A message from Peg Robertson, who is a leader of the Opt Out movement and manages the United Opt Out website:
My computer guru friend who is working on the UOO site states:
“The United Opt Out site was attacked, and essentially corrupted from its internal databases.
The hacker crippled every single SQL table, and left them unrepairable, and our site frozen and inaccessible to administrate.”
He is trying to recover files now.”
Question: who wanted to prevent parents from getting information about how to opt out? Who would stoop so low? They must be frightened of parent power.
Stay tuned.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The enemy fights dirty. And make no mistake, they are the enemy.
From what I’ve been learning, the people behind the Common Core standards are heartless and brutal. Maybe they are all alike: sociopaths and narcissists.
The following information may explain why many of the rich, powerful and famous are heartless bastards with little or no conscience.
“Many highly successful people have huge capacities to compartmentalize risky, unethical and even illegal behavior, (which may have contributed to their success). Some aren’t capable of guilt or shame, but those who are often don’t feel this until they get caught. It’s like their brain has gone to sleep.”
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/intimacy-and-desire/201105/why-rich-and-powerful-people-cheat-part-1-0
“A growing body of recent research shows that people with the most social power pay scant attention to those with little such power. This tuning out has been observed, for instance, with strangers in a mere five-minute get-acquainted session, where the more powerful person shows fewer signals of paying attention, like nodding or laughing. Higher-status people are also more likely to express disregard, through facial expressions, and are more likely to take over the conversation and interrupt or look past the other speaker.”
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/05/rich-people-just-care-less/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
“Who is more likely to lie, cheat, and steal—the poor person or the rich one? It’s tempting to think that the wealthier you are, the more likely you are to act fairly. After all, if you already have enough for yourself, it’s easier to think about what others may need. But research suggests the opposite is true: as people climb the social ladder, their compassionate feelings towards other people decline.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/10/rich-people-compassion-mean-money_n_1416091.html
“If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire. The claims that the ultra-rich 1% make for themselves – that they are possessed of unique intelligence or creativity or drive – are examples of the self-attribution fallacy. This means crediting yourself with outcomes for which you weren’t responsible. Many of those who are rich today got there because they were able to capture certain jobs. This capture owes less to talent and intelligence than to a combination of the ruthless exploitation of others and accidents of birth, as such jobs are taken disproportionately by people born in certain places and into certain classes. …
“The psychopathic traits on which the bosses scored so highly, Board and Fritzon point out, closely resemble the characteristics that companies look for. Those who have these traits often possess great skill in flattering and manipulating powerful people. Egocentricity, a strong sense of entitlement, a readiness to exploit others and a lack of empathy and conscience are also unlikely to damage their prospects in many corporations.”
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/nov/07/one-per-cent-wealth-destroyers
To add to the collection: Paul Piff, social psychologist.
So, in other words, it pays to leave your soul at the door! 😉 Very good references!
This is the kind of tyranny that Anonymous should be fighting. Someone should contact them to see if they can find out who attacked United Opt Out. I bet Anonymous can!
YOU are so right, Lloyd. Plus, I do believe that people who are entitled really have a hard time being moral people. They are BENT on getting their way, plus have no concept of others and sharing.
Lloyd Lofthouse:
Thank you for having insight to recognize the driving disorders behind the reform movement! How can others be so blind?
……………..Get ready….I’m going to say it again….
Sociopathic behaviors (Personality Disorders) drove the leaders of the Nazi movement, and we can see those same behaviors driving the leaders of the Education Reform Movement. (Isn’t that what usually drives any tyrant(s) or dictator(s).
People do not become sociopathic by choice. It is usually the result of a childhood of chronic traumatic stress. (Similar to what children are experiencing from the chronic traumatic stress in the High Stakes Testing Environment.)
These are signs and behaviors that we can observe from our “Sociopathic” leaders:
“Intentional” cruelty to children.
No empathy or compassion for children
Lack of guilt about abusing children
Callous
Self Absorbed
Self Perception of Superiority
Arrogant – Always Right – Black & White Thinking
Obsessive about Power & Wealth
Superficial Charm
Exploitative
Contemptuous of the feelings, rights, and sufferings of others
* Our sociopathic leaders are intentionally “breaking the will” of children. Same thing in Germany for decades leading up to WWII…..and we know how that turned out!
Now that we know this and it’s out there….what do we do about it?
What do we do about it?
We’re doing it. And we have to keep going—-repeating the truth and spreading the facts behind the truth far and wide repeatedly. The Great Wall of China wasn’t built in a day.
If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and
Exactly enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire.
Yikes. Garbled.
If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire.
Exactly
Copied and shared all over Facebook!
Until the UOO site is back up and running-
If you would like information on how you CAN opt out of field testing for PARCC, watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY4Tu9OhovM&app=desktop
You CAN opt out of testing-your parental rights are protected by these Supreme Court rulings:
The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that parents posses the “fundamental right” to “direct the upbringing and education of their children.” Furthermore, the Court declared that “the child is not the mere creature of the State: those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right coupled with the high duty to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.” (Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 534-35) The Supreme Court criticized a state legislature for trying to interfere “with the power of parents to control the education of their own.” (Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 402.) In Meyer, the Supreme Court held that the right of parents to raise their children free from unreasonable state interferences is one of the unwritten “liberties” protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. (262 U.S. 399).
STAY STRONG and UNITE
I had to look up the years of those rulings, because I knew it wouldn’t be anything recent (because these rulings are sensible).
pierce v. society of sisters: 1925.
Meyer v. Nebraska: 1923.
