30 
Hacking collective Anonymous claims it’s stolen around 28,000 user details from a server used by PayPal, with what appears to be email addresses, names and associated passwords appearing on a selection of online sharing services.
However, as with some other recent Anonymous claims, the hack is being disputed by the attacked party. PayPal says it has no evidence of any sort of breach, and is currently answering all enquiries with the line: “We’re investigating this but to date we have been unable to find any evidence that validates this claim.”
Still, with November 5th marked out as a kind of global hacking and protest day by Anonymous and its legion of followers, there might be more to come. US TV network NBC’s site has already been ruined as part of this little online hack-a-thon. [TNW]
UPDATE:
PayPal has been in touch. It says the data actually came from an unrelated company called Zpanel. Here’s the new statement:
The attack was actually directed at a company called ZPanel, not PayPal. The 28,000 passwords belonged to ZPanel, a free open source hosting site. Anuj Nayar, a PayPal spokesman, said the payments company had been investigating the attack since Sunday night and concluded that there was no evidence any of its data had been breached.
It's Time PayPal Was Sorted Out (Updated: PayPal Response)
PayPal Is Testing Out Mobile Payment at McDonald's Restaurants
PayPal Launches an In-Store Payment System to the UK
What a bunch of dicks. Anonymous as ever seem such a waste of potential
There is no potential, they’re just some naive idealist script-kiddies who think they can subvert justice and democracy by “hacking” websites and changing the home page for a few hours.
Its a bit odd how you say they are subverting democracy when their targets have for the most part been private security companies making millions subverting your democracy and large corporations using their money and power to also subvert the law and democracy. So many laws have been paid for and passed for the last few years, its not really democracy.
I for one think these ‘kid’ have the right idea. They have seen democracy doesn’t work, laws are not for the rich and they are lashing out.
Hacking a company and releasing personal details online is an ineffectual endeavour. They can tantrum all they want but they’re wasting their breath.
Whatever you say, democracy in this country works. If it doesn’t work, then why haven’t you arranged a coup and done something about it? If our government is corrupt, then why are you wasting your time on Gizmodo when you could be out liberating us from our oppressive leadership?
Seems Citi Group seems to think its more of a Plutonomy than a democracy, the rule of the wealthy. https://www.box.com/shared/9if6v2hr9h
Democracy means one man one vote, older presidents understood this and warned about the rise of special interests and how they seek to subvert the power of the people. Im sure they warned about private banks among other things. Its a shame you know how to spell words without understanding their meaning and how they came apart.
The original war of independence was over a foreign company controlling power, taxes being force d on the people and at the behest of the company etc…
You are also forgetting a full history of people fighting for your rights which you seem to not even care about.
America has never been a full democracy, it was not too long ago when non-whites couldn’t vote and there are enough laws being passed / fought to ensure similar outcomes now.
In terms of rising up, you can’t even have a constitutionally guaranteed gathering without the police showing up tear gassing you, shooting you in the head, forcing the press away from covering the protest etc… things which now are being fight in court, but unfortunately after the fact.
Now you’re just talking shit.
1. This isn’t America.
2. The ‘original’ war of independence wasn’t over a foreign company controlling power. It was over the American colonies of the UK not wanting to pay tax without being properly represented in the UK parliament. Even that isn’t the real reason, the real reason is people want to govern themselves, not be governed by others from overseas. Quite natural really.
Im talking shit? The War of Independence was started over taxes yes, but it was unfair taxes levied at the expense of American colonists and in favour of the East India Company. Look up the Tea Act or how Boston Port was blockaded / closed until the EIC was compensated. The control of colonies was done under corporations. You can also look up how the United Fruit Company was used to control South America if you could be bothered.
Now if you are taking about the UK and you think we live in a democracy then you are a fool. The UK is not an actual democracy and never has been. We have an unelected head of state who still has a lot of powers, if you believe it or not. You could ask the people of Diego Garcia as she used her powers recently to overrule the courts and deny them their Islands. Better not die without a will or she will get your stuff. Charles seems to meddle quite a bit given he is allowed to amend bills which could impact him financially.
The Lords is obviously totally undemocratic and they usually vote in their own financial interests, as has been the way for centuries.
The City of London isn’t really even counted as a part of the country and voting rights there are actually controlled by corporations leaving citizens with no local representation. Wonder how that came about?
