I found out today (via TechDirt via Asher_Wolf) that a French company called Early Flicker has applied to trademark the Anonymous logo.

Besides the fact that this is probably a really bad idea, it goes to show how immoral people can be. Indeed trying to protect a logo from being used by others is one thing if you are the creator/owner of that logo, doing so for a logo created by others is probably as low as it gets when it comes to trademarking.

The Anonymous emblem is already in the public domain, so anyone is allowed to use it for any purpose without any conditions.

Early Flicker sells via Ebay but apparently operates pickapop.fr. I never heard of them before today and would of course avoid them, it's quite low to try to privatise public property.

Update: There are 2 brands that have been registered. You can view them in the INPI website by going to bases-marques.inpi.fr and searching for "Anonymous" or by numbers, 3897980 and 3897981. If you feel the courage you can click on "Signalez une erreur sur cette notice" to report the issue to the INPI (thanks Rike for the update).

Update 2: The owner of pickapop.fr has replied by replacing the content of their website with this message (copied to Pastebin because..). The short version is that Auffret claims that he had no bad intentions and proof is that he has not sued anyone. He also goes on to saying that he could have used CC or some other license etc etc.

I think it's just a lame attempt to recover from all the negative attention he's been getting over the past few days. The fact that he hasn't bothered/sued/etc anyone looks more like an attempt to try to keep the fact that he did register the brand secret.

Update 3: I just called the INPI, they told me that trademarking something in the public domain is legal as long as it contains an extra element. In this case, the logo itself is not protected by this trolling trademark, however the Anonymous logo and the text Anonymous
We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us. together is proteced by French trademark law.

Update 4: After a discussion on IRC between Anonymous and Apollinaire Auffret from Early Flicker, Auffret agreed to let go of both trademarks 3897980 and 3897981 registered at the INPI (Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle).

Source code for Symantec's pcAnywhere has been borrowed.. . back in 2006, but they have finally had time to get around to that and now are advising their clients to disable the software.

Why ? What is the security problem with having your source code exposed ? There are many users, including myself, who use software for which the source code is published all over the Internet.

In this case it seems like Symantec had a security breach that they were aware of and only decided to address because they heard about a leak of their source code. Something obviously doesn't add up, either they don't bother to patch their products, even when they know it's insecure OR they have their reasons for making insecure products..

Moral of the story, using non-Free software is a very big security issue. You never know what it really does nor who it's intended to really serve.

MegaUpload.com was just shut down and executives arrested, data centres violated, etc etc. The FBI it seems has the right to arrest people all over the world (New Zealand, Germany, Canada, etc etc).

At the same time the MPAA, RIAA and Department Of "Justice" websites are also down, I am guessing their websites were hosted on one of MegaUpload's servers. Ha, ha.

More details on TorrentFreak and/or TechLand if you are afraid of links that contain the word "torrent".

Black & Berg, a security company, has exposed the truth behind TeaMp0isoN and Lulzsec.. . it's all made up. .. ... . Or is it ? ... . ..... . Or, which part is actually made up ?

They seem to have two domain names/websites, blackandberg.com and blackbergsecurity.us but they are currently down (they redirect to google.com). you can see what their site used to look like via google.cache.

After reading a bit of their "Genuine" twitter account and some of Jo Black's twitter (and replies, those are the best), it' seems like this is a Ligattalike company. Their website is owned and they are tweeting about how they want to declare war on Anonymous, (something about an itchy finger). One word: Losers.

According to the Huffingtonpost on June 1 2011, the IMF was expecting some heat: The International Monetary Fund is ready to be hacked. Source Huffington Post(repost?)

I just find that sentence extremely hilarious, maybe it's just me.. :]

Anyway there was so much ph34r that cables were unplugged: The concern about the attack was so significant that the World Bank, an international agency focused on economic development, whose headquarters is across the street from the I.M.F. in downtown Washington, cut the computer link that allows the two institutions to share information. Source: New York Times

From what I understand the attack took place (or started) a few months ago, way before the above cited prediction.. .

You can follow up on #IMF@twitter.

Spain has arrested 3 guys who they believe were part of the PlayStation network outage. Hackers aren't supposed to be in prison, they should be in front of a computer playing with code and publishing papers and stuff. Participating in making the collective brain smarter... . Of course most humans seem to confound "hacker" with some other negative concept. Let's not forget this all started when 2 hackers got arrested for publishing knowledge about the consoles they purchased.