Let’s hope these aren’t challenged anytime soon!
Yes, the Pierce decision.
dianeravitch are you saying the Pierce decision is being challenged? I just did not understand your response.
Lynda, I meant that the Pierce decision affirmed parent rights.
The only trouble I have with the Supreme Court decisions that you cite is that they can also be used against us. These could be twisted to mean every parent should have a voucher to send their child to any public or private school. Also it could be a precedent used to uphold the right of privatized Charter schools. With the 5-4 decision that just came out of the court, I fear that these will be upheld as the rights of the parents. Anyone else think that these could be a double edged sword?
Cowards.
Running afoul of billionaires is a problem. It demonstrates how anti-democratic the ed “reform” movement is when they stoop so low eliminate dissent. Much of the mainstream media has been bought. Now they are stooping to sabotaging internet sites? Pathetic.
Hackivists, trolls, and disgruntled netizens are always looking for sports to see people suffer. They are one of the most pathetic people in the world.
I guess the message here is don’t [xxxx] with the federal government.
>
First, mind your language in Diane’s living room. Second, we don’t know that it was the government. It could just as easily be someone from Pearson or one of Gates’ minions or any number of private sector interest.
Looks like they restored it quickly because it is working fine for me.
Stiles,
Some people are getting through to the UOO website. I cannot. Neither can Peg Robertson.
It might depend on whether or not you can administrate the site.
It’s accessible to read, at least on my computer:
http://unitedoptout.com
There is no www on the URL.
I wonder if they host their WordPress instance with Automattic or on their own/3rd party. Netcraft ran this article a week ago: http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2014/03/24/wordpress-hosting-do-not-try-this-at-home.html.
Hopefully they get the security and functionality restored for all viewers!
You can access the current info but they can’t post any new info. It was first hacked late Sat. or early Sun. morning. Obviously somebody is very frightened of this movement! A lot of good things will come out of the OPT OUT conference. Substance News (substancenews.net) is posting stories about the conference as they come in. In some ways the hackers just did OPT OUT a hugs favor, more press, more info and more people getting upset and speaking out against standardized test child abuse. You know you’re good when someone copies what you did or tries to destroy your website!
This should be a message to all to back up their site. WordPress sites can be set to do that automatically to Dropbox, most hosts give that option,even the databases.
Hmmm, any computer savvy folks on The Dark Side?
My site, http://www.educatorfightsback.org, where I expose corruption in our schools, has been hit several times. I always have backups and send to others including leaving a flash drive at grandma’s. The latest message from my host was:
“Upon examination it was discovered that there was a brute force attack aimed at your wp-admin portal. Although the attack was unsuccessful it still drives up resource usage. In order to prevent this we have added an extra layer of security to your word press sites.”
I now have double security. Who knows, but good luck getting the information back. Did they try their host?
Can someone report this to Anonymous? I bet they could figure out who did the hacking.
Law enforcement must be notified of this and the perpetrators identified and brought to light and to justice.
It’s better to start with the ISP the perpetrator came from. This can be determined from reviewing the server log.
I was able to access the stie with no difficulty. 2:55 PM Tuesday.
I loved the little stick-in-the-ground sign I saw at a shopping center in New Paltz, NY: “Refuse the Tests!” It’s the only one I’ve seen.
This is an overt act of desperation and fear. The privatizers, teacher haters, and deformers are threatened by parent choice when it does not profit them or coincide with their shallow and corrupt narrative. They see their window closing fast as what was supposed to be a docile public is waking up and demanding a voice.
This is actually encouraging to me. We have been ignored, and we have been laughed at. Now we are being fought (to paraphrase that famous quote that has been mistakenly attributed to Gandhi). They know we are a threat and they are responding the only way they can since they don’t have the facts or research on their side.
Of course, ugly and suspicious and revealing. Opt-Out is a threat to the Billionaire Boys Club who need as many customers(students)as possible for the revenue stream to gush billions from the public to the private sector. Yes, file a police report, demand an investigation, all of us with computer savvy come on board with ways to fix this ASAP, publicize it. An attack means this is a tool of resistance which truly threatens the authorities. That’s why the Occupy encampments were all destroyed by police attach two years ago, look where occupations of public square led to in Ukraine. Restore our brilliant Opt-Out national tool and let’s invent more.
And, let us know if funds are needed to fix this. I pledge $200 if needed, just let me know.
Does Bill Gates know any computer geeks?
If he does, shouldn’t they be working on Windows 8, Bing, Microsoft Security Essentials ……?
LOL
People should Tweet Anonymous and ask them to find out who hacked United Opt Out: http://twitter.com/YourAnonNews
Likely another parent or teen who feels this isn’t the best approach.Or just a jerk.
As a techie, while I won’t rule out sabotage, things like this usually occur from random hacking due to poor password selection. It’s easy to get paranoid when you’re working on something political to think that someone is trying that desperately to stop you — I know this from running a political discussion site. The simplest answer is usually the right one. Better secure things next time.
And it’s better not to have hair on fire until you know it’s deliberate sabotage. Less embarrassing if you have to back track.
There are people out there who hack just to do it.
If it had been seriou , malicious hackers, they could have taken over the site and posted their own stuff.
AV-TEST and Dennis Technology Labs, rank anti-virus software. The website, How-To Geek, posted a ranking chart, that led to the article’s title, “Good Bye Microsoft Security Essentials: … Use a Third Party Antivirus”.
At this point we have no idea who hacked it and/or why. All we know is that it’s destroyed. If you are able to see it you are viewