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Journalists Scrutinize QAnon's Role in Capitol Hill Mob -- And Its Hosting Infrastructure (krebsonsecurity.com) 171

Posted by EditorDavid from the following-breadcrumbs dept.
On Thursday Axios tried to assess QAnon's role in the mob that stormed America's Capitol building: Adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory, who imagine a vast deep-state cabal of pedophiles arrayed against Trump, have for years insisted that a moment of reckoning for their enemies is imminent. QAnon believers have largely accepted that Trump is waiting for the right time to bring a hammer down on his enemies (or already has, in secret). But time is running out. Because Congress was slated to officially certify Biden's victory on Jan. 6, the day became the focal point of a new conspiracy theory — that Trump would, on that date, reveal mountains of evidence of electoral fraud, somehow invalidate Biden's win, and secure a second term.

The catch: That evidence does not exist. Instead, Trump Wednesday addressed the followers who came to Washington by reeling off a familiar list of grievances... Determined to play their part in the foreordained events of Jan. 6, the mob descended on the Capitol... The bottom line: The pro-Trump internet willed into being a siege on the Capitol that successfully delayed the certification of Biden's victory.
But Tuesday, KrebsOnSecurity was already arguing that QAnon's infrastructure might have a legal vulnerability (according to this article shared by Slashdot reader aaltmann): In October 2020, KrebsOnSecurity looked at how a web of sites connected to conspiracy theory movements QAnon and 8chan were being kept online by DDoS-Guard, a dodgy Russian firm that also hosts the official site for the terrorist group Hamas. New research shows DDoS-Guard relies on data centers provided by a U.S.-based publicly traded company, which experts say could be exposed to civil and criminal liabilities as a result of DDoS-Guard's business with Hamas...

A review of the several thousand websites hosted by DDoS-Guard is revelatory, as it includes a vast number of phishing sites and domains tied to cybercrime services or forums online. Replying to requests for comment from a CBSNews reporter following up on my Oct. 2020 story, DDoS-Guard issued a statement saying, "We observe network neutrality and are convinced that any activity not prohibited by law in our country has the right to exist." But experts say DDoS-Guard's business arrangement with a Denver-based publicly traded data center firm could create legal headaches for the latter thanks to the Russian company's support of Hamas... Hamas has long been named by the U.S. Treasury and State departments as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) organization. Under such a designation, any U.S. person or organization that provides money, goods or services to an SDGT entity could face civil and/or criminal prosecution and hefty fines ranging from $250,000 to $1 million per violation.

Sean Buckley, a former Justice Department prosecutor with the law firm Kobre & Kim... said companies can incur fines and prosecution for violating SDGT sanctions even when they don't know that they are doing so.
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Journalists Scrutinize QAnon's Role in Capitol Hill Mob -- And Its Hosting Infrastructure More

Journalists Scrutinize QAnon's Role in Capitol Hill Mob -- And Its Hosting Infrastructure

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  • Too late (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Nidi62 ( 1525137 ) on Saturday January 09, 2021 @06:41PM (#60917816)

    Its too late. QAnon has metastasized into the GOP. Excision and amputation may be the only option at this point.

    https://nyegop.org/2021/01/08/... [nyegop.org]

    • Re: Too late (Score:3, Interesting)

      by klipclop ( 6724090 )
      My boomer uncle is basically brainwashed by their rhetoric. It's always fun to debate him since he doesn't take countering views as an offense, but I truly believe that this stuff is off the wall insanity to people who are politically middle of the road / don't find identity politics that interesting.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by sjames ( 1099 )

      The question is who gets the amputation. We've seen a few amputated out of the GOP and thrown under a bus and others who are busy chewing their own arm off to get away.

      Some seem to have self-lobotomized so they wouldn't have to think about it any more.

    • Re:Too late (Score:4, Funny)

      by PinkyGigglebrain ( 730753 ) on Saturday January 09, 2021 @07:59PM (#60918108)

      Excision and amputation may be the only option at this point.

