More than a dozen suspected members of “Anonymous” were arrested this morning in states including Florida, New Jersey and California, in what appears to be a nationwide takedown of the notorious hacking group, FoxNews.com has exclusively learned.
The arrests are part of an ongoing investigation into Anonymous, which has claimed responsibility for numerous cyberattacks against a variety of websites including Visa and Mastercard.
Some of the arrests were out of the San Francisco field office, sources said, activity that followed searches earlier in the day in the New York area at residences believed to be associated with members of the hacking collective, FoxNews.com has learned.
“I can confirm that we’re conducting law enforcement actions relating to a criminal investigation,” said Alicia Sensibaugh, a spokeswoman for FBI’s San Francisco office, out of which sources said multiple search warrants were executed Tuesday morning.
A group that boasts of successfully hacking Sony and the CIA website in recent months claimed Thursday to have hacked into the computer files of an Arizona law enforcement agency.
The Lulz Security hacking collective said on its web site that it was releasing “hundreds of private intelligence bulletins, training manuals, personal email correspondence, names, phone numbers, addresses and passwords belonging to Arizona law enforcement.”
The cyber attackers said they were specifically targeting the Arizona Department of Public Safety because of the state’s tough immigration enforcement law known as SB1070 “and the racial profiling anti-immigrant police state that is Arizona.”
Several DPS officers contacted by The Associated Press said they were inundated with calls Thursday evening and most were trying to get their phone number immediately changed.
The LulzSec group also said it planned to release “more classified documents and embarrassing personal details of military and law enforcement” every week but it was unclear whether other Arizona agencies were targeted.
Arguing before the Superior Court of Massachusetts in 1761, attorney James Otis argued for five hours against the legality of writs of assistance. These writs, which served as general search warrants that did not expire, allowed government officials to search an individual’s person or property at any time, and for any (or no) reason, without having to obtain a specific warrant that described in detail the person, place, or thing to be searched.
James Otis, Jr. (Patriot)
Retained by a group of Boston merchants for the case, Otis was well-versed in the abuses of these writs. When speaking before the Court, he related the story of one Mr. Ware, who in retaliation for having been brought before a court on charges of using profanity on the Sabbath, used a writ he had been granted to search through the judge’s home for smuggled goods, as well as the house of the constable who had brought him to the court. Similar abuses of the power to search and seize were quickly becoming commonplace.
Despite his passionate and persuasive speech, Otis lost to the government lawyers. Jeremiah Gridley, representing the customs officials, argued:
It is true the common privileges of Englishmen are taken away in this Case, but even their privileges are not so in case of Crime and fine. ‘Tis the necessity of the Case and the benefit of the Revenue that justifies this Writ. Is not the Revenue the sole support of Fleets & Armies abroad, & Ministers at home? without which the Nation could neither be preserved from the Invasion of her foes, nor the Tumults of her own Subjects. Is not this I say infinitely more important, that the imprisonment of Thieves, or even Murderers? yet in these Cases ’tis agreed Houses may be broken open.
Just as Arizona Bike Week is kicking off, one of their main players has had her life tragically stolen from her due to the careless actions of a 22-year-old driver who failed to yield to the right of way.
Kimmy Chapman Lauer was the National Publisher / President of Biker Information Guide and was greatly loved by many in the industry.
CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE – Any government security worker viewing or touching someone’s private parts at airports would be a felon and wind up on the state’s Sexual Offender Registry for life under legislation a Litchfield Republican lawmaker tried to advance Tuesday.
Rep. George Lambert said the intense pat-downs, high-tech invasive screening machines and even the occasional strip search at the nation’s airports for security reasons have gotten out of control.
Lambert urged the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee that these “invasions of privacy” by the Transportation Safety Administration and other agencies must only occur if there is probable cause.
“We understand searching for weapons and searching for explosives,” Lambert began. “When we have citizens who are strip-searched and have no ability to leave under color of law, at what point have we gone too far? We need to protect our citizens from invasion that exceeds the limitation of the TSA security procedure.”
The bill attracted national attention Tuesday when The Drudge Report put it on its front page. This caused House spokespeople to field calls from many United States and foreign news outlets.
For several years now, STRATFOR has been closely watching developments in Mexico that relate to what we consider the three wars being waged there. Those three wars are the war between the various drug cartels, the war between the government and the cartels and the war being waged against citizens and businesses by criminals.
In addition to watching tactical developments of the cartel wars on the ground and studying the dynamics of the conflict among the various warring factions, we have also been paying close attention to the ways that both the Mexican and U.S. governments have reacted to these developments. Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects to watch has been the way in which the Mexican government has tried to deflect responsibility for the cartel wars away from itself and onto the United States.
According to the Mexican government, the cartel wars are not a result of corruption in Mexico or of economic and societal dynamics that leave many Mexicans marginalized and desperate to find a way to make a living. Instead, the cartel wars are due to the insatiable American appetite for narcotics and the endless stream of guns that flows from the United States into Mexico and that results in Mexican violence.
Seeing Red AZ – January 8, 2011
Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and least eight other people, including members of Giffords’ staff, are reported killed or injured after an assailant opened fire outside a grocery store as the Democrat lawmaker met with constituents in her Pima County district. She was holding an event called Congress on Your Corner at a Safeway Supermarket on Oracle Road.
Giffords, 40, was re-elected to her third term representing Arizona’s Congressional District 8 this past November. She was a member of the Arizona House and Senate before being elected to Congress.
More news of this despicable and senseless attack is available here on Tucson’s KOLD News 13.
Our sincere condolences go out to those who have lost loved ones and our prayers are with Rep. Giffords and her family.
UPDATE:
TPM is reporting that Federal Judge John Roll was killed in the attack.
Phoenix police on Tuesday identified the police sergeant who was shot and killed near the state Capitol as 12-year veteran Sgt. Sean Drenth.
Phoenix police had become concerned about the whereabouts of Drenth, 34, when he didn’t respond to radio calls late Monday. Officers searched for Drenth beginning about 10 p.m. Monday.
Less than an hour after the search began, Capitol Police found what they thought was an abandoned police cruiser in an alley behind a parking lot near 17th Avenue and Jefferson Street. Drenth’s body was nearby.
At a news conference Tuesday morning, Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris said investigators were still on the scene.
“Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with his family, and we will be doing everything humanly possible to find out what happened,” Harris said.
Phoenix police have not ruled out any possibilities, Sgt. Trent Crump said at the news conference.
“We do have more questions than answers,” Crump said. “Our investigators are still out there determining things.”
There is a disturbing chill in the air according to the leftist media. Threats of violence and rumor of murder are taking center stage instead of reporting legitimate public outrage about the passage of Obamacare. You need not click far online to hear another person refer to Glenn Beck as “dangerous”, yet they can never claim specifically why. Despite their rhetoric, the media refuses to follow up with what makes a man, who has spent hours just this year begging people to remain peaceful, so obscenely dangerous.
Read the rest.
by Linda Gray
Special for the Republic
One of the highest priorities for me as a state lawmaker is to keep the people of my district and the state safe. Arizona has been a leader in tracking convicted sex offenders and has provided a simple-to-use public Web site so citizens can see where offenders released to the community are living.
In 2006, Congress passed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act to protect children from sexual exploitation and violent crime, to prevent child abuse and child pornography and to promote Internet safety. The goals of the act are noble, but it is questionable whether the new requirements contained in it will make Arizonans safer. Also, the costs of putting in place all phases will be millions of dollars during a time of financial crisis in our state.
The federal government required states to comply with the act’s provisions by July 2009. To give you an idea of the struggle going on across the country, only one state has complied. Arizona is one of 49 states not in compliance and is making plans for a second extension, to comply by July 2011.
Linda Gray, a Republican, is an Arizona state senator representing District 10 in Phoenix
