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Facebook's imminent destruction a hoax?
According to this Youtube video and a flurry of articles from various news sources around the web, hacktivists from Anonymous have plans to "destroy" Facebook on November 5th, 2011. Despite the alarming news for Facebook users, it may not be worth panicking just yet.
With the recent media buzz aside, tales regarding the imminent destruction of Facebook may be greatly over exaggerated. A plethora of reputable news outlets have been (and still are) echoing the demise of Facebook, however little evidence exists outside of a three week old Youtube video and an equally old tweet. The video was posted by a new account, "FacebookOp" and the tweet sent by yet another new account, @OP_Facebook. There were also no "official" nods to either of these items by Anonymous around the dates they were published.
Keeping the above in mind, @YourAnonNews confirmed there may plans to "disrupt" Facebook even though the video itself may be a hoax. There was no elaboration on what kind of disruption we could be expecting, but Anonymous is well known for its use of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. On the other hand, @AnonOps confirms the video is a fake and chastises the idea, labeling the crippling of Facebook as "not our style".
Is Facebook or are its users (data) in any danger? Given the unreliable sources and partial denial, probably not. Add to that the rather hokey choice of date -- November 5th is Guy Fawkes Day, where their trademark masks share their origin -- then almost certainly not. Whether or not you believe this is intentional fear-mongering, a leaked attack plan or just an old fashioned hoax though, you can bet that Facebook will most likely be on its toes until November 6th.
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User Comments (26)
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example1013
on August 10, 2011 10:08 AM |
Always lovely to see "reputable" news outlets get trolled IRL. |
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captaincranky
on August 10, 2011 10:18 AM |
Doesn't this seem like like an inordinately cruel hoax to those of us who would love to see this happen? |
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TomSEA
on August 10, 2011 10:27 AM |
Morons. Total morons. I'm hoping media sources (including TechSpot) will quit reporting on these guys. The only reason they continue doing what they do is because of the media attention. |
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Guest
on August 10, 2011 10:31 AM |
Got to agree with the comments above. |
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Archean
on August 10, 2011 10:35 AM |
+1 Captain I will give my 2 dollars savings (read discount) from last week's shopping to anyone who does that |
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Tekkaraiden
on August 10, 2011 10:43 AM |
+1 Captaincranky |
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example1013
on August 10, 2011 10:49 AM |
I know people hate facebook, but it's one of the easier ways for me to keep in contact with my best friend, who up until about a month ago didn't have a cell phone or a house phone, and thus that was the most reliable way to contact him (even if it took a little while). |
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63Jax
on August 10, 2011 10:55 AM |
i really hoped it was real... **** Facebook, waste o precious time. |
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captaincranky
on August 10, 2011 11:04 AM |
I know people hate facebook, but it's one of the easier ways for me to keep in contact with my best friend, who up until about a month ago didn't have a cell phone or a house phone, and thus that was the most reliable way to contact him (even if it took a little while). Well, your friend obviously has internet, so why not just Email him.
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example1013
on August 10, 2011 11:22 AM |
captaincranky said:
I know people hate facebook, but it's one of the easier ways for me to keep in contact with my best friend, who up until about a month ago didn't have a cell phone or a house phone, and thus that was the most reliable way to contact him (even if it took a little while). Well, your friend obviously has internet, so why not just Email him. Well, he didn't have internet back then, so it was basically facebook messages back and forth when he'd be at one of his friends' with internet's houses. As to why not e-mail? Well, I don't think he can even remember how to access any of his e-mail accounts, and they're probably littered with spam because he never uses them, so Facebook is just more convenient. Also on the off chance that he would actually be online to chat, we could talk in real time. Now he's got phone and internet, so it's less of an issue, but I think he's still probably better acquainted and more ready to use facebook than e-mail. |
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Guest
on August 10, 2011 11:33 AM |
What are peoples problems with facebook? I can keep in contact with my friends in whatever country they may be in, in a non real-time group setting, where we can have discussions lasting as long as we want. Its easy add your friends, its easy to turn on the privacy settings, and its even easier to not enter any personal information apart from a first and last name (you don't even have to do that, make a fake name and email your friends once to tell them its you). Its your own stupid faults for putting your phone numbers, addresses, birthdays, work schedule, bank details, holiday times, adding your boss as a friend, then having a crap password and getting hacked. |
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Relic
on August 10, 2011 11:50 AM |
Rick said: Is Facebook or are its users (data) in any danger?