      Followed by a high dose radiation therapy.

      It's the only way to be sure.

      • Excision and amputation may be the only option at this point.

        Followed by a high dose radiation therapy.

        It's the only way to be sure.

        Well, Trump does still have the football :/

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Those QAnon GOPs who got elected are there for 4 years now, assuming they don't get impeached. The internal struggle within the GOP isn't going to end any time soon.

  • QAnon is an ideology, not an organization.

    • An ideology that is presented and expanded by people who _organize_ using infrastructure. Not exactly difficult to figure out.

      You sound like the "antifa is an idea, not a group" morons. Sure, OK but who are those little freaks running around in black bloc with umbrellas and larping as guerillas and posting under various "Antifa of XYZ" type organizations? Nobody is fooled.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by PPH ( 736903 )

        You sound like the "antifa is an idea, not a group" morons.

        That was my point. I just forgot the <sarcasm> </sarcasm> tags.

      • Is there an 8chan equivalent for antifa? And please don't say Reddit.

      • The internet allows for these leadless organisations though. Antifa, BLM, the classic Anonymous. There's no formal hierarchy, and certainly no one in charge to call the shots - instead the entire group is connected through constant online communication. A mass of people united by that connection and a mostly-shared ideology, constantly splintering and reforming. It's a collective,but not an organization in the conventional sense.

        • The fact is that there are smaller groups which are organized to some extent. They may not have a formal hierarchy or declared membership but there is still a pecking order and de facto leaders. The same was true for "Anonymous" and it turned out that after the FBI busted the primary actors, the rest faded away.

    • It's most probably more than one organization. Internet research agency and accelerationists both come to mind. I don't doubt there are at least half a dozen more. Lot's monkey see monkey do going on here. But primarily I think it's foreign state actors amplified by stupid Americans. And there is just no shortage of stupid Americans. Sure, America can't manufacture enough N95 masks but it can manufacture more than enough stupid people. This is America.

    • Remember how Anonymous suddenly were a "group". With a freaking spokesperson!
      Which is like somebody saying he is the spokesperson for ....anger.
      Or for ... People With A Common Interest, for a very close analogy.

      Because the damn TLAs did not get one bit, that it is not an organization, when "injecting" their moles, and those effectively *becoming* Anonymous "the group". :D

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by PPH ( 736903 )

        I remember stories about the SDS [wikipedia.org]. And how Hoover was after it's leadership. So a bunch of them got together and made up a name (I forget what it was). And the Feds spent years chasing this guy around.

    • QAnon is an ideology, not an organization.

      I prefer to use a more descriptive term, like "delusion".

      They have no charter, rules, platform, standards, ideals, principles, doctrine, or defined goals. If it's an ideology it's a 'one size fits all' kinda thing.

      They have no understanding of the world around them, they're just happy to go on believing in demons and dark forces, huge secret plots everywhere and shadowy cabals of evil doers.

      They have nothing other than a misdirected sense of purpose fostered by the people that wind them up and let them go.

  • ...there definitely is a lot of organized child rape out there, going up real high.
    The rest of what it is tied to, is obviously bullshit though.

    So I'm afraid of this being yet more fuel for not believing abused children. (Which is /the/ main problem.)
    You know ... "poisoning the well".
    Thanks to fuckin Trump. And likely pedo "anon"s themselves.

    (Please believe kids! Especially the ridiculous stories like strange dresses and rituals, and masks to make them look like somebody else, are quite common in these rank

    • Given my experience with rape victims...there definitely is a lot of organized child rape out there, going up real high.

      What on earth are you talking about?

      • QAnon, mostly. Once they started trying to evade keyword detection. This is part of their coded language. This person apparently believes most of what QAnon says, while acknowledging that QAnon themselves are untrustworthy.