Anyway, utopian ideas aside, PlayStation seems to really be doing it wrong. Sony's comeback plan consists of trying to get the millions they "lost" back by sending whoever they can find and blame to prison etc etc. Worst part is many of these "kids" are probably Sony clients... .. .

This means, bad publicity, not to mention a kick in the nest. On the upside, people living in the northern hemisphere might have a good reason to spend summer outdoors.. .

So, Mr and/or Mrs Sony, if you read this, at the least, just let it go, at best, encourage hackers to tweak/modify the console and publish whatever they find. If it were like that I might even buy one (and you would have one more Blu-ray drive infiltrated into a home).

And a few links (because these change all the time...

• Anon_central@twitter
• Spain arrests 3 hackers...
• dear-government-of-spain
• V for Spain
• #OpPolicia@twitter

Hello Anonymous. Some people have criticised your actions, called you a "kiddie script" and/or claimed you have hurt "the cause". I tend to disagree because:

• You made noise and raised awareness
• Nobody was hurt and no credit card numbers stolen
• You have been trying other things as well, faxes, phones, videos, paper etc. this shows your goal is not to simply take down web sites
• When things are so openly absurd reactions cannot be avoided
Oh and:
• "They" started it..

Some say you guys are a bunch of kids, if it is true it only adds to your credit.

DDOS does seem to be illegal in many places, but it is definitely not the worst thing that has happened to our world. For me (and many others) these actions were closer to protest then to attacks.

The past week or so has been quite interesting and seems this pending issue will not simply "go away", at least not that easily. I have gathered a few interesting links about what's up and down, I will try to update this.. (there are so many pages about this it's out of control).

Wikileaks

• Petition to governments
• Mass-mirroring Wikileaks - Become a mirror
• twitter.com/wikileaks
• Mirror list status
• Australia blames the U.S.
• Don't shoot messenger for revealing uncomfortable truths - a word from Julian Assange
• WikiLeaks Shines a Light on the Limits of Techno-Politics
• DataCell's word on Visa's behaviour
• Dear PayPal: Wikileaks is not a terrorist organization
• OVH and Wikileaks - "That's how it should work under the rule of law.
• Federal Bureau of Irony
• Bolivian government publishes cables related to them ! - AWESOME !

Internet Protests

• Cyberattacks Are Retaliation for Pressure on WikiLeaks
• Visa.com taken down by botnet volunteers
• MasterCard attacked by voluntary botnet after WikiLeaks decision
• Wikileaks Twitter account (while it lasts ?)
• Hacker toolkits attracting volunteers to defend WikiLeaks
• Tis the Season of DDoS – WikiLeaks Edition - good ddos timeline with crispy details
• Thousands download LOIC software for Anonymous attacks
• A message from Anonymous
• 2600 Magazine condemns DDoS attacks - It's the comments that I like
• Netcraft attack summary: Part 2

Anon sites/channels (many down)

A few Anonymous channels have been taken down, there are plenty of others coming up, going down, moving around etc..

• AnonOps communication - active
• twitter.com/Anonops - active
• facebook.com/anonops - active (if you happen to use facebook....)
• anonops.net - Seems like Enom has removed the name server for the domain on Dec 8 2010: Domain Name: ANONOPS.NET Registrar: ENOM, INC. Whois Server: whois.enom.com Referral URL: http://www.enom.com Name Server: No nameserver Status: ok Updated Date: 08-dec-2010 Creation Date: 26-oct-2010 Expiration Date: 26-oct-2011
• anonops.info - domain has been de-activated today (Dec 14 2010): Domain ID:D35610231-LRMS Domain Name:ANONOPS.INFO Created On:29-Nov-2010 18:03:09 UTC Last Updated On:14-Dec-2010 01:08:48 UTC Expiration Date:29-Nov-2011 18:03:09 UTC Sponsoring Registrar:eNom, Inc. (R126-LRMS) Status:INACTIVE Status:TRANSFER PROHIBITED
• twitter.com/Anon_Operation - suspended
• twitter.com/Anon_Operationn - suspended

Some people have been deleting their Paypal accounts and leaving a comments about how they feel.