Doubt any more then they are on a daily basis from themselves or marketers. |
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treetops
on August 10, 2011 11:56 AM |
I don't use face book but I have a lot of friends who would be pretty sad if it went down. Sometimes I'm told what you don't use facebook? I reply jokingly "**** facebook in the face" -Funny People |
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captaincranky
on August 10, 2011 12:09 PM |
. As to why not e-mail? Well, I don't think he can even remember how to access any of his e-mail accounts, and they're probably littered with spam because he never uses them, so Facebook is just more convenient. Also on the off chance that he would actually be online to chat, we could talk in real time. Yeah well, new messages are still on the top of the stack.
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Vrmithrax
on August 10, 2011 12:42 PM |
Seriously, an attack to destroy Facebook could take down society as we know it. Farmville crops would wither and die. Mafias would crumble without their leaders. People would have to get actual friends to interact with on the phone or (gasp) face-to-face. Myspace would make a comeback. Anarchy. Pure, unadulterated anarchy. Was any of this predicted by Nostradamus? |
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captaincranky
on August 10, 2011 12:54 PM |
Seriously, an attack to destroy Facebook could take down society as we know it. Farmville crops would wither and die. Mafias would crumble without their leaders. People would have to get actual friends to interact with on the phone or (gasp) face-to-face. Myspace would make a comeback. Well yes, I believe it was. Tragically, it was just something that wafted out of the back of him, and as a consequence, wasn't written down anywhere.
Anarchy. Pure, unadulterated anarchy. Was any of this predicted by Nostradamus? |
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ramonsterns
on August 10, 2011 1:21 PM |
TomSEA said: Morons. Total morons. I'm hoping media sources (including TechSpot) will quit reporting on these guys. The only reason they continue doing what they do is because of the media attention. Tom, we can't all be government drones. That's okay, though, I'm sure you must have a mind control ray in the works. Finally, all these pesky journalism sites will all server the same agenda! Muahahahaha-*cough hack* Excuse me, I got the press' freedom of speech stuck in my throat. |
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Benny26
on August 10, 2011 1:47 PM |
Like any group of people could bring down something like Facebook. It would have already been done by now if that was available. |
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example1013
on August 10, 2011 1:48 PM |
ramonsterns said: TomSEA said: Morons. Total morons. I'm hoping media sources (including TechSpot) will quit reporting on these guys. The only reason they continue doing what they do is because of the media attention. Tom, we can't all be government drones. That's okay, though, I'm sure you must have a mind control ray in the works. Finally, all these pesky journalism sites will all server the same agenda! Muahahahaha-*cough hack* Excuse me, I got the press' freedom of speech stuck in my throat.
Defacing facebook epitaphs is really "sticking it to the man". |
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captaincranky
on August 10, 2011 9:13 PM |
Defacing facebook epitaphs is really "sticking it to the man". Indeed, it's very similar to somebody's cat pissing on your tires. I can't see where there any principles of liberty or constitutionality involved, just nerds behaving badly.
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Gars
on August 11, 2011 3:28 AM |
Vrmithrax said: Seriously, an attack to destroy Facebook could take down society as we know it. Farmville crops would wither and die. Mafias would crumble without their leaders. People would have to get actual friends to interact with on the phone or (gasp) face-to-face. Myspace would make a comeback. Anarchy. Pure, unadulterated anarchy. Was any of this predicted by Nostradamus? well said but this is just the beginning of the end 2012 is coming rofl |
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Guest
on August 11, 2011 6:28 AM |
"Remember, remember, the 5th of November..." |
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captaincranky
on August 11, 2011 9:53 AM |
"Remember, remember, the 5th of November..." Ooooo that's spooky. Now I'm really scared. Especially since you logged in under an "anonymous" account! This is not good. I better get all my "friends" personal information so I don't lose touch when Facebook goes down! |
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Guest
on August 11, 2011 9:59 AM |
"Remember, remember, the First of April......." (There we go "Guest", that's more like it). |
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Guest
on August 12, 2011 2:55 AM |
example1013, since your friend can use facebook, it would be a fair assumtion to make that they have access to a computer of some kind and it would be LIKELY that the person could use skype or plain old email therefore cutting out the need for facebook. If that were the case then you could enjoy the thought of that data mining freak show being brought down......if only for a while! |
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