Search
Home

For those that opened up a Xbox One or Playstation 4 this Christmas, playing your newest games online, or even updating to the latest software, might have been impossible, or at the very least, a challenge. This was all courtesy of the Lizard Squad. Although some have dubbed these acts of DDoS(distributed denial-of-service) as Internet terrorism, the Lizard Squad has yet to ask for anything from either of the companies, the only hint towards a stance against Microsoft or Sony themselves was the following Tweet, which was sent days after the DDoS halted and Sony had yet to bring up the Playstation Network service.

The DDOS attacks began Christmas Eve, and lasted until about 7:59pm on Christmas Day. The aftermath allowed for the services to stay down for several days afterwords. However, it was not Microsoft or Sony that fixed these attacks. Instead, Kim Schmitz agreed to exchange 3,000 Mega Privacy premium vouchers for Lizard Squad to stop attacking the servers, and should they ever attack Xbox Live or Playstation Network again, the accounts would be terminated without notice. It has not been said whether the Lizard Squad is actually using the vouchers or not.

Kim Schmitz later Tweeted about the supposed Christmas miracle, and how MegaPrivacy saved the day.

kimdotcom

In other words, Kim Schmitz paid off a criminal to bring up video game servers, then proceeded to brag about saving the day, by paying off criminals.

Although the topic is largely debated, the problem with paying off criminals is simple: if you pay off one, more are sure to try the similar acts, and often accompanied with ransom demands from this point on.

Although Kim Schmitz wants to bring some justice into the world, working on an encrypted video/voice/text-based chat for those who wish to keep conversations away from the five eyes – for those of you living under a rock, I’m going to link you to the wikipedia article. A brief run down is Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and the United States government have all been busy spying upon the public in attempt to decrease terrorism acts. This is again a topic that is largely debated whether it actually helps the nation or takes away the supposedly basic human right for privacy. This has been going on since World War II, but obviously the more technological spying, on the Internet, was only uncovered in the past while with Edward Snowden coming forth and beginning to unmask whats been going on. Moving on from that, sometimes giving a person(or persons, in this case) exactly what they want is the worst thing to do in situations like this.

By paying off The Lizard Squad, Kim Schmitz is proposing that more groups do this – so that they can be entitled to free subscriptions to services that they want. What is to stop another group for stepping forward and doing the same thing? Will Kim Schmitz be there to pay off the attackers if they take down a server for a game he does not play? That is very unlikely. Kim Schmitz is a very greedy, greedy man, who simply wanted to play a video game. He did not do this for the justice he so confidently proclaims by publishing works of art entitled The Moment of Truth, which so proudly displays a Guy Fawkes mask symbol – made popular through the franchise V for Vendetta. Below is a portion of a speech from the movie V for Vendetta. It is very important we all realize what the speech is about – and how if one man is given too much respect, too much power, he becomes greedy. This is what will happen with Kim Schmitz if we continue to allow him to pay off the groups that step forward. Justice should be found with an absolute ending, not a temporary fix.

“There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always keep their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn’t be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent.”

Send this to a friend