Please stop attacking MIT's network in memory of Aaron Swartz

Today, at around 2:30 PM EST, Scripts went down. For most MIT students, this means a few class websites are inaccessible, a few friends' blogs are down, and web development is a bit annoying. For me, it means panic mode. I'm a member of the Scripts Maintainer Team, so the availability and security of the service is my responsibility.

The MIT network has been particularly unreliable recently, leading to speculation that there was a DDoS attack mounted by Anonymous. While we're still waiting for an official diagnosis from IS&T, I'm going to go ahead and say this: if Anonymous did take down the MIT network, and is continuing to attack it, please stop. You're just making students' lives worse.

The current pattern of "hacktivism" is supposed to get people's attention, and it is—just not those that can do anything. Scripts is MIT's largest web host but it's run entirely by student volunteers. Any and all attacks that are supposed to get the attention of the administration are instead being handled by SIPB members.

For those of you that want to do something in Aaron Swartz's memory, please find a more positive and productive task than upsetting MIT students that had nothing to do with the administration's decision.

Posted 4 minutes ago by Alex Chernyakhovsky