Squad303
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Squad303 is a global group of Internet activists and programmers originating from Poland. It is part of the Anonymous collective, and its main goal is to fight for civil liberties and to fight against disinformation.
History and the name[edit]
Squad303 was created after the start of the armed conflict on Ukrainian territory in February 2022. From the beginning, its main goal is to fight against the information propaganda of the Russian government and to make Russians aware of the situation in Ukraine. Squad303 was founded by Poles "from the generation of Solidarity and Radio Free Europe"....[1][2] Currently, Squad303 has over 100 members from all over the world. Both the name of the group and the tools they created refer to Polish history and achievements.[3]
The name Squad303 refers to the Polish fighter aviation squadron (303 Squadron), which fought in the Battle of Britain.[3] The squadron is considered one of the best fighter units of World War II. Winston Churchill said of it: "Never was so much owed by so many to so few".[4][5]
The group's spokesman goes by the pseudonym "Jan Zumbach" using the name of a Polish ace, a lieutenant colonel in the Polish Army who also fought in the Battle of Britain and took part in the French Campaign.[6]
Squad303 has created a tool that is available on the 1920.in website.[7] The name of the application refers to the Battle of Warsaw in 1920, more often called the Miracle on the Vistula, where the Polish army, under the command of Jozef Pilsudski, stopped the Red Army advancing towards Western Europe[8]
Activity[edit]
On the 4th of March 2022, Squad303 released a free tool, available on 1920.in, that allows you to send SMS messages, via your phone, to randomly selected Russians.[9] During the first 12 hours after the launch of the application, more than one million SMS were sent, and by the March 29, 2022, more than 50 million messages were sent.[10]
With the development of the application, activists from the group Squad303, added more functionalities allowing to inform ordinary Russians about the situation on the territory of Ukraine. Currently, the tool allows you to send SMS messages, messages via WhatsApp messenger, email messages and make phone calls.[11] The developers of the application have also prepared predefined texts translated into Russian that Internet users can use.[7] In total, more than 50,000,000 messages have been sent via 1920.in.[12]
Results of operations[edit]
The solution prepared by Squad303 was very well received around the world involving people who want to join the fight against Russian propaganda. Millions of users sent messages to Russian citizens. Record-breakers even sent several thousand unique text messages.[13] The reactions of Russians themselves are different. Some of the messages are met with no response, there are insults and supporting propaganda from the Kremlin, but some recipients enter into discussions and are grateful for presenting the situation from a different perspective. According to the tool's creators, a significant portion of the public is afraid to engage in conversation because of the legal consequences they may face for not conforming to the Russian government's rhetoric. However, they believe that even messages that do not receive a response have an effect by conveying the truth about Russian aggression against Ukraine.[14]
Kremlin's reaction[edit]
Since its launch, 1920.in has been subject to Russian DDoS attacks. Hackers are also attacking Squad303 servers.[15] On the 4th of March, 2022. The Kremlin introduced criminal liability for those who disseminate information inconsistent with the line of the Russian government regarding the situation in Ukraine.[16] On 6/03/2022. Kevin Rothrock reported on random phone checks conducted on the streets of Moscow in search of news about the war in Ukraine.[17]
The 15th of March the Kremlin - in response to Squad303's actions - introduced full-text censorship of the content of messages sent from the 1920.in website at the level of Russian telecommunications networks. Squad303 reported shortly thereafter that they had managed to circumvent the introduced restrictions and messages are effectively delivered to Russian citizens.[18]
Media[edit]
The tool created by Polish and Ukrainian activists has spread across the globe. Articles about and interviews with the app's creators have been published by such media as The Wall Street Jorunal,[13] The Sydney Morning Herald,[19] Forbes,[20] The Washington Post,[21] Huffpost,[22] BBC,[23] CNN,[24] ZDF,[25] Der Spiegel,[26] Hackread,[27] Fakt,[28] Superexpress,[29] RMF, The Times,[1] Deutsche Welle,[30] and Rzeczpospolita[31]
