'Electrohippies' set to launch massive anti-trade protest By LISA HOFFMAN Scripps Howard News Service April 05, 2000
http://shns.scripps.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=E-SITIN-04-05-00&cat=AN
- Computer "hacktivists" are gearing up for an electronic sit-in against companies that make or sell genetically modified products.
"Electrohippies," an Internet-based group, is organizing a mass computer attack that is timed to coincide with anti-trade protests slated for next week in Washington.
Calling it an "experimental event," the group wants tens of thousands of people around the world to inundate companies involved in the genetic alteration of food crops with booby-trapped e-mails that would swamp the firms' computers.
The electrohippies' Web site (http://www.gn.apc.org/pmhp/ehippies/) describes this as "applying the tactics of street campaigning to cyberspace."
They wants to create the electronic equivalent of protesters blocking a company's front door. But unlike the massive "denial of service" attacks in February, in which anonymous hackers crippled such major Internet sites as Yahoo! and eBay, these would aim to show that huge numbers of consumers are against the development of genetically engineered food.
"If enough people take part, the (Internet) server logs of the ... organizations will show those in charge how much support there is," the electrohippies' Web site says.
Computer security expert Jerry Irvine of iDEFENSE Intelligence Services in Virginia said the tactic is not new, having been used by other groups on smaller scales.
If groups find ways to conduct such mass actions successfully, "I anticipate more of this in the future," he noted.
The e-hippies so far have not publicly singled out any targets. In the past, those opposed to genetic engineering have pointed the finger at firms ranging from chemical companies Monsanto and DuPont to consumer products giant Procter & Gamble.
These companies and others contend that such altered crops and products not only are safe but are of enormous benefit to consumers and the environment. They have formed the Council for Biotechnology Information and established a Web site (http://www.whybiotech.com) to make their case.
The electrohippies' protest is just one of dozens expected in cyberspace and the "real" world when the World Bank and International Monetary Fund hold meetings next week in Washington. In the crosshairs will be policies critics say harm the environment, exploit workers and hamstring developing economies in order to benefit the richest countries.
The upcoming protests are organized by many of the same groups behind demonstrations against the World Trade Organization that turned violent in Seattle last fall. While most of the protesters were peaceful, young anarchists were blamed for starting a rock-throwing melee that shut the city down for several days.
Electrohippies aren't seeking to cause the companies any harm, according to its Web site. In fact, the group is taking an online poll to see if those who agree with its cause approve of the planned computer attack, or fear it could hurt the cause.
The electrohippies also plan to notify the firms in advance so they can take extra protective action, if possible, or turn their computer servers off. The "attack" would not involve viruses that could harm data or systems; instead, it would simply bombard Web pages with so many multiple requests that the sites become overloaded and temporarily out of commission.
Even if it does no lasting harm, such a protest could be deemed a crime, some computer security experts said.
"Laws against it are on the books," said Bill Pollak, a spokesman for the Computer Emergency Response Team at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University, which tracks such cyber-actions.
But iDEFENSE's Irvine said there's no legal consensus yet on what constitutes illegality in actions such as the one planned by the electrohippies.
"This is another one of those cyber-law issues that has not yet been resolved," Irvine said.
(Contact Lisa Hoffman at HoffmanL(at)shns.com or http://www.shns.com.)
