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Anonymous Cancels Operation Cartel as Los Zetas Track Hacktivists

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Re: Anonymous Cancels Operation Cartel as Los Zetas Track Hacktivists

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gun running, human trafficking, political corruption, extortion, kidnapping, straight up stealing shit, fencing, counterfeiting. You know all those crimes that aren't substance based. And depending on the terms of legalization, I'm sure drugs would always be a small part, whether that be black market to avoid taxes or prescription drugs.

We should probably legalize all those too. They'll go away.

I like the way you think! I had the same idea. What makes something a crime is that it is illegal. If we make everything legal then there isn't any crime! I know, I know, I'm a genius.

Re: Anonymous Cancels Operation Cartel as Los Zetas Track Hacktivists

#92
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since when is there a "real" Anonymous? Heck, I went to an anti-scientology protest one time, surely that gives me as much of a right as anybody to claim to be Anonymous.

It's heavy with irony, but it is suspected there are a few masterminds with the "keys to the kingdom" of Anonymous- for example, the twitter feed- and anything not publicly endorsed by those sacred sources is not considered to be "the true Anonymous". Again, yes, I see the irony in that.

Indeed. There are no leaderless, emergent movements. All modern seemingly complete democracies merely have a shadow government.

Re: Anonymous Cancels Operation Cartel as Los Zetas Track Hacktivists

#93

If only there was an easy way to take away much of many cartels' power that has been endorsed by a dozen current and former leaders of several countries.

Surely Anonymous, or a more skilled hacker group could do this. To hit the cartel where it hurts they must hit their money supply. Instead of publishing members, track the money and reveal where it's coming from and where it's going to. With an annual income of $1B there has got to be something sizable to be tracked.

Re: Anonymous Cancels Operation Cartel as Los Zetas Track Hacktivists

#94
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Decent evidence often isn't. Remember those 'weapons of mass destruction' in Iraq? 4,482 dead American soldiers and counting. I'm not saying these gangs aren't full of horrible people, and I'm not saying all branches of the US government and military aren't perfectly good intentioned and well-meaning people, but mistakes do get made - which is why we need some judicial oversight here. We've already got one war on an…

What makes someone "horrible"?

http://insightcrime.org/insight-latest-news/item/1209-10-hea...

There are pictures of this (and numerous other similar situations) out there on the internet for you to find. I cannot stress highly enough that you should NOT try to find them..

Re: Anonymous Cancels Operation Cartel as Los Zetas Track Hacktivists

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"clearly adverse narcotics" How are they clearly adverse? Why was it not clear before the middle of the 20th century? Why is it not clear in other countries? Why was alcohol "clearly adverse" in the early 20th century in the US? What's the evidence that making drugs illegal has net benefits to society? It is very, very expensive and unhealthy to lock up so many young people for drug offenses. Illegal drugs do a lot o…

Legalizing something harmful because there are other harmful things that are ALSO legal isn't sensible. It just means more things should be illegal. And they are adverse because they are unhealthy for consumption. That a prison is unhealthy says more about the American prison system than the comparative health of narcotics. There are a lot of responses I can't cover individually, so here is a thought experiment to ex…

"Legalizing something harmful because there are other harmful things that are ALSO legal isn't sensible. It just means more things should be illegal."

So. Would you choose to restart Prohibition if it were up to you?

Re: Anonymous Cancels Operation Cartel as Los Zetas Track Hacktivists

#96
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes someone "horrible"?

http://insightcrime.org/insight-latest-news/item/1209-10-hea... There are pictures of this (and numerous other similar situations) out there on the internet for you to find. I cannot stress highly enough that you should NOT try to find them..

Maybe it is good for my mental health to try to maintain what little faith in humanity I have left.

Re: Anonymous Cancels Operation Cartel as Los Zetas Track Hacktivists

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People drink and take drugs because they enjoy it. What illegal activity are you proposing people will seek if drugs are medicinalized/legalized? Saying "oh they'll just move on" is a bit hand-wavey.

Gun running, human trafficking, political corruption, extortion, kidnapping, straight up stealing shit, fencing, counterfeiting. You know all those crimes that aren't substance based. And depending on the terms of legalization, I'm sure drugs would always be a small part, whether that be black market to avoid taxes or prescription drugs.

Market size.

Drugs are relatively easy to produce and smuggle and have a massive community demand. Nothing else comes close.

Added benefit: fewer drug-related prisoners being trained up as career criminals.

EDIT: also, "people" refers to "people in the community taking drugs", not the gangs.

Re: Anonymous Cancels Operation Cartel as Los Zetas Track Hacktivists

#98
post #82
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There aren't criminal organizations in the USA which can credibly threaten state governments, let aloe the Feds. This is different in other countries. Hence, law enforcement to solve crime in the USA; targeted killings in Mexico.

The point i'm trying to make, the super glamorous "send in the military and take out the boss" kind of tactics are ultimately doomed to fail. You have to do the sucky work of grinding away at the base. a tax evasion conviction here, a conspiracy charge there. Keep enough pressure on the base of the pyramid that it starts getting a little tougher to find people willing to deal or be mules or enforcers or whatever. It'…

I don't see the "doomed to fail" part. What bad thing happens when you take out known crime bosses? They get replaced quickly? Do it again. They can only take it so long. Is it more expensive than hundreds of law-enforcement officers working for decades "grinding away at the base"? I rather doubt it. You probably don't need to go all "helicopters and M-16s" on them. I'm sure it can be done much less expensively than that.

Just working intuitively, it seems like you would want both. Put pressure on at whatever levels you can, and then speed things up by removing key players. Wouldn't this accelerate the collapse of the organization, and at least make it less effective?

Re: Anonymous Cancels Operation Cartel as Los Zetas Track Hacktivists

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I doubt they have the resources to find hackers. The Los Zetas cartel, being the second largest cartel in Mexico, probably has revenues of well over a billion dollars per year. (It's estimated that the overall earnings of all Mexican drug smugglers is $13-40 billion.) I'm pretty sure that's enough money to hire a hacker or two.

You need more than money if you're buying something illegally. You also need a certain amount of sophistication to know you're getting what you want.

In this case, I'm pretty sure that money is enough. It's not like the cartel needs to know anything about hacking or how to choose good hackers. All they have to do is tie the monetary reward to the result they want (track down the Anonymous member who said this), and somebody will figure it out, through hacking or other means.

As an aside, I don't know of any billion-dollar industry that doesn't have a fairly high level of sophistication. I don't see why the cartels should be any different.

Re: Anonymous Cancels Operation Cartel as Los Zetas Track Hacktivists

#100
post #93

If only there was an easy way to take away much of many cartels' power that has been endorsed by a dozen current and former leaders of several countries.

Surely Anonymous, or a more skilled hacker group could do this. To hit the cartel where it hurts they must hit their money supply. Instead of publishing members, track the money and reveal where it's coming from and where it's going to. With an annual income of $1B there has got to be something sizable to be tracked.

Sorry, that was (I thought thinnly) veiled sarcasm.
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