Italian police have carried out 32 raids across the country and fingered the collar of three people, including a minor, who are suspected of being the Italian leaders of the Anonymous hacker group.
State Police claim they have arrested the "the promoter" and some leading figures of the Italian cell of "Anonymous", the hacker group. So far no names have been released.
The raids were carried out by the anti-crime investigators of the National Computer Center and coordinated by the Public Prosecutor of Rome. Another person in the Swiss canton of Canton Ticino has also been arrested.
Local press here expect further arrests to follow.
In a statement, the Italian State police said that Anonymous had caused substantial damage to institutions and companies. Some sites were unable to operate for some time.
Out of all of the current hacker groups, Anonymous is the largest, but is also populated by the least technical people. Some of its members carry out attacks using software downloaded from the Internet and do not carry out the most basic attempts to secure their IP address.
There has been no official announcement from Anonymous about the arrests.
Anonymous is an idea, not a "group" or "cell". You don't get an idea out of the world by arresting some random teenagers who wear Guy Fawkes masks...
What they are trying to do is like trying to stop Christmas by arresting anybody with a Santa Claus costume.
It's completely pointless - but it makes of course great headlines: "Police Arrests Leader of XMas Gang - All members had to wear red robes - many children affected..."
But I guess the Italian police follows the example of their beloved Prime Minister: Bunga-bunga is more important than making sense.
A~O
Obviously, you can't stop "ideas" but you can prosecute "groups" and "cells" which made up of individuals when they break the law.
If we were to follow your inane thinking, you are saying we shouldn't even attempt to arrest terrorists, because, they do things based on "ideas" and you can't stop "ideas" so why even try... Your world is full of apathy...a very sad, scary world you live in...
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"Anonymous", the hacker group
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Anonymous doesn't refer to one group, or one anything.
Anonymous is actually a reference to internet users at large, since in general, they are anonymous.
The 4chan community simply coined the term when referring to their collective self...
Just like they coined a lot of other things (lol-cats, etc).
(Probably because when you post on 4chan, and don't log in, your posts are written by "Anonymous"... hence everyone IS (or can be) "Anonymous")
4chan (/b/) is just a message board where people come up with funny/goofy/crazy pictures/ideas and toss them around for a laugh. It's all over the place, from lol-cats, to anime tentacle porn, to whatever stupid crap you can think of. Nothing specific to hacking.
Within that community, some people that knew each other got to hacking.
It's like 3 guys from the chicago bulls go rob a bank, and people start saying "chicago bulls, the bank robbery gang".
It just sounds silly.
It is absurd to say that they have arrested a "leader" of anonymous. LOL This law enforcement has no clue what they are up against. They are randomly attacking anons who may have forgotten to use a vpn or proxy, and claiming a victory. Payback is a b**ch, however.
Convicted of what?
LEAVE THOSE PEOPLE ALONE, STOP ARRESTING INNOCENT PEOPLE AND INSTEAD THINK ABOUT HOW TO GET OUT OF THE ENORMOUS DEBT WE HAVE.
Peace.
p.s. : berlusconi, gtfo.