The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Neal Rauhauser’s Sick Obsession and the #Anonymous #OpIsrael Hamas Scam

Posted on | November 17, 2012 | 67 Comments

Just got off the phone with a reporter who was wondering why this blog was named in the second paragraph of a press release from Anonymous about their support for the terrorist group Hamas:

It has come to our attention that conservative and pro-Israeli groups throughout the blogosphere have taken advantage of Operation Israel, attempting to solidify public opinion against Anonymous.
TheOtherMcCain.com posted an editorial this morning which stated the following: “If you ever doubted that Anonymous was a terrorist organization, they have now removed all reason for doubt.”

The post mentioned: “Thugs of a Feather: #Anonymous Supports Hamas Terrorists Against Israel.” Several news sites as well as bloggers have called attention to the pro-Hama declarations made by various accounts claiming to speak on behalf of Anonymous. So why, among all the sites reporting and commenting on this phenomenon, am I singled out in this press release that goes yammering on about the “oppression imposed by the Israeli government,” etc.?

The answer in two words: Neal Rauhauser, who has spent the past 24 hours figuratively high-fiving himself on his Blog Nobody Should Link, celebrating the fact that our site was targeted for an online attack yesterday that blocked or slowed traffic. This was not a DDOS attack, which requires the use of multiple accounts, but rather another method that can be done from a single computer.

In other words, it would appear, Rauhauser personally attempted to shut down our site, then tried to pretend that it was a collective attack by Anonymous, and has since carried on at his blog in an effort to convince others to join in on the attack. It’s a dishonest scam.

As for the press release from Anonymous, if Neal did not write it himself, it is almost certain that the person who did write it named my site so prominently at the prompting of Rauhauser, who has often boasted of his connections to Anonymous.

As anyone who has studied Rauhauser’s harassment methods knows, he has a childish love of the “you can’t catch me” game: He engages in surreptitious attacks on the targets of his cyberstalking and, if they publicly accuse him of it, Rauhauser then denies his involvement and mocks his target as being “paranoid” for suspecting him. Rauhauser did this in the 2010 “TwitterGate” scandal; after Neal’s involvement was exposed, he did the “you can’t catch me” trick, and succeeded in convincing some people that the orchestrated online harassment of Tea Party activists was just a “prank” that got out of hand.

Now, some people have suggested that I should just ignore Neal Rauhauser, as if ignoring him would cause him to stop his obsessive cyberstalking. It won’t, and this is not about me. When I ignore Rauhauser, his other targets — he has a long list of people with whom he is fanatically obsessed — continue to suffer harm and, in fact, even greater harm occasionally befalls those who assist Rauhauser in his harassment.

Former Anonymous spokesman Barrett Brown was arrested by the FBI after he got involved in one of Rauhauser’s operations. In recent weeks, Rauhauser has tried to gin up another one of his crazy conspiracy theories to explain Brown’s meltdown, but those of us who watched it happen know the part Neal played in that sad episode.

Neal Rauhauser is a dangerous person, perhaps more dangerous to his “friends” than to his enemies, and his latest apparent stunt — inciting Anonymous supporters against me — is a classic example. Anyone who permits themselves to be baited into criminal activity will  be subject to the same kind of prosecution that sent the “LulzSec” hackers to prison. And look what Anonymous is doing now:

Anonymous attacks over 650 Israeli sites, wipes
databases, leaks email addresses and passwords

Are these people insane? The United States government considers Hamas a terrorist organization. Not only is any U.S. resident participating in these criminal intrusions individually liable for those federal crimes, but Anonymous as an organization now must be considered a national security threat, giving aid to terrorists against a U.S. ally.

Indeed, what Anonymous calls the #OpIsrael project may be the work of foreign agents who have infiltrated the Anonymous collective. In an online space where people are intensively secretive about their identities, no one can be sure of another person’s actual motives. Therefore, in regard to #OpIsrael, the question is, “Cui bono?”

Who benefits from the online attacks on Israeli sites? Hamas. And who supports Hamas? Iran. The possibility that #OpIsrael is, in fact, a project of Iranian intelligence operatives cannot be dismissed. Any teenage techie who thinks it’s just a lot of lulz to get involved in this stunt — or any misguided idealist who thinks that hacking Israeli computers is a way to prevent “oppression” — is apt to learn a hard lesson.

It’s all just fun and games until someone ends up in federal prison. And if you don’t believe me, ask Barrett Brown.

