Well sir, I don't know if they are going to take down the internet, but you sir, have most definitely just won the internet.  Congratulations.  

I honestly don't think that they possess the resources to take down the entire internet, not even for a few seconds.  Now, if they somehow managed to get hold of a spare CRAY and dedicated it to doing full time DOS attacks, maybe.  But honestly, the architecture of the internet is such that it would be amazingly hard for anyone but a government backed organization, with help from major Service Providers to down the whole thing.   Now, I could see them crashing Youtube, or maybe Facebook, but not everything.  

Yay! The internetz lived.

Back to working and porning, not at the same time.

Watching telly this morning during breakfast and the news ribbon at the bottom of the screen , said that anonymous was trying to take down 400 Chinese web sites .

See I am fine with taking down the Chinese Government's filters. That just grants freedom to the people. Taking down the internet takes down their method of communication, making everyone a little less free.

I am all for freedom of the people.  If Anonymous is making life difficult for the US government or any other government that continually tries to find new ways to regulate the internet (of which they have NO jurisdiction), then I am all for it.  The internet should be completely free, open, and unregulated.  If you support government censorship of the internet, curfews, or anything else that tells a person they cannot access something on the internet that they want to, then you are an authoritarian, and therefore, part of the problem.

Taking down some Congressman's site that advocates SOPA is one thing.  Taking down the White House website, also funny.  But taking down whole nodes of the internet is just destructive and counter intuitive.  Also, while you may not like the CIA and NSA, attacking them directly adds fuel to the fire for them to have greater control over the internet.  I would be fine if all Anonymous did was wreak havoc on the White House's website, and aggravate Congress and Senate, all those idiots deserve it.  Taking down the CIA website just invites more censorship, that is just dumb.  I am not supporting government censorship, but perhaps in my mania to decry the actions of Anonymous, I came off as if I was, this is not the case. 

I think your theory about retaliation and overreaction to direct attacks on CIA or NSA security is possible, and logical.  But, I think that it may just end up doing the opposite.  I see it as a sign of strength, and a lesson taught to those intrusive federal politicians and bureaucrats, that they are not to mess with something as important as our access and freedom in regard to the internet.  At least that is my hope. 

Remember... "When the people fear their government, there is tyranny.  When the government fears the people, there is liberty." -Thomas Jefferson

Sperrico87, you make a really good point, and perhaps I am being overly cynical.  Let me say that I honestly hope that you are right, that those agencies would take these attacks as a sign to step back a bit and be less intrusive.  Unfortunately, working as closely as I do with the government, I have lost all faith in government agencies to do anything better than the lowest common denominator.  Let us all hope that you are correct though, the world will be a better place if you are.  

I also want to thank you for your insightful debate, and Jefferson quote, too often these things turn into flame wars instead of thoughtful debate.  You are a shining example of disagreeing in a cohesive, constructive fashion, kudos.