Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Kie99 on April 01, 2008, 05:47:24 pm
-
(http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5963321,00.jpg)
Flickering ... screenshots of two frames from an animated image designed to provoke seizures or sickness
MEMBERS of internet collective Anonymous have been blamed for an attack on an epilepsy support website, aiming to provoke seizures in victims by tricking them into viewing rapidly-flashing images.
Several users experienced seizures or migraines after falling victim to the attack on the Epilepsy Foundation online forum before it was closed to remove the malicious content and boost security, Wired reported.
Staff at the US foundation said a "handful" of users had been affected before the forum was taken offline.
"Why someone would choose to assault epilepsy sufferers in this way is incomprehensible," said Epilepsy Action Australia spokeswoman Shauna Round.
Between three and five per cent of all epilepsy sufferers were vulnerable to seizures triggered by flashing lights, shapes or colours, Ms Round said.
One woman who fell victim to the attack said she experienced an unusually severe seizure after her internet browser resized itself to fill the computer screen and display multi-coloured flashing squares.
"I don't fall over and convulse, but it hurts... I was on the phone when it happened, and I couldn't move and couldn't speak," 33-year-old IT worker RyAnne Fultz, from Ohio, told Wired.
The attackers used harmless-sounding titles to hide their content on the Epilepsy Foundation forum. When users clicked on the title, they were exposed to the images.
Flashing images designed to provoke headaches or sickness in viewers have been posted on the internet before, but this is thought to be the first time they have been used in a deliberate attack on a website frequented by people suffering epilepsy.
Anonymous, a loose collection of internet users who post to online message boards but do not reveal their identities, are best known for their recent protests against the Church of Scientology.
Prior to the protests, the group was known for engaging in online pranks such as crashing or overloading websites and annoying or inflaming other internet users – leading some to dub them "griefers", a makeshift term for people who cause grief.
The term "Anonymous" is used to describe any person who does not give their name online – rather than a specific group – and is connected to several different websites and internet forums.
Not everyone who identifies as a member of Anonymous shares the same intentions. The difference between Anonymous users from different websites is similar to that of factions in an organisation.
Members of one of the main forums used to organise protests against the Church of Scientology said they had not been involved in the attack, and named members of a different website as the likely culprits.
"I'm pretty sure it was them, at least I've seen a few people mention it," one person said, referring to users of a website called eBaum's World.
"I'm pretty sure I saw a thread about this while browsing ebaumsworld, so yeah, it was probably those f-----s," said another.
Others blamed members of a third website, 7chan.org. Epilepsy Foundation users said members of that website had planned the attack in advance and since deleted the evidence, Wired reported.
In turn, the administrators of 7chan.org posted an open letter claiming that the attack had been carried out by Scientologists seeking to discredit Anonymous.
"Users of this site did not actually attack those individuals. The Church of Scientology posted numerous threads across many (websites), and then informed people that Anonymous had been attacking victims of epilepsy," the letter said.
"They did this under their 'fair game' policy, to ruin the public opinion of Anonymous, to lessen the effect of their lawful protests against their virulent organization (sic)."
While it may be difficult to pinpoint where the attack came from, an alarming number of users on all three websites downplayed the seriousness of the incident.
"If people are actually vulnerable to such flashing images and yet surf without protection, then I find it difficult to muster up any sympathy for them," one user said.
"It's not like they stabbed these patients to death... They put some flashing images on a messageboard, thats (sic) it. Everyone survived," said another.
However Ms Round said such an attack was potentially dangerous and could result in injury if it triggered a seizure in victims.
"If the person, for example, had a tonic-clonic seizure, they could fall and sustain cuts or fractures or head injuries depending on the circumstances," she said.
Tonic-clonic seizures are the type most commonly associated with epilepsy and can involve loss of consciousness and muscle spasms.
The forum attack is a major blow for the image of Anonymous, who staged protests against the Church of Scientology in almost 100 cities across the world in February and again in March.