UPDATE: A reader in the comments recommends Parmy Olson’s book, We Are Anonymous: Inside the Hacker World of LulzSec, Anonymous, and the Global Cyber Insurgency.

UPDATE II: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

UPDATE III: Geopolitics and ‘Amateur Assclowns’

 


Category: Israel, Terrorism

Comments

67 Responses to “Neal Rauhauser’s Sick Obsession and the #Anonymous #OpIsrael Hamas Scam”

  1. The Twinkie Apocalypse and Weekend Links!
    November 18th, 2012 @ 3:35 am

    […] Other McCain is blogging about Anonymous and their anti-Israel/pro Hamas activism, Neil Rauhauser. It’s a MUST […]

  2. pcarro11
    November 18th, 2012 @ 4:01 am

    Please forgive me for pointing out that anti-semitism is a European thing, rather than an Irish thing, per se.

    Please bear in mind that all the non-bloody-minded Irish (e.g., me, the guy from Armagh who makes my bagels at Panera, etc.) long ago immigrated into the USA.

    There are reasonable Irish people. They’re all Americans, or working to become Americans.

  3. TMLutas
    November 18th, 2012 @ 8:14 am

    Given the attempt by the left to make right wingers “the other” and thus ok to attack in brutal terms, the one thing we should not be doing is eliminating the safe haven of anonymity. We may need it soon enough.

  4. The Best Advice Anonymous will ever get: Basically RUN! » Da Tech Guy's Blog
    November 18th, 2012 @ 8:42 am

    […] McCain’s warnings about Federal prison are well taken, even in the Obama years Are these people insane? The United States government considers Hamas a terrorist organization. Not […]

  5. Stogie Chomper
    November 18th, 2012 @ 11:46 am

    Being “anonymous” is fine as long as you aren’t using it to hide from prosecution for criminal acts.

  6. Stogie Chomper
    November 18th, 2012 @ 11:47 am

    One of the best ways is to “dox” them — discover their true identities and expose them on the web for all the world to see.

  7. Steven Bawtinheimer
    November 18th, 2012 @ 11:48 am

    http://kxm.209.mwp.accessdomain.com/2012/11/17/neal-rauhausers-sick-obsession-and-the-anonymous-opisrael-hamas-scam/

  8. In case you doubted it, the hacker group Anonymous are terrorists | Wildcat's Lair
    November 18th, 2012 @ 11:49 am

    […] hat tip: The Other McCain […]

  9. Thomas L. Knapp
    November 18th, 2012 @ 11:55 am

    “giving aid to terrorists against a U.S. ally.”

    It’s a stretch –more than a stretch, actually — to characterize Israel as a “US ally.”

  10. Quartermaster
    November 18th, 2012 @ 12:41 pm

    Then, they aren’t Irish, they are Americans.

  11. TMLutas
    November 18th, 2012 @ 1:22 pm

    Ponder on what a usurping govt would declare illegal and you may find, as I did, growing in charity to the anonymity crowd.

  12. Dianna Deeley
    November 18th, 2012 @ 2:18 pm

    What’s to be afraid of? More of his ugly characterizations? I haven’t forgotten (or gotten over the humor of) his describing you as “a homeless drifter”. It was just…bizarre.

  13. JeffS
    November 18th, 2012 @ 3:16 pm

    Projection does manifest itself in odd ways, doesn’t it?

  14. JeffS
    November 18th, 2012 @ 3:18 pm

    When Anonymous becomes charitable, or at least unbiased, I’ll consider it.

  15. pcarro11
    November 18th, 2012 @ 10:16 pm

    Point taken.

    Let me then say that I am an American citizen who is culturally Irish. This does not require being an anti-semite.

    We all have crosses to bear. Though, as an American of Irish heritage, I think I have won 99.99999% of life’s race.

    And in the words of the famous Myles, “Here’s me bus…”

  16. The Truth: Israel And Gaza « The Camp Of The Saints
    November 19th, 2012 @ 8:38 am

    […] excellent coverage of the situation in Gaza and related matters for further information [here, here, and […]

  17. Ulysses S. Arn
    November 20th, 2012 @ 8:42 pm

    Since I brought up this Neal fellow and his attack against The Other McCain in my blog post tonight in regards to explaining Israels struggle against the evil that is terrorism and Hamas I wonder if this assclown is going to try to knock my site down, or am I going to get swat’ed