Hacker Takes Responsibility for Wikileaks Takedown

And there, in plain sight, is the entire problem with his(?) approach. The terrorists say that the US is an oppressive regime and that they're the ones obstructing the bad guys. The Chinese government employs hackers to break into computers. Hacktivist vandalism blurs the distinctions and makes it harder for people to sympathize with your aims, not easier.

This especially true of Wikileaks. I will keep my own counsel of what I think about Assange's activities, but I will point out the obvious: That extrajudicial attempts to quash Wikileaks give the appearance of attacks on freedom of information and freedom of speech. This appearance is at odds with the freedoms that the US used to champion.

Vigilante efforts like this do more harm than good even if you sympathize with Jester's appraisal of who is a good guy and who is a bad guy.

Pretty much any moron with a credit card can buy access to a botnet and take anything down, it's not a big accomplishment. Also, there are some hints of a nice personality disorder here in his/her mission statement:

"obstructing the lines of communication for terrorists, sympathizers, fixers, facilitators, oppressive regimes and other general bad guys."

...and again with the self-aggrandizing me-too agenda:

"The Jester hints of having obtained some sensitive information about Wikileaks itself, but said he decided not to upload it on Wikileaks as he doesn’t believe the information would see the light of day. He then provides an encrypted file of his own, claiming the information is contained within — again, as “insurance.”"

That might impress media types, but somehow I just know this is merely a lonely guy sitting in his basement who hasn't been taking his medication for a while and somehow believes himself a righteous paladin fighting the forces of evil at the front lines in an international game of mystery and intrigue.