        • I don't know that he's QAnoning so much, as much of the "this is QAnon:" in the media has been "an organization that believes there is "a cabal of Satan-worshipping cannibalistic pedophiles is running a global child sex-trafficking ring and plotting against US president Donald Trump, who is fighting the cabal" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon [wikipedia.org]). So, what he's saying is that since QAnon is obviously batshit crazy, people may think that there's actually no such thing as groups that run child sex-traffickin

    • "Especially the ridiculous stories like strange dresses and rituals, and masks to make them look like somebody else, are quite common in these ranks... Also, yes, big meetings where kids are sold like slaves, are a thing too."

      Uh huh...and you know this how, exactly? Youtube 'research'?

      Sounds more like a fantasy you have that you're eager to participate in.

  • About fucking time. What is wrong with America?

    • What is wrong with America?

      Oh, we're 31 flavors of All Fucked Up.

    • *puts on reading glasses*
      *rolls out list, dropping on the floor, unrolling rolling down the stairs...*
      You tell me when to stop reading, okay? :D

    • about time "Journalists" scrutinized something? you're funny, agenda driven hacks like CNN or whatever other mainstream propaganda organ you prefer aren't going to change anything.

    • What is wrong with America?

      Nothing that won't be fixed in approximately 250 hours. Okay,it won't be fixed then. But in about 250 hours, we'll have someone in charge who wants to fix it, not make things worse. And that's a start.

    • About fucking time. What is wrong with America?

      Oh honey, we'd be here all night if I started listing all of the shit that's "wrong with America".

  • So where are the free speech extremists now? Should Russian agitators be allowed to continue to attack the West using a sustained injection of misinformation and propaganda?

    • The antidote to speech is more speech. I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

      • Argument by slogan. Cool.

        • It's a reference to the philosophy of Voltaire, but I don't expect you to have read it.

          Censorship fans never do.

          • I know what it is and where it's from. But to devolve all analysis into slogans is just a sign of poor thinking, an inability to grasp nuances and reality.

            • If we censor to save democracy, what democracy is left?

              My answers to your earlier question were clear. Respond to speech with more speech, not with censorship.

              • Germany seems to be doing fine with censoring Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism. Plenty of democracy is left.

                Pray tell what speech would counter a president telling people to storm Capitol Hill? What speech would counter someone shouting fire in a theatre? "Simplistic" is not "clear". Your "answers" could mean anything. You may as well have said "send your thoughts and prayers". Both are useless, non-descript slogans for simpletons.

              • I get what you're saying, but frankly, some things cannot be tolerated.

                No one would "tolerate" a tumor, and the parallels between cancer and the crazy-ass QAnon people and the nutjob righties are unmistakable. If given free reign, it will kill you.

                Many of the QAnon types and the extreme righties should be in mental hospitals, not roaming the street armed to the teeth.

                Speech is great but there's a point at which it no longer matters because the other side isn't listening, or worse they take everything you sa

      • The antidote to speech is more speech.

        That only works if someone can hear it. The last several years of social media have broken that paradigm. The Internet becomes a personalized echo chamber and that "more speech" will never reach you. Unless the listener makes active effort to understand multiple viewpoints, it's a lost cause.

        • There is speech you don't like, combined with a technical problem, and the conclusion you jump to is censorship? Something is wrong with you. Come up with a better solution.

          That only works if someone can hear it. The last several years of social media have broken that paradigm. The Internet becomes a personalized echo chamber and that "more speech" will never reach you.

          Facebook has come up with a solution to that. They put a fact-check message on factually incorrect posts.

          • Not sure where you get censorship out of what I wrote. I'm placing the blame on the listener here.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by jabuzz ( 182671 )

            There is speech you might not like but is true. So depending which side of the political divide you are on "Donald Trump won the 2016 election" and "Donald Trump lost the 2020 election".

            Then there is speech that is just false and bat shit crazy quack science. For example "5G causes coronvirus", "Bill Gates is going to microchip you with the vaccine", "the COVID vaccines will 'dereligous' you", "the COVID vaccines are going to sterilize black people", "COVID-19 is fake".

