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A group claiming affiliation with Anonymous posted a bomb threat on its Twitter account Monday, saying it plans to detonate a bomb in a government building on November 5. The threat prompted disavowals from other Anon channels across the web.

The threat was linked from @FawkesSecurity, which posted the following message on several paste-up sites, as well as links to a seemingly typical Anonymous video with a masked and suited figure gesturing as a robotic voice said these words:

Dear citizens of the world, We are Anonymous.

As of today, 200 kilograms of composite Nitroglycerin and commercial explosives have effectively been concealed in a government building, situated in the United States of America. On the 5th of November, 2012, the device will detonate remotely via the transmission control protocol, leaving behind severe consequences. We would like to advise that the contraption is built inside a tamper-proof apparatus sensitive to physical intrusions or attempted disarmament, thus resulting in the desired effect, if the military grade device is found before the 5th of November. There is no intention, risks or circumstances whatsoever to cause harm to innocent people, but we can not say the same for the people who are the real terrorists, oppressors and war creators. [...]

Negative responses to the threat from the larger, Fawkes-masked and shifting sea of Anonymous have been trending on Pastebin, the most well-known programmers' paste-up site.

In one, titled "Anonymous response to false #OpV attack," the author of the message writes that FawkesSecurity has been seeking "fame by reuploading (sic) Anonymous videos [...] for almost a year" and suggests the bomb threat may be a disinformation campaign by the authorities or a "disinfo fucktard."

Another, more formal response was addressed "to the media." It said in part:

Let us be perfectly clear: Anonymous is not a terrorist organization. Anonymous does not use bombs. Anonymous does not condone violence in any way. Anonymous supports justice and universal equal rights. We support peaceful protest.

The Pastebin post addressing the media closed with another suggestion the bomb threat was disinformation intended to portray Anonymous as a terrorist group and concluded, "Either way, fuck whoever posted that threat."

The threatening message says it will detonate the bomb via "transmission control protocol," which may be a subtle signal that it is a hoax. Transmission control protocol is the TCP in TCP/IP. TCP is an application that supports secure and organized data transfer over the web.

However, the use of the term may also be the writer's attempt to suggest the bomb can be detonated by remote command, perhaps via cellphone.

The responses to FawkesSecurity's threat have sometimes referenced Project Mayhem 2012 and #OpV or #OpVendetta.

The latter operation will be a planned act of peaceful street theater in which Anons gather in London to recreate the final scene from the movie, V for Vendetta. In that scene, a mass of marchers enter Trafalgar Square in Guy Fawkes masks, then bombs go off under Big Ben in the U.K. Parliament building. Anonymous has said that it will not complete the re-enactment with explosives.

A page detailing FawkesSecurity's history since 2011 at KnowYourMeme strongly suggests it has a history of claiming responsibility for other hacks and DDoS attacks, as well as general trolling.

Anonymous Warning: 5th November 2012 - YouTube.

(Photo: Wikipedia)

Terrorists: they're just like us! They use message boards to communicate and organize. Before, these message board were largely free of "first!!!1" and painstakingly detailed ASCII art, but perhaps no more. Now, according to Wired, participants in the U.S. government's “Viral Peace” program are prepared to fight for freedom the American way: with trolling, naturally.

Perhaps not since To Catch a Predator has Internet vigilantism seemed so entertaining. Shahed Amanullah, senior technology advisor to the State Department, developed the program to address the world of online terrorism and fill what he recognizes as a void in US counterterrorism strategies.

Program participants will enter various online chat forums to troll the people making jihadist claims by debunking myths, refuting grandiose claims and contributing to plain old harassment.

According to Mr. Amanullah, the people discussing jihadist theory online--while often making empty threats--contribute to the viral nature of jihadist ideals. He said these ideas are attractive to possible terrorists because of the ego factor. According to Wired, he proposes demoralizing the terrorism-touting chattering classes in order to make anti-jihadists seems like “actually a cool group of people to be in.”

But the project to make online anti-terrorism seem cool doesn’t have much of a budget right now--only a few thousand dollars--and it doesn’t have much of a strategy, either.

Instead, Mr. Amanullah is leaving the strategy up to his trolls, Wired reports:  "It’s better, they argue, to let Muslims in various foreign countries figure out which message boards to troll and how to properly troll them."

Troll training begins this spring. As study materials, we assume Mr. Amanullah has directed his participants to YouTube comments so they can get a better sense of how to be a gigantic asshole on the Internet.

Gather round for story time. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Like a newsprint Mother Goose, the Guardian knows how to defeat an Internet troll. The secret, dearie, is that trolls were once decent people transformed into loathsome monsters. Thus in the Guardian's little fairy tale, once you talk to trolls like humans, they can transform right back:

One minute it's all "when will you WAKE UP to the fact that your STINKING LIBERAL MANURE has DESTROYED THIS COUNTRY" and the next thing you know, you'll get a message saying, "Sorry I was testy, I just got stuck in traffic on my way back from the garden centre."

The key to breaking the spell? Tut-tut them for their appalling bad behavior:

It's all about humanisation, which is the big conundrum facing this amendment – people behave badly online because they feel liberated, and they feel liberated because it's virtual. Our standards of courtesy are bound to our corporeal selves; freed from one we're freed from the other. Calling trolls "trolls" probably doesn't help. We should call them rude people.

With that their monstrous appearance will fall away and the beast will become, once more, a polite member of society. Or they'll be revealed as a cranky basement dweller. Whichever.

Just bear in mind that patent trolls are different species and therefore require a different set of magical strategies. But that is a story for another day.

Be nice to the noob

The President started a Tumblr today, another arrow in the old social media quiver leading into the 2012 campaign.

According to his Hello, World post, "We’d like this Tumblr to be a huge collaborative storytelling effort—a place for people across the country to share what’s going on in our respective corners of it and how we’re getting involved in this campaign to keep making it better."

President Obama knows a thing or two about dealing with unruly opponents. But this is the internet we're talking about. 4Chan. Anonymous. Seriously pissed off flamers.

As he has done so many time during his administration when dealing with contentious Republicans, President Obama began by extending the olive branch.

"There will be trolls among you: this we know. We ask only that you remember that we’re people—fairly nice ones—and that your mother would want you to be polite."

Sigh. Steve Jobs got the chance to weigh in posthumously on Obama's problems in office via his autobiography: "He's having trouble leading because he's reluctant to offend people or piss them off."

Trolls don't have mothers,  Mr. President. They are the internet id. You cannot appeal to their sensible side. You need to get a big ban hammer, and wield it with impunity.

via @lizgannes