We have no constitution and ‘Free Speech’ is a concept and one not founded in law, as a few twitter users have found recently along with this over the weekend. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-20181601
If you think corporations don’t run this country then its sad. See how laws are made and who sponsors them. We basically vote for the person we think is best to sign over our rights and property to unelected corporations. KPMG and the banks write our tax laws. All the pirating / ACTA bills etc.. were written by corporations.
You could also look back over the last few years, the hundreds of billions taken / gambled away and the complete lack of repercussions and wonder if there is really a true rule of law.
Are you addressing being governed from abroad when you are sitting under an unelected and unaccountable Europe? Seems a bit short sighted. Each law they pass, are they even reported? You do not know what they are upto today and you have no say in any outcome of agreements. The only way bills fail is then there is public outrage otherwise they pass without knowledge. Bills are usually negotiated in secret and the public not given access.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/content/20120618STO47110/html/David-Martin-on-ACTA-law-negotiated-in-secret-is-usually-bad-law
Don’t you think its odd that you pay 40% tax and yet corporations pay almost 0% in many cases. That would suggest whoever wrote such tax laws was not really thinking about your best interests. It also shows how the country suffers because os short sighted and one sided corporate thinking. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2219908/Tax-cheats-costing-32bn-year-gap-quarter-country-s-current-deficit.html
‘The City of London’ is a square mile of land that houses almost nothing BUT corporations. Even the pubs there close at weekends because there’s no one there once they’ve all gone home to their country piles, it’s also legal for my sister (who by patronage is a ‘Free-Sister’ of the City of London) to walk around with a drawn sword, be taken to prison in a hansom carriage and to herd her cattle across London Bridge on a Sunday. There are more than a few legal anachronisms at play!
I would argue that the Lords is a very democratic institution. While there are still hereditary peers (who aren’t necessarily undemocratic) the majority are life peers (people who have excelled themselves in their chosen industry/walk of life). The point of the Lords is to provide a fail-safe against the house of commons. The whole point is they can make decisions without having to worry about their re-election. Could you provide evidence that they ‘usually vote in their own financial interests’?
The same is true of the Queen, who has these CEREMONIAL powers and acts as a failsafe against, let’s say, a fascist government. The future depicted in V for Vendetta? Wouldn’t be possible in the UK. Not without a monarch who has been deposed. Not that we could, because the military swear allegiance to the Queen, so we’d be in civil war territory. They’d also have to convince at least half the Lords and half the commons. I’d say it’d be difficult.
If you’re talking about the Chagossians, then you’ll have to fill me in as I haven’t heard anything since the UK GOVERNMENT was last defeated. It’s entirely likely the GOVERNMENT has thought ‘fuck that’ and are ignoring the ruling.
I’m off to get breakfast, so can’t really finish this but I’ll sum it up quickly;
I don’t pay 40% tax – wish I could be earning that much!
Corporations who don’t pay tax don’t get my business, I’m not 100% on that, as I’m using a Gawker Media site – they have offshore tax arrangements similar to those of Mitt Romney.
If you use the Daily Mail as a reference I’ll laugh in your face and ignore your argument.
I would agree that there is a huge industry of ‘pressure groups’ who are always funded by business and are damaging to democracy.
I do know what the government are up to and if I want I can watch every single second of Parliament debating on TV (or in person). Every single law has to be debated in Parliament. If a law is quietly snuck into a bill then it’s our MPs not doing their jobs properly.
Final point – people are human, all of our systems will have faults by nature. Nothing man builds will ever be perfect. Even an atomic clock can tell the wrong time.
“In terms of rising up, you can’t even have a constitutionally guaranteed gathering without the police showing up tear gassing you, shooting you in the head, forcing the press away from covering the protest etc”
So the police are now executing our citizens and hiding this mass murder by silencing the press are they?
I take some of the points you are making, but you’re coming across more as a rambling loon than a reasoned thinker.
Those incidents refer to when I thought you were American.
Protester Shot In Head – http://dailybail.com/home/update-occupy-protester-shot-by-oakland-police-is-scott-olse.html
Protesters Gassed with whatever substances
http://rt.com/usa/news/portland-police-people-signs-032/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AdDLhPwpp4
NYPD ‘consistently violated basic rights’ during Occupy protests – study
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/25/nypd-occupy-protests-report
The London clearance was similar, middle of the night, press kept away.
Europe is as much a democracy is as Greece is and Greece is anything but a democracy.
Okay. 9/11 was a government plot and the moon landings were just fabricated too.