            The facebook solution needs to be expa

      • The antidote to speech is more speech.

        No, that is only true in civil discourse where all participants act in good faith. Dishonest actors that try to disrupt the discourse with a neverending flood of lies and disinformation cannot be countered with "more speech". They can deliver more lies than you can counter in the same time and drown out your "more speech" so that it is effectively buried and never seen by anyone.

        Disinformation and lies spread purposefully has no place in a democracy. See Karl Poppers paradox of tolerance.

        You can attribute t

  • When someone shows them who you are, believe them. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Petersko ( 564140 ) on Saturday January 09, 2021 @07:30PM (#60918016)

    Not enough characters left to put quotes. Apologies.

    Well, for all that people love to quote that, and "This is not who we are..." - well, America has shown us who it is. You can quibble and say it's not everybody, but it's a large enough amount for us to unambiguously state that it's inescapably part of what it means to be American.

    It's what American is... not what it aspires to be.

    • "This is not who we are" is aspirational. The point is not to deny bad things have happened, the point is to signal to bad people that society rejects their actions, so that those actions are less likely in the future.

    • Was the mob that occupied downtown Seattle this summer where seven people died in three days with no consequences "what it means to be American?" How about Portland and its months of continual violence and destruction of private and government property?

      How about the rioters who have violently looted and destroyed thousands of small business across various metro areas in various 2020 riots?

      And to be absolutely clear, I condemn the tards who stormed the Capitol last Wednesday as much as I condemn the tards w

  • "... Capitol that successfully delayed the certification of Biden's victory."
    It was much more than that:
    - police officer was beaten with a fire extinguisher, ended up in a coma and later died
    - representatives' laptops were stolen
    - the Capitol was vandalized
    - 2 pipe bombs were found
    - there were Molotov cocktails,
    - evidence is emerging that the goal was to lynch Pence and some representatives,

  • So Q isn't coming to save us from the global club of canabalistic, Satan-worshiping pedophiles?

  • CNN [dailywire.com] is already calling to censor mainstream conservative networks like FOX. Think what you might about FOX, but CNN trying to shut down ideological competitor this is nothing but a naked political power play.

  • Mob? (Score:3, Informative)

    by memory_register ( 6248354 ) on Saturday January 09, 2021 @09:43PM (#60918364)
    I think you mean Mostly Peaceful Protest- oh wait we only edit the headlines when it is BLM. My bad.

    • The BLM buildings weren't entirely peaceful. There were a few buildings destroyed, and a number of violent confrontations between police and protesters that saw injuries in both sides. But nothing of the scale or the sheer audacity seen in the Washington riot.

  • Ahahaha...

    They are narrative writers, not journalists any more.
    If something illegal is going down, thatâ(TM)s the domain of the legal system.

  • 'QAnon' is just *chan trolls (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Rick Schumann ( 4662797 ) on Saturday January 09, 2021 @11:30PM (#60918562) Journal
    Shit like these 'QAnon' assholes are just trolls from places like the *chans (like 4chan, infinity-chan, etc) who have managed to troll the living fuck out of a whole group of idiots in real life. That's all. I don't believe there's anything deeper behind it than that.
    So let me make it abundantly clear to anyone who 'believes' what these 'QAnon' assholes are telling you: YOU HAVE BEEN TROLLED, HARD, AND THEY ARE LAUGHING THEIR ASSES OFF AT YOU.

    • Bingo.

      Fun Fact: QAnon was started by a couple of practical jokers from Seattle, and it took off FAR beyond anything they imagined. They never dreamed people would actually believe this shit and they're horrified at what they inadvertently created.

      It was all supposed to be just a one-off joke; they said they wanted to create "the most idiotic, unbelievable conspiracy theory" that "no one in their right mind could possibly believe". They wanted to make it so ridiculously insane and unhinged that people would

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