Members of the group claim the church financially exploits its members, suppresses free speech and harasses its critics, while Scientology has branded Anonymous as "cyber-terrorists".
"It comes as no surprise to us," said Church of Scientology Australia spokesman Cyrus Brooks of the attack on the Epilepsy Foundation.
"They don't care about anybody but themselves," he said.
"If you look at the code of Anonymous, that speaks volumes about their intentions. Their own words belie their recent public assertions."
Wired speculated that the assault may have been the first computer attack in history to inflict physical harm on its victims.
-
Thanks for bolstering Scientology's case and harming your own by hurting disabled people, you ****ing morons. Go back to your tentacle porn.
This is one of the most disgusting and horrible things I've seen in a while. The people who did this deserve to have their IPs traced and warrants for their arrest issued. Bastards. :mad:
It's not impossible that Scientologists did this, but /b/tards are anything but sensitive, caring people.
-
People need to understand that Anonymous isn't some shadowy organization 'somewhere else' made up of 'other people.' It's all around, made up of all kinds of people. There's no leadership, no major organization, no goals. It's all "for the lulz."
The other thing is: you've got all different kinds of anons. It's pretty obvious that we have a fair number here on HLP (heck, I'm one of them, though maybe not in spirit), but I don't think most HLPers would deliberately attack epileptics like this.
-
must... not... lol... rrrrgghh
-
lol, defamation.
-
lol, defamation.
keep going.
-
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v458/redsniper7/sizzlebusted.png)
!
-
Who bets Scientology did this to discredit anonymous
-
Not me at all. This is right up /b/'s alley. Old /b/ that is. It's gone soft now. I think I found it right before the noobs flooded in.
-
Well it wasn't me. Even if I do almost not quite find this funny, I 1)just wouldn't do it and 2) wouldn't have the spine to do it, :p
-
My sister has epilepsy and honestly this doesn't get me all that worked up.
It's suprisingly difficult to trigger a seizure in most people
The bets still on BTW
-
They're just ripping off 70% of all television program introductions and advertisements. :lol:
-
Yeah, see I would think that if you're prone to getting seizures from flashing lights, you'd be extra cautious on the internet and when watching TV and such. Though I suppose expecting people to take care of themselves is asking too much or I just don't understand the condition that well.
-
Actually, this reminds me of my first week of Programming classes, back with true BASIC. I used to force the screen to flash random colors really quickly and I would sit an inch from the screen... heh, good times.
-
I would have a hard time believing the CoS wasn't involved in this.
Of course it could be the wonderful /b/tards that are trying to troll the Project Chanology efforts.
-
Anonymous is exactly what it says on the tin, you don't have to sign a form to join, or hand anything in when you leave. I'd say that CoS will try to make out that it is the same anonymous that protested against them, but it isn't, this is anonymous people being assholes like they've always done on the Internet
-
There is no reason whatsoever for anonymous to do this whatsoever, which means a. this is just pranksters hiding inside anonymous or b. scientology is really desperate to make a fabrication as obvious as that. And I see Woolie Wool's penchant for posting before thinking is unchanged.
Unless of course this is just an odd april fools joke.
-
I still think this is a frame-up by the Church of Scientology. Anonymous may be assholes, but those darned Scientologists are evil, and pure evil trumps pure asshole in this case.
-
Who bets Scientology did this to discredit anonymous
That's what I'm betting... :nervous:
-
Personally, I think it's ****ing hilarious.
Epic lulz.
-
Am I the only one who realizes that the animated LOL EPILEPSY gif is older than the internet itself?
-
Irrelevant. No one's claiming that Anon made the .gif just for this.
-
Consider this: What reason could the Church of Scientology possibly have to deny their involvement in this?
Normally you don't go and deny that it was you who spread manure to the school hallway. Normally you don't go and deny that you were the one who run over a crowd driving stoned out of your mind of crack cocaine. If you didn't do it, you normally in generally don't want to deny it.
It makes no sense - except if you have someone to point at and shout that he did it, it was not me.
It could be anyone, but since the CoS is such a wretched hive of scum and villainy and considering their "announcement" that it's the Anonymous trying to defame them (a hilarious claim in its absurdity seeing how Anonymous is more of an adjective than a name for an organization in the first place), I'm inclined to think it more likely to have been CoS campaign.
Obviously, it could just as easily be any random specimen of Dark Helmet's flagship's crew that did it for the corruption of L O L. And obviously most people realize that Anonymous is not like Scientology in that they have no authoritarian power structure (apart from Wise Beard Man whose stuff is more like guidelines and applications of common sense anyway) and they don't really need to orchestrate stuff to make CoS look really bad, because they have done plenty of that themselves.
Be that as it may, CoS is shooting themselves in the foot nevertheless by being so eager to deny their own involvement and at same breath readily blame the Anonymous. People - especially nerdy young-ish people, the demographic which the Anonymous is mostly comprised of - are almost universalle knowledgeable about the methods of CoS, and they are giving CoS plenty of bad publicity.
...the hack in itself shows bad taste, limited imagination and some limited amount of malice. I disapprove. :blah:
-
I wouldn't put it past the chan-tards to have done it, knowing the CoS would overreact and implicate themselves.
Needlessly circuitous plans FT-lulz.
-
Personally, I think it's ****ing hilarious.
Epic lulz.
-
Maybe the SA goons did it?
-
Maybe the SA goons did it?
Goons = no balls, not anymore at least.
-
I never knew they had them to begin with.
-
Yes, let's all sit and berate an internet community that's known in days of olde for it's propensity for forum raids....
-
Hows the HLP's firewall these days
-
Hows the HLP's firewall these days
What firewall?
-
Personally, I think it's ****ing hilarious.
Epic lulz.
-
honestly there has been some major backlash in the old anon community towards the new anon protesters, it most likely was in fact the chans, but that's like saying it was humans, every chaner has about as much control over what the next one does as someone living in a mud hole in western china has over someone in Sidney. so nothing would please me more than to see the individuals involved found out and prosecuted for anything they could be charged for.
-
Really?
Nothing would please me more if they did it again.
This is the INTERNET. People who can be affected by it should stay off it.
-
:(
-
:)
-
:lol:
-
:blah:
-
:wtf:
-
:headz:
What's with the smilies all of the sudden?
-
(http://www.nukelol.com/temphost/bbimgs/hlp/unimportant/Do.jpg)
-
:headz:
What's with the smilies all of the sudden?
It was my way of saying 'I'm thinking of locking this thread if it doesn't go back on topic soon....'
-
:headz:
What's with the smilies all of the sudden?
It was my way of saying 'I'm thinking of locking this thread if it doesn't go back on topic soon....'
I thought that the smilies were on topic. It looks like the sort of thing that anonymous (chan) would do...
-
(http://www.nukelol.com/temphost/bbimgs/hlp/unimportant/Do.jpg)
That needs to be made into a standard smiley. :yes:
-
The smilies were completely on topic.
Let me paint a picture to all of you who need it drawn;
My point was that people who are affected by the internet shouldn't be on it (this is where we start).
an0n's sad smiley designates that my statement, which was on the internet, made him sad (therefore it affected him, however he wasn't really sad, he was proofing my point with super sarcasm).
My happy smiley was a response to his saddened demeanor, reinforcing that I am very much glad when people suffer due to the internets.
Lobo probably got all of the above and laughed, hence the laughing emoticon (after all, I am very funny, due to my high charisma and superior intelligence).
Joshua either didn't get it or he didn't approve (I'm hoping latter), therefore his emoticon.
Flispide got lost and started thinking as a moderator first and as an intelligent human being second (as evidenced by his explanation), an affliction common to most people in the position with the few extra forum buttons.
And a rookie started asking for directions because he got lost on the way to the clue train.
That about brings us up to speed.
If you have any questions, nobody gives a ****.