• Gene Simmons Threatens Anonymous, Responds to DDoS Attacks Against His Site

    "Some of you may have heard a few popcorn farts re: our sites being threatened by hackers," wrote KISS bassist Gene Simmons on his website yesterday, responding to a DDoS attack that took downGeneSimmons.com earlier this week.
    The attack was part of Operation Payback, a campaign that over the past few weeks has been targeting organizations who legislate and litigate in support of copyright laws. Loosely organized by Anonymous, a group of Internet "vigilantes" has launched a series of denial-of-service attacks against the likes of the MPAA, the RIAA, the UK Intellectual Property Office, as well as against the KISS bassman.

    The direct action campaign has effectively shut down sites that have been most vocal (and litigious) about their pro-copyright and anti-piracy stances. It has also targeted law offices that have been deemed to be part of a what TorrentFreak has called "pay-up-or-else" schemes, threats of legal action aimed at alleged file-sharers. Anonymous's DDoS attacks have targeted well over a dozen sites over the past few weeks.
    According to TorrentFreak, the attacks against Gene Simmons were controversial among those associated with Anonymous, some arguing that it's better to target the legal mechanisms of the film and music industry, rather than artist themselves. But Simmons has painted a fairly large target on himself (or on his site, at least), by speaking out in recent weeks against file-sharing, arguing that the music industry should be suing more people: "Make sure your brand is protected, be litigious, sue anybody - take their homes, their cars, Don't let anybody cross that line."
    Simmons's site is down at the time of publishing, but Slyck posted a copy of the response to the DDoS attack that was posted there yesterday:


    Some of you may have heard a few popcorn farts re: our sites being threatened by hackers.
    Our legal team and the FBI have been on the case and we have found a few, shall we say "adventurous" young people, who feel they are above the law.
    And, as stated in my MIPCOM speech, we will sue their pants off.
    First, they will be punished.
    Second, they might find their little butts in jail, right next to someone who's been there for years and is looking for a new girl friend.
    We will soon be printing their names and pictures.
    We will find you.
    You cannot hide.
    Stay tuned
    As Slyck notes, the ability to identify those who are participating in a distributed denial-of-service attack would be pretty challenging, if not impossible. But Simmons's threats and attitude (not to mention his lack of understanding of "hackers") echoes his misunderstanding that everyone who participates in peer-to-peer file-sharing is a criminal who needs to have their pants sued off or end up in jail.
    Better round up the KISS Army, Gene. This battle could be brutal.


    Source: ReadWriteWeb

    Comments 7 Comments
    1. taniquetil's Avatar
      taniquetil -
      You will listen to me! LISTEN! The other ships will still be looking to us, to the Black Pearl, to lead, and what will they see? Frightened bilgerats aboard a derelict ship? No, no they will see free men and freedom! And what the enemy will see, they will see the flash of our cannons, and they will hear the ringing of our swords, and they will know what we can do! By the sweat of our brow and the strength of our backs and the courage in our hearts! Gentlemen, hoist the colors!
    1. TheFoX's Avatar
      TheFoX -
      Just goes to show how ignorant some people can be.

      Firstly, if someone has committed a crime, it is down to a judge and jury to decide what punishment, if any, needs to be metered out, not Gene Simmons, whoever he is.

      Secondly, everyone is innocent until provem guilty. We all know how easy it is to take control of someone elses system. Bill Gates designed Windows to be this way. I know people who can bypass even the most stringent of protection on a Windows based system, and that is why they suggest people use Unix or Linux.

      Finally, is it actually illegal to share? What about fair use? Or do these idiots want to install such a draconian system that even putting one step over the line results in your liberty being taken away? Even speeding motorists are allowed a margin of error before the GATSO will capture them in the act. A Zero Tolerance policy is ridiculous, as it allows no leeway for an error of judgement.

      Gene Simmons seems to think that everything is Black and White, while in reality, it is not. I used to copy my CDs onto tapes when I wanted to listen to music in my car (back in the day), yet this was, by definition, illegal, even though I still owned the original CD. Where will this stupidity stop.

      I should also point out that human nature is to rebel against authority, so the more they say they will sue us, the more we share to enrage them. After all, we are already a prisoner of a system engineered to harvest our labour (society and banking), so what else have we to lose.

      Of course, Gene Simmons, on not getting his way, could ask, or pay, for congress to consider File Sharing a crime worthy of the Death Sentence (still practiced in some states), in the hope that if they give a lethal inject to a number of file sharers, the others will step back into line. This will never happen, because the more pressure they put on us, the more we will fight back.

      After all, the current level of deterrents used in the United States against file sharers far outstrips deterrents used for other crimes, some more serious in nature.
    1. sandman_1's Avatar
      sandman_1 -
      Simmons=pwnd!!!

      Anyway he asked for it. When he says, " take their homes, their cars", as a punishment for file sharing, how ridiculous can you get? Gene Simmons is a tard and his music is mediocre at best.
    1. PanicAcid's Avatar
      PanicAcid -
      Couldn't have put it better my self FoX
    1. bobbintb's Avatar
      bobbintb -
      being who he is im sure he's used to getting his way. the reality of the situation is they probably wont find anybody save maybe a few scape goats or "examples" to put on the news. i think its so funny in these cases that all these people, especially the legal experts, try to stop all this file sharing stuff yet they have barely a minimal understanding of it. so their case goes to shit and nothing happens. they always think its so black and white. but really, if the jury, judge, and prosecutor dont even really understand the details of the case, how can they expect to "find us and make us pay"? more often than not the only ones who understand the case, particularly the technical aspects, are the ones being accused. so i say bring it.
    1. pseudo17's Avatar
      pseudo17 -
      This is a battle Gene isn't going to win, but it'll be funny to watch.
    1. TheFoX's Avatar
      TheFoX -
      It's actually amazing how different cultures deal with this so called crime of piracy.

      For example, if you are an admin of a torrent site, you can end up losing everything, including your liberty, with a fine so huge that you'll probably die before being able to pay it off.

      Now, if you commit the same crime in the UK, as Allan Ellis suposedly did, the net result of punishment is so much different. If you are found guilty, you'll probably pays costs and do some community service, but more than likely, you'll be found innocent, and go about your life as if nothing happened, which is indeed the case.

      The real scary thing is that Gene Simmons may end up sueing some for everything they own, for such a trivial thing as staring at him unnecessarily, because the US embraces the capitalist mentality to the extreme, whereas Europe has a less extremist attitude, coupled with a socialist ideal that the state should look after its citizens.

      So, basically, if you happen to be in the same room a Gene Simmons, and pass wind (fart), he could take you for every cent, if this happened on the other side of the Pond, yet if he was in the UK and you started up a torrent tracker sharing Kiss material, you would be lucky if you had to spend 180 hours cutting his grass, should he decide to sue.

      Remember that Gene Simmons is a product of the American Dream, where everyone sues everyone else. I always find it ironic that Apple (the iPod maker) is sued by Apple (the record company) for billions, as is every other big business these days.

      I reckon in a few years, Americans won't have to work, and their labor will be handled by immigrants, because they will all be making money from each other suing each other. 'Did you just eat my doughnut? I'm gonna sue you for every cent you have.'

      Just watch Judge Judy for some of the really pathetic claim and counter claim cases going through the court. 'He stole my doughnut, your honor'. 'I want compensation for my stolen doughnut, and the stress it has caused me.' 'I want 50 cents for the missing doughnut, and $750,000 for the stress of being denied the doughnut.'