Except the people they’re attacking are just us regular folk. Paypal accounts and login details for websites do not a revolution make.
Precisely. These are bored kids who think it’s fun to screw with people’s lives.
This, this is exactly what it’s all about.
Depends on who you are asking. Paypal among other companies, illegally, decided to stop taking donations for Wikileaks. Which like it or not has produced evidence of war crimes and the coverups which followed. Journalists were killed and so were the first responders.
Now to aid in covering up war crimes Paypal withdrew their service as did major banks and card companies. Anonymous think this is not right and so are attacking said companies.
Releasing a normal person’s details is not something I agree with but disrupting their business is not something I mind.
Remember this year alone we know HSBC was laundering drug and terrorist money, so was Barclays if the reports are correct. The rest of the banks are paying out billions in compensation for just their last few years of illegal operations, all insured by our money. Paypal accepts money if you want to donate to the KKK or numerous child pornography websites, as do major banks.
So yeah Paypal is a problem when their politics / the politics of the board is used to aid and / or cover up war crimes.
Can you hack websites? If not, they’ve got more potential in that field than you do.
I’ll get over not having that skill set somehow I’m sure.
So, they’ve got more potential. Wonderful. You can’t just hack a website using ‘script-kiddie’ scripts. It requires skill.
I can find out. I’m sure I can use those scripts that those scene kids download just as well as them.
These guys are a bunch of silly little kids. This will eventually catch up to them and they’ll be regretting it while they’re sitting in a US prison cell.
Can Anonymous go back to hacking and removing child porn websites and general vigilantism instead of messing up PayPal? I mean I rarely use mine but I’m worried about it now.
Goons.. stop hacking the people, its the people you are meant to fight for.. do you not even understand the story behind the mask you use?
what a waste of time..
They are the heroes the world deserves, but not the ones it needs right now… it’s uh complicated.
this made my day
No it’s not. They don’t “fight” for anybody. Except teh lulz. What story? They’re not Catholics trying to assassinate Protestants either.
i know they dont fight for anybody but them selves.. but they should fight for the people.. and the idea behind Guy Fawkes was to take out the King and the house of Lords (not the house of commons) i know it was all church related but its was supposed to be an idealistic view of “power to the people” buy returning the catholic church to power in England.. but as we know he failed
I think Anonymous is doing a good job. I did not hear of any actual loss/damage done to individuals by their activities.
Hardly anyone cares about what happens on this planet, and discouraging ones that do care, is by no means sensible.
OK, but by that rationale if I go around pissing on old ladies and setting bus stops on fire in protest against *insert fashionable cause here* then at least I care about the planet…
The old lady would be considered an individual so the wouldn’t be right. Unless it was Margret Thatcher I suppose.
Bus stops, apart from being metal and not the most flammable, are not really trying to limit your rights and freedoms so I can’t see the point there.
Hold on, what if I pissed on 28,000 old ladies?
That makes it a little closer. What they’ve done is they’ve (possibly) stolen the information of 28,000 individuals therefore metaphorically pissing on them.
Where I live we have wooden bus stops, but I can see your point here. What are these individuals, or even Paypal doing to restrict the freedoms of Anonymous? If anything Anonymous are restricting my freedom to use Paypal.
I’d also point out that Paypal can’t possibly be restricting the freedoms of Anonymous, as most of them aren’t old enough to have a credit card or bank account with a debit card.
Well it would probably be some sort of record and you may become rich and famous, but probably have to serve some time.
Paypal got political when it decided to be a part of the blockade against Wikileaks, frees peach and journalism. As they are on the side of Gov / Corp they are protected in doing so when otherwise they could actually be prosecuted under numerous trade laws, constitutional precedents etc…
The younger ones, the loud ones who appear and shortly after are arrested are the ones using DOS attacks from their own computers. These are not the ones doing the hacking. There are different levels and groups and the major damage is done by groups who do not publicise. The data is usually taken and then the access passed to the lower ranks to abuse and have lulz.
What does Anonymous stand for exactly? Wasn’t it them standing for internet freedom by releasing information attempted to be hidden from public view by governments?
What is an attack like this meant to stand for? Who does it harm, the people they originally set out to help?
The problem with them being anonymous is that anyone can be anonymous.
Very true.
Including say, the US government. Use Anonymous as a front and then use them as an excuse to bring greater internet censorship to the USA.
Lulz.
Pastebin or it didn’t happen