A Willing Botnet?

[monkyyy]

Only to play devils advocate here, but if it is not illegal to strike and lockout companies, why should it be illegal to DDOS a site? I understand the thought, but still, they are very much the same. I would not condone this type of behavior, but these kind of things do create attention for your cause. I'm not saying we Hak5ers can do anything about it, but it is still and interesting thought. I would say a benevolent botnet like this would be fun actually. Very much like it was brought up before, TOR and Folding@Home are both "botnets" and they accomplish a lot of good things. Heck, even the Internet itself is a kind of botnet. Maybe a Hak5 opt-out botnet could be cool. It could be used for things like mass emailings. A botnet would accomplish more if it did legal things politically then if it was illegal. Maybe if you want to do something like this run it as an email server, that says to the end user: "Would you like to help with this emailing, and send an email to the representative?" And on the Yes click it would send an email from all of the computers that agree, to the person mainly leading the thing the 'net is against. And if you want you can click No. Make sense?

well the update to loic still can only be used for ddos attacks, but i`d join ur botnet idea if it was a cause i believed in(still would keep a close eye on it tho) but what legal ways is there to protest when the people ur fighting are the mass media

[Guest Deleted_Account]

Only to play devils advocate here, but if it is not illegal to strike and lockout companies, why should it be illegal to DDOS a site? I understand the thought, but still, they are very much the same. I would not condone this type of behavior, but these kind of things do create attention for your cause. I'm not saying we Hak5ers can do anything about it, but it is still and interesting thought. I would say a benevolent botnet like this would be fun actually. Very much like it was brought up before, TOR and Folding@Home are both "botnets" and they accomplish a lot of good things. Heck, even the Internet itself is a kind of botnet. Maybe a Hak5 opt-out botnet could be cool. It could be used for things like mass emailings. A botnet would accomplish more if it did legal things politically then if it was illegal. Maybe if you want to do something like this run it as an email server, that says to the end user: "Would you like to help with this emailing, and send an email to the representative?" And on the Yes click it would send an email from all of the computers that agree, to the person mainly leading the thing the 'net is against. And if you want you can click No. Make sense?

It is illegal to lockout companies/strike if it causes any interference with general duties (aka causes monetary damage). This doesn't mean you can't go on strike/protest but it does mean you can not hinder a business' right to make revenue and therefor chaining yourself to their door (disrupting business) is just as illegal as a DDOS (also disrupting service). I get this information from family members (whom are lawyers) and my personal knowledge (Taking law at University). Now I am assuming you live in North America/UK as being in canada this is all I really know for law and other countries may differ (including UK in some aspects but what I have seen most including this issue are close to the same).

[Monki]

But, they are not usually arrested. Mostly a lockout gets them their way. Again I am not saying it is right, but it is effective.

[Trip]

very good point :)

im sure with the facebook power of todays age you could ddos without software :D just people power

ddos is illegal for a very important reason ... imagine what industrial / commercial sabotage could be caused to you competitors / rivals

disgruntled members of the public shouldn't be charged for ddos against commercial sites (if they have a good enough reason for carrying out their actions)