” since it shows “just how angry consumers are becoming with their treatment by big banks” and will now look at CUs.

CUNA said its Facebook posts have already witnessed big jumps in traffic on www.asmarterhoice.org. There also have been big gains on www.findacreditunion.org.

Many consumers, said CUNA, are already “discovering” credit unions online and “many more no doubt will as a result of this Bank Transfer Day initiative.”

Wire service reports Monday identified the ringleader of “Bank Transfer Day” as Kristen Christian, a 27-year-old Los Angeles art gallery owner who said she is not affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street protest, but that demonstration organizers had reached out to her to express support.

Christian reportedly chose Nov. 5 because of its association with 17th century British folk hero Guy Fawkes, who tried to blow up the British House of Lords but was captured on that day.

A Facebook page for the event states that “”together we can ensure that these banking institutions will ALWAYS remember the 5th of November!! If the 99% removes our funds from the major banking institutions on or by this date, we will send a clear message and give the 1% a taste of the fear that we experience every day when we aren't able to pay for our rent, food, medication, utilities, student loans, etc."

The protests began in New York and have popped up around the country. A few hundred protesters gathered in Las Vegas, for instance, on Thursday night and were escorted by police for a march down the Strip. Among the calls for action on the flyers being distributed was to move banking accounts to credit unions.