Skip to main content

Operation Wisconsin: Anonymous targets billionaire Koch brothers

operation-wisconsin-anonymousEveryone’s favorite loose-knit group of “hacktivists,” Anonymous, have allegedly launched a new campaign of disruption: Operation Wisconsin. This round, the shadowy cyber-vigilantes plan to take on libertarian billionaires David and Charles Koch, who own Koch Industries, for their support of Wisconsin’s union-busting governor, Scott Walker.

“It has come to our attention that the brothers, David and Charles Koch — the billionaire owners of Koch Industries — have long attempted to usurp American Democracy,” reads a press release posted to Anonymous-affiliated publication AnonNews.org. “Their actions to undermine the legitimate political process in Wisconsin are the final straw. Starting today we fight back.”

Specifically, the release points to the Koch brother’s role in pushing forward a Republican-backed bill in Wisconsin that would effectively “eliminate the collective bargaining power of unions” at state-owned utility plants by allowing Koch Industries to purchase those power plants without oversight, giving the company a “monopoly over the state’s power supplies.”

The Koch brothers’ role in the “grassroots” Tea Party movement are also mentioned as reasons to “fight back.” This includes their creation of organizations like Americans for Prosperity, Club for Growth and Citizens United which, says the release, have been used to “sway voters” using “falsehoods.”

“Anonymous cannot ignore the plight of the citizen-workers of Wisconsin, or the opportunity to fight for the people in America’s broken political system,” says the release. “For these reasons, we feel that the Koch brothers threaten the United States democratic system and, by extension, all freedom-loving individuals everywhere.”

According to the press release, members of Anonymous are “actively seeking vulnerabilities,” presumably of the network and computer variety. Until such vulnerabilities make themselves apparent, says the release, supporters of Operation Wisconsin should boycott all products that fall under the massive Koch Industries umbrella.

koch-industries-boycott-anonymous
So far, Koch Industries’ digital properties appear to be up and running properly, save an intermittent outage of the Americans for Prosperity website late Sunday.

It should be noted, however, that just because a press release claiming to have been written by Anonymous appears on AnonNews — which is open to anyone who wants to publish something — doesn’t mean the group or its members have actually coordinated an attack.

Recently, a similar release was published to AnonNews, which said that Anonymous planned to take on the homophobic religious zealots of Westboro Baptist Church. Anonymous later claimed that the release was actually written by Westboro in an attempt to generate publicity for the church, and that the hacktivists had no plan to attack. (Though they did, eventually, do just that, after Westboro wouldn’t back down their rhetoric.)

Also, an AnonNews post addressed to the media points out that Anonymous is not affiliated with the left wing of American politics, nor does it have any official position on the Tea Party, Republican party or the Democratic party. The only thing Anon does have a position on are “LULZ.”

Anonymous has already successfully taken down the corporate sites of Visa and Master Card, as well as PayPal, after those companies stopped processing donation payments made to anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks late last year. The group performed similar take-downs of governmental sites in Yemen, Egypt and Tunisia, in order to help protesters in those countries. Most recently, Anonymous obliterated the reputation of cyber-security firm HBGary after executives of that company attempted to infiltrate Anonymous’ ranks. Whether or not their tactics will work against Koch Industries remains to be seen — but you can guarantee we’ll be watching.

Topics
Andrew Couts
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…
Best Surface Laptop and Surface Pro deals: From $450
Microsoft Surface Go 3 sitting on table.

If you want a thin and light laptop that's similar to the MacBook Air but not in the Apple ecosystem, then the Microsoft Surface lineup of laptops is absolutely the way to go. In fact, if you've seen the recent unwrapping of the business version of the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6, you might be fired up and ready to grab your own surface. Unfortunately, the Surface lineup can be quite expensive, which is why we've gone out and scoured the retailers for the best deals we could find and collected them below. So, be sure to check out everything, as well as some of these other great laptop deals if you aren't fully committed to the Microsoft Surface lineup.
Microsoft Surface Go 3 -- $450, was $550

Functioning as a 2-in-1 laptop that can switch between tablet mode and laptop mode, the Microsoft Surface Go 3 won't have trouble dealing with basic tasks as it's equipped with the Intel Pentium Gold 6500Y processor and 8GB of RAM. The 10.5-inch touchscreen with 1920 x 1080 resolution is bright and colorful, and its 128GB SSD is more than enough for your documents. The Microsoft Surface Go 3 ships with Windows 11 Home in Mode, so you can start using it as soon as you unbox it. The device also promises up to 11 hours of battery life before requiring a recharge.

Read more
Best GPU deals: MSI, XFX, EVGA
An AMD graphics card in an external GPU enclosure.

If you're building a new PC from scratch, or upgrading an old one, then a new GPU is probably one of the biggest upgrades you can make, at least if you're looking for great gaming performance. Unfortunately, the last generation of RTX 40-series cards really amped the prices up, and even if you're going for AMD, you're going to be paying a pretty penny to get your hands on a good GPU. That said, there are some good deals to be had; whether you want something budget-friendly or high-end, you can always put that extra money you save into more RAM or a better CPU. Also, be sure to check out some of these gaming PC deals if you'd rather just grab something already pre-built.
MSI AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT Mech 2X 4GB GDDR6 -- $175, was $190

If you're looking for something that is ultra-budget, then this RX 6500 XT is a good option in the lower range and should let you handle at least some of the main free-to-play games like CS:GO and Rocket League, although you will have to play with graphical compromises. It should also handle indie and casual games, especially older ones like the ones you might find on emulators, so it's also a good option for that sort of budget build. the 4GB of VRAM is not a lot, but again, if you're not planning to play any modern AAA or AA games, then this isn't a bad option.

Read more
Horizon Forbidden West is a marvel — if your PC can handle the heat
Aloy shooting a bow in Horizon Forbidden West.

More than two years after its release on PS5, Horizon Forbidden West is now available on PC. The original game, Horizon Zero Dawn, has become a mainstay for performance testing on PC, and it's one of the pillars of our GPU reviews. The sequel ups the ante in a big way with more graphics options and a more demanding world overall.

I've been playing the game over the past week, drilling down on the best settings, comparing DLSS, FSR, and XeSS, and testing the bounds of performance. Horizon Forbidden West lives up to the standard set by the original release, though weaker GPUs with only 8GB of memory will struggle with high graphics settings and resolutions.
Best settings for Horizon Forbidden West PC

Read more