Now don’t get me wrong, I think that Louise Mensch’s comments regarding Twitter et al earlier this month were, at best ill conceived and at worst downright authoritarian – no, the state should not close down Twitter during periods of civil unrest and shame on her for thinking it. That said, she has the absolute right to utter such nonsense if she so wishes and indeed, does so with my encouragement. We can see what she thinks out there in the open and make our judgments accordingly.
Anonymous disagrees, it seems.
Conservative MP Louise Mensch says she has received email threats against her children from the hacking groups Anonymous and LulzSec*.
She has referred the matter to the police and, for once, I am in agreement with it being so referred. Quite who this bunch of nasty little arseholes think they are deciding what people should say or not? It is not up to them to police the Internet and it is not up to them to threaten people who say things they dislike. Hopefully even more of them will be arrested and hauled before the beak.
However, the sheer, glorious lack of self-awareness shines through:
Anonymous has targeted groups and organisations it believes threaten free speech online, while LulzSec’s core focus has been to expose poor security.
So a bunch of script kiddies who clearly do not understand the concept have set themselves up to defend free speech by threatening those who exercise it. Yes, well done. Idiots.
I leave the last word to Ms Mensch.
To those who sent it; get stuffed losers. I have contacted the police via the House of Commons and the email is with them now. I don’t bully easily, kids. Or in fact at all.
Oh and I am posting it on Twitter because they threatened me to get off Twitter.
Well said. Defiance is exactly the way to deal with bullies. Spit in their eye and raise two fingers – preferably poking them in the other with one of them.
*I thought Lulzsec had disbanded?
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Update:
Like my commenters, Grim Reaper is sceptical about this story. I would merely say this; the emails probably do exist as Ms Mensch has forwarded them to the HoC so that the police can investigate. If they are of a threatening nature, then I disagree with GR and the police should investigate. Whoever sent them, may well act upon them given their target’s defiance.
As to whether they actually come from Anonymous or Lulzsec, who can say? One group clamed to have disbanded earlier this year and the other claims not to be a formal group in the traditional sense anyway – therefore the emails could, quite legitimately have come from someone who is or was a member of one or both groups or neither.
Irrespective of Ms Mensch’s tendency for self publicity, the following circumstances remain; she is a legitimate elected representative regardless of her decidedly illiberal views. We can challenge those views as they are out in the open. Whoever sent the emails is an enemy of freedom of speech and therefore should be resisted and Ms Mensch is doing exactly the right thing by continuing to openly use the platform they are trying to stop her using.
And, finally…
I get the feeling that Mensch is making a lot more of these threats than she actually should be, and possibly discrediting two groups under false pretences whilst at it.
There is nothing to discredit. Both groups [sic] are criminal groups that openly attack those who dare to disagree with them. The attacks on Amazon, Paypal and Mastercard for example were open assaults on freedom of association. These people are criminal scum. You cannot discredit such people, they are already beneath contempt.
Unless, of course, they ar RELIGIOUS bullies, in which case, you are expected to crawl nicely, because they might be “offended”
I thought Lulzsec had disbanded too, and since anyone can put ‘anonymous’ at the bottom of an email (and may even mean by it that they wish to remain anonymous rather than that they are part of Anonymous – why did they have to pick such a stupid and easily confused name?) I don’t know how sure we can be that this is their work.
Fair comment – however, it does fit their MO.
Does she have the sort of profile that would invite action from groups like these? She’s just a minor MP.
Besides, their MO is more pranks, than death threats, surely?
She made a bit of a name for herself in the wake of the riots by suggesting that social networks be shut down during the disturbances, which is why she would be a target.
As for their MO – intimidation and bullying is exactly what they do. So threats of this nature would be a logical step.
//*I thought Lulzsec had disbanded?//
How does one ‘disband’ an anarchist group?
Elsewhere I’ve seen it suggested that while Mensch is someone they might want to target this actually is not their MO since they tend not to use email lately. Don’t know how true that is, don’t know enough about Anonymous, but if there’s anything in it then it’s another reason to doubt. Even if not it seems as if it’s just as likely to be some teenage Faecesbook addict upset at the thought of having no Farmville access for a couple of days the next time any trouble kicks off and blowing off steam about it by pretending to be Anonymous as it is to really be Anonymous. In the absence of IRA style coded warnings how do we know?
They claim – whoever they are – that they are not an organisation as such. Therefore any one of them could be acting alone or part of the group at any one time. So yes, who knows? Either way, the behaviour is reprehensible and the correct response is defiance.
“As for their MO – intimidation and bullying is exactly what they do. So threats of this nature would be a logical step.”
Maybe, maybe not. And certainly, Mensch’s views on social media might make her a natural target.
But the I ask myself what I’d do if – as an up-and-coming MP and relentless self-publicist – the opportunity to present myself as a digital martyr and the groups I’m targeting as much more dangerous and sinister than they are presented itself…
After all, the hackers may have a bad rep, but that of MPs isn’t exactly snowy white, is it?
Well, yes, this is a case of a pox on both their houses but when it comes to who is worse, apart from the Harry Hill solution, I’m with anyone that Anonymous is against, frankly…
You believe this authoritarian waste of space? She has either made the whole thing up or wildly exaggerated the ‘attacks’ to further her own freedom-hating agenda.
Unless, of course, they ar RELIGIOUS bullies, in which case, you are expected to crawl nicely, because they might be “offended”
Not just religious bullies. I have seen plenty of secular, athiestic bullies demanding the burqa be banned for no better reason than they are ‘offended’ by it. But then Dawkinseque athieism seems as much like a religion as catholicism.
Actually, yes, I do believe her. if she is lying, then the evidence trail will demonstrate this – the HoC and police will be asking where is this email?
She has every right to make her illiberal remarks in the public domain as she did. Making threats against a person via email is rightly illegal and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The recipient’s opinions on liberty are irrelevant.
Making threats against a person via email is rightly illegal and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law
If true, I agree. Might still be difficult to find the sender of the email.
If it isn’t, she will be looking very silly very soon. As for identifying the sender, well it depends on how well they have covered their tracks. The ease with which some of them have been identified following recent DDoS attacks, suggests that they ain’t very bight.
I see someone has been arrested:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-14668051