The group's informational materials, such as videos and tweets, collectively reach tens of millions of online views[32]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Oliver Moody Berlin. "Hackers recruit volunteers to get news of war past Russian censors". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ "Putin wprowadził cenzurę, polscy programiści ją przełamują. „Jesteśmy jak Radio Wolna Europa" | Wiadomości Radio ZET" (in polski). wiadomosci.radiozet.pl. 2022-03-12. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "„Śpimy po trzy godziny". Rozmowa z hakerem ze squad303" (in polski). www.rmf24.pl. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ "never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few – Encyklopedia PWN – źródło wiarygodnej i rzetelnej wiedzy" (in polski). encyklopedia.pwn.pl. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ www.bibliopolis.com. "NEVER WAS SO MUCH OWED BY SO MANY TO SO FEW - an original Second World War propaganda poster featuring British pilots and an excerpt from Prime Minister Winston Churchill's 20 August 1940 tribute to them on Churchill". Churchill Book Collector. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
- ↑ "On Wings of War: My Life as a Pilot Adventurer". Polish History. 2021-04-14. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "We the people of the world have a message to the Russian nation". 1920.in. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ "Battle of Warsaw 1920 – Polish victory for the freedom of Europe - Poland in NATO - Gov.pl website". Poland in NATO. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
- ↑ "https://twitter.com/squad3o3/status/1499784751099662345" (in polski). Twitter. Retrieved 2022-03-30. External link in
|title=(help) - ↑ "https://twitter.com/squad3o3/status/1500004726053687297" (in polski). Twitter. Retrieved 2022-03-30. External link in
|title=(help) - ↑ "Hakerzy stworzyli narzędzie do walki z propagandą. Pozwala wysłać wiadomość e-mail lub WhatsApp do losowego Rosjanina" (in polski). www.komputerswiat.pl. 2022-03-12. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ "https://twitter.com/squad3o3/status/1508831933647794187" (in polski). Twitter. Retrieved 2022-03-30. External link in
|title=(help) - ↑ 13.0 13.1 Bojan Pancevski (2022-03-12). "Using a New Cyber Tool, Westerners Have Been Texting Russians About the War in Ukraine". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ "Polski Squad303 pomaga docierać do Rosjan z prawdą o inwazji na Ukrainę" (in polski). www.rmf24.pl. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ "https://twitter.com/squad3o3/status/1501879715694534657" (in polski). Twitter. Retrieved 2022-03-30. External link in
|title=(help) - ↑ "Rosja: "za szerzenie dezinformacji" o armii grozi kara więzienia" (in polski). forsal.pl. 2022-03-04. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ "https://twitter.com/kevinrothrock/status/1500458582902460420" (in polski). Twitter. Retrieved 2022-03-30. External link in
|title=(help) - ↑ "https://twitter.com/squad3o3/status/1503731234748440578" (in polski). Twitter. Retrieved 2022-03-30. External link in
|title=(help) - ↑ Matthew Knott (2022-03-08). "Russia's great firewall: As Putin clamps down, activists get creative". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ John Koetsier. "How To Text Random Russians The Truth About Putin's War In Ukraine". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ "Computer programmers are taking aim at Russia's propaganda wall". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ "Hackers Help Channel Millions Of Anti-War Texts To Russian People". HuffPost. 2022-03-18. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ "How hackers are trying to undermine Putin". BBC News. 2022-03-20. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ "Hackers try to break through Putin's digital iron curtain". CNN Video. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ "Washington-Update: Nur ein klein wenig Eskalation?" (in Deutsch). www.zdf.de. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ Markus Böhm (2022-03-14). "Ukraine-Krieg: Netzaktivisten wollen, dass Sie SMS nach Russland schicken". Der Spiegel (in Deutsch). ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ "Anonymous sent 7 million texts to Russians plus hacked 400 of their security cams". 2022-03-12. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ "SMS-y i maile do przypadkowych osób z Rosji. Kto za tym stoi...?" (in polski). Fakt24.pl. 2022-03-14. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ "Polscy hakerzy mocno do Rosjan! Opublikowali specjalne nagranie". www.se.pl. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com). "Ukraine's IT army: Who are the cyber guerrillas hacking Russia? | DW | 24.03.2022". DW.COM. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ "Miliony sms-ów do Rosjan. Polscy programiści walczą z propagandą Kremla" (in polski). Rzeczpospolita. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ "https://mobile.twitter.com/squad3o3" (in polski). Twitter. Retrieved 2022-03-30. External link in
|title=(help)
[[Category:Hacker groups]] [[Category:2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]]
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