Headline Jan 18, 2016/ ''' **G U N S** .... versus..... ! L A P T O P S* '''

''' **G U N S** .... versus..... 

! L A P T O P S* '''

OF LATE,  -I have been spending a lot of time on TOR. Zooming in for some Reece work, but more importantly to track the modern anti-terrorist vigilante.

And !WOW!  agrees with Kevin Macy, that it may just be the right time that the entire world presses for   *constitutional amendments*      guaranteeing the rights that bear technology-

You know all these programs that get you to learn code  -and retrain everybody for the future? It's time to glamour them up with some patriotic call to arms. Sounds counterintuitive? Wimpy, wimpy, then?

The real threat is the terrorists use of technology, social media, YouTube, encrypted texting apps, recruiting websites. They, the terrorists are better at using digital media to spread a brand than say, Procter & Gamble.

ANONYMOUS IS THE HACKER GROUP  that posts videos that look like Anderson Cooper is on CNN wearing a Guy Fawkes mask and talking like Darth Vader. 

As Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who aided  Snowden, described the the group. : 

''Anonymous is not a shadowy organization but a loosely knit collection of activists all over the globe.'' It may sound scary but its intentions are generally good.

An  Anonymous representative said the groups  ''current mission is to exterminate all terrorism content on the Web, making it hard for terrorists to recruit online''. 

Denial of service attacks  -overwhelming a website so no one can get on it -is one tactic.

The group also says it has identified and helped disable thousands of terrorists run  Twitter  accounts. If it ever hacks into an I.S. database of names, it could release a list to the public or to officials.

Anonymous is even encouraging  non-coders to get involved, like when it recently prodded  Internet  pranksters  to mock I.S. for a day. Can Anonymous take down I.S?

Experts express doubt. 

But if Anonymous's action inspires millions of hacktivists  globally, all dedicated to interrupting digital extremist activity and recruitment, then we might get somewhere.

Here's the other thing: The gravest terrorist threats don't involve guns. Terrible as it was to learn about San Bernardino and Paris, guns can't kill vast numbers of people.

Forty-five Americans have died in such attacks since 9/11. And in Pakistan, the first conceptual historic host of !WOW!   -thousands by thousands have died, but-

Something like 80,000 a year die from drinking too much alcohol. Another 35,000 kill themselves each year. If you own a gun, the odds are greater that you will kill yourself rather than get shot at by anybody else.

The ultimate threat is if one of these groups gets hold of a nuke. No citizen with a gun can stop that. A citizen hacker at least has a chance of intercepting some telling communication in finding secret plans.

*However, in the digital era, a lone person with a Laptop can effectively fight a government. Snowden is Exhibit A. 

Some of Anonymous's actions like the Arab Spring in Egypt, when the government disabled the Internet and wireless networks, -and Anonymous helped get protesters back online -show the potential power of the Laptop*.

AT THIS POINT, if a smart oppressor wanted control, it would come for our Laptops, not our guns.

Anonymous's declaration of  ''war''   against  Donald Trump could change attitudes about........  ''Guns.....versus......Laptops''.

No one would ever want to see a repeat of the shootings of candidates George Wallace in 1972 or Robert Kennedy in 1968.

If Anonymous succeeds in  electronically  roughing up a candidate, a new equation might be written. *If  the pen used to mightier than the sword, now the Keystroke is mightier than the automatic weapon.

Still, a nerd brandishing a Laptop isn't quiet the image Americans have of themselves. Gun people and hacking people are from two different planets. According to Pew Research survey, adults who own guns are more likely, compared with the average American, to think of themselves as an ''outdoor person'' and to say-

Honor and Duty are my core values. This doesn't exactly describe the typical hacker . Gun owners tend to be Republicans; Silicon Valley is overwhelmingly Democrat.

This dynamic needs to get flipped on its head. We need the gunslingers and Fox News commentators to rally around Anonymous and the hacker culture and help make it tough and cool and red, white and blue. I.S. is making it clear that the-

21st century heroes will have JavaScript flying from their fingertips.

You know how it goes: The only thing that can stop bad guys with a Laptop is a good guy with a Laptop. 

With respectful dedication to Hackers, Students, Professors, Teachers, and Technologists of the world. See Ya all on !WOW!  and the Ecosystem 2011:

''' Weaponize Your Laptops '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless