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Comment by jakubw | Hacker News Reader

Some simple instructions + JS web applications allowed thousands of people from Poland to DDoS those websites on their own

Willful participation in a DDoS doesn't sound like a good idea (being a criminal offense in Poland) just as much as the whole concept of getting the government to change their mind by taking down their websites (especially those belonging to parties not involved in the ACTA ratification process). One thing that folks behind this seem to have failed to learn from the SOPA battle is to make it impossible for the government to present the protesters as the bad guys in this situation in the mass media.

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Yes, but I think that much of the public sentiment is that the very same mass media not covering ACTA is the one behind this kind of policies. So, they try to make it impossible for them not to cover the story. Sadly, I fear that this kind of action may be presented as valid examples of why the Internet must be regulated.

Polish people tend to always think that protesters are right just because they protest and the Government is wrong just because it is the Government. Hence, I wouldn't worry too much about this what the Government will tell to the public about the protesters. The public will know better as it always does in Poland.

Actually, this is just one of the reasons why I live in Poland even though I'm an US citizen. People just distrust the Government and the media here so much. It is fantastic!

I'm Polish myself and I'm not sure I can fully agree with your optimism as there have been a few cases under the current administration in which controversial laws managed to pass thanks to the government's ability to "properly" depict their target groups (the football stadium ban is one example). You might be right that it might not be effective in this case. Still, my point was that there are many lawful ways to bring the media's attention to the problem. In the case of SOPA, shutting down Wikipedia and other sites for one day was a great example. It not only had a major impact on many people's lives but actually was an argument in itself (What would a post-SOPA world look like?). What point does killing a bunch of .gov websites prove?

Just saying... I remember the time in 90s when Polish coal miners didn't get guarantees from the Government regarding their pension plans. Well, they basically went to Warsaw and started riots. Real riots. As far as I remember they literally kidnapped member of the Administration or two. They destroyed a few government building in Warsaw. They terrorized and paralyzed the Government.

Next thing you know, the Government agreed to each and every one of the protesters requests. As I said: I love Poland Man.

They fought hard with the police and caused some real damage to some of the government buildings, but there was no kidnapping, or terror. Poland is not some wild, crazy country. Also, most of the society was against the protests and was literally pissed off on miners and on government (for the fact that they indeed agreed to most of the requests of the miners).

That's exactly what I meant by terrorized. The miners did occupy Government building and they did destroy some of them and yes they did terrorize some of the high level Government officials by locking them up in their own offices and not allowing to get out.

Yes, Poland IS a wild country. That is its biggest strength. Poor Americans just have to deal with whatever laws thrown at them by their Government. Here, in Poland - not really.

I think we just see the government (any) as an enemy and I agree it's pretty healthy. History teached us to do so but somehow still works.

As I see it, the point of the attack is to get media attention. This way you get public attention. And thus you raise awareness - and the number of participants in incoming protests.

So yeah, I'm actually really happy these takedowns took place, as long as it generates a lot of buzz in the media.

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