You've just got to love Anonymous...

Evolving from a bunch of pranksters (largely lurkers and participants from the anarchy of places like 4chan, 7chan and Futaba - don't go in there, you might get lost) Anonymous really do seem to have become the first true internet "hive mind", a disconnected, truly identity-free, hierarchy-free, opt-in/opt-out swarm of constantly shifting, technology savvy individuals who flock to get behind group objectives (the actual individuals/approach varying accordingly)...So, it's almost like a free-to-own-mask you can put on, and when you are wearing it, the hive (or a subset of it) *might* rally behind your idea, if it is a compelling one...the rest of the time the hive just buzzes around (mostly) stinging people - some that deserve it, some that definitely don't...that doesn't bother the hive, it's all done "for the lulz" (in a casual way)...

"They" (it's important to remember here, it's highly unlikely it's going to be the same people each time - this is just a mask) have a chequered past, as obviously thanks to it's decentralised structure and constantly shifting "leadership" and membership (the hive led purely by compelling concepts) the hive will never have an "agenda", merely a target...targets in the past have been as diverse as a racist disc jockey, a Canadian paedophile, The "church" of Scientology (which, interestingly, erupted into the real world)...all of which one could argue were in the public interest, but they also flew off in some very naughty directions, like Youtube Porn Day (SFW) and putting violently flashing images all over epilepsy support forums (which some people would find very amusing, others not amusing at all)...another favorite prank is to bring down unpopular (for whatever reason) websites using tools like this (which is how a few Brits got arrested lately, because if you run it at home without any onion routing, you give up your IP address, and thus the bill payer's identity), click the picture in that article and you'll see the button to turn the Ion Cannon over to the "hive mind"...

The latest attack is staggering, Anonymous (largely) likes Wikileaks and Julian Assange (it appears) and is a bit annoyed with his treatment, and businesses that are working against Wikileaks and are poking sticks into the hive-mind are being *viciously* attacked...I am very excited to watch how this pans out...

...and I quote - "We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us." (troll face)....

Usenet as an alternative to Bittorrent - Virgin spying on customers - Privacy

I hate the idea that ISPs (those providers of internet) are being bullied into spying on what we are doing, first by the likes of the MPAA (etc.) and now by the bigger kids in the playground like the French Government (who are bowing to the posh kids with all the money) and it won't be long until other governments decide to go the same way...It's wrong to tar everyone with the 'evil' brush...

If that wasn't bad enough, some ISP's are spotting a way of saving money off the back of this and quietly sorting/throttling popular packet types (like bittorrent for example) and dumping it to narrower bandwidth...I object to both of these practices - frankly it's no-one's business what I'm doing with my pipe on my own time...and if I want to transfer stuff around the place using torrents, why should I get a slower transfer speed than someone moving data with FTP or HTTP? It's definitely unreasonable and it's obvious why - it's so they don't have to bite the bullet and upgrade their networks to cope with increasing demand for fast broadband (remember all the wailing and crying from the ISPs when BBC iPlayer rolled out)?

So...especially if you are using Virgin for your internet access (as they have already publicly admitted they are now going to voluntarilly spy on what their clients are doing with their pipes, which is frankly shocking), rather than search for an ISP (with backbone/morals) quite yet, IMHO it's time to go underground...

For web access, unless it's other SSL stuff (like internet banking) or just reading the likes of the BBC website, I recommend Torpark (which is a Tor-network enabled Firefox browser), use gmail over that for email accces (a bit slower, but free, anonymous and encrypted)...if you have some cash to spend, use Xerobank for the same thing (it's fast)...

If you need to move big chunks of data around - ditch the torrents (where all the attention is at the moment) and go old skool ...Welcome (back) to Usenet (some parts of which actually pre-date the internet, believe it or not) -

Two articles you will need to read to get you up and running (looks like "Wired" has similar feelings to me) -

How to share files on Usenet

What are NZB files?

- one you might need -

How to bypass blocked usenet

- that will get you 95% free from attention (for now) and cost you nothing...however, personally, I'm going to go "the full tamale" and employ SSL (i.e. - Packet gets encrypted at your end, goes through your ISP, can't be packet sniffed and therefore can't be deliberately slowed down or stopped by your ISP or pawed through and licked by the French Government...it gets safely decrypted at the other end and visa-versa...and then *everything* you do is just a big stream of anonymous, classless gibberish to the prying eyes that lurk in the underpipes (to which all they can do is shrug and shuffle on to the next victim)...thus leaving your ISP (in your case at least) to do exactly what they should be doing - providing fast, reliable internet access and not to be lackies for the money-grabbing lawyers of the music industry in the far-off US of A...