Kremlin-Backed Nashi Admits Cyberattacking Estonia 181
An anonymous reader writes "Russia's Kremlin-based youth movement Nashi admits being responsible for 2007 cyberattacks against Estonia. An interesting point is that when you DDoS the systems, it's not the fault of some people who want to crash it but instead the systems' for blocking their users due to technical limitations. So if I shot someone to death it's not my fault for shooting them, but theirs instead because of technical limitations of their body."
Re:Justice (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Waiting for the Russian nationalists... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:That is the same argument for DeCSS (Score:4, Insightful)
This isn't like taking a hammer to a lock and saying "the lock was too weak". This is leaving the keys in the lock - how can a lock with the keys in it stop anyone?
CSS cannot work. it must leave the keys or the DVD won't play.
Re:Justice (Score:3, Insightful)
You've obviously never heard of anyone admitting guilt whilst having a loaded Kalashnikov pointed at the back of their head...
Re:That is the same argument for DeCSS (Score:3, Insightful)
Can I keep my money safe on my front lawn ?
There is a point where you have to prove you have invested a reasonable amount of effort to protect your slef. You can't ask the goverment to protect you when you have done your part.
There is a balance somehwere in between and depends on the society. In the US you are expected to bare arms. In japan you can use a paper door (point exadurated for dramatic effect)
Re:Justice (Score:5, Insightful)
This was bad enough that there was talk that it could trigger NATO's common aggression pact: that when one country from NATO is attacked, all countries in NATO have to react as though they had been attacked. Needless to say, it didn't get there, but this was seen as a very serious test of the NATO alliance. I don't think that any prosecution will result from this, but this was taken very seriously by all members of NATO, including the US.
Re:That is the same argument for DeCSS (Score:3, Insightful)
The main argument for the use of DeCSS is that people have a right (regardless of what the government says) to decode the media they own. I think most people claiming that right claim it regardless of how hard it is, and regardless of disapproval for other actions of media companies in general.
On the other hand, the hackers involved controlled a botnet and ordered a DOS attack. They justified it only as retaliation for other actions by Estonia, and in the way you describe, which is indeed a very weak argument.
I'm not saying that arguers on /. never use arguments like the one you mention, but what you say is hardly the principle justification for use of DeCSS.
Re:Doing them a favor (Score:3, Insightful)
This being Russia and all, I wouldn't believe a word of it. The Soviet Union collapsed and the KGB took over. If the RBN had a hand it was probably at the request of the government. Welcome to the new cold war.
Works two ways... (Score:3, Insightful)
For after all, what were the Russians upset about? A statue of some WW2-hero was moved. What does the rest of the world have to get upset about? Well, a number of East-European countries were left without heating gas in the beginning of January, to such an extent that even Germany felt it. Since this seems to be a recuring "phenomenon" why shouldn't Russia find itself DDOSed off internet once a year?
I am quite sure that Georgia (the country, not the US state) could very easily find reason to DDOS Russia. And I seem to remember Poland having been left without heating gas a few years ago, so even they would have perfect reasons to DDOS Russia.
If the Kremlin really think DDOSing someone is the way things work in the world, they jsut might find themselves further up the creek than they would want to be... For even those countries not affected by Russias slightly beligerent foreign politics could easily turn a blind eye to any illegal matters going on inside their borders, as long as the target is inside Russia.
Re:Waiting for the Russian nationalists... (Score:3, Insightful)
Basically Russia is just doing what the US has for the past 60 years only on a smaller scale.
Re:Waiting for the Russian nationalists... (Score:5, Insightful)
Its explicit goal is the purging of fascist elements from Russian zones of interests
Correction: its explicit goal is the purging of anyone they label "fascist" from Russian zones of interest. For example, the entire anti-Putin Other Russia [wikipedia.org] coalition, including Kasparov, was labeled "fascists" and "extremists" by Nashi. In general, they apply the label to anyone who is in opposition to the existing regime.
Re:Waiting for the Russian nationalists... (Score:3, Insightful)
A highly nationalistic and xenophobic group has been tasked with purging fascist elements? does anyone else see the problem here?
Ahh, there's a bit of a fundamental problem there... See, it's a sort of collective schizophrenia in average Russian mentality.
On one hand, there's this traditional yearning for the "strong hand" and strong state, which is almost inevitably at least moderately nationalist; add to that the large influx of immigrants - legal and illegal - from Middle Asia states to Russia after the collapse of the USSR (the ones who "stink" and "speak funny" and "steal jobs" and "commit the most crimes" - I'm sure Americans especially can spot the similarities here with something they're familiar with) - and that nationalism easily transforms into xenophobia and racism.
On the other hand, every kid in Russia knows that "USSR won the war" (WW2, of course, or rather the "Great War for Fatherland" - that's Eastern Front 1941-45). And that the enemies in that war were "nazis" and "fascists" (all of them and at the same time - including Finns and all other collaborating nations), and that they were evil because they were racist and wanted to kill lots of people in Russia and Eastern Europe as untermenschen. So apparently racism is bad, and of course "nazism" sounds pretty close to "nationalism", and they were often conflated especially in the USSR.
The end result is what we observe: an effectively fascist pro-government organization which itself uses "fascist" as a derogative term for all its political opponents.
Re:Waiting for the Russian nationalists... (Score:1, Insightful)
The USA is certainly also an imperialist country with long-standing world domination ambitions, but I don't recall it being involved in a large-scale genocide within the last 60, or even last 100 years.
Look up Eisenhower's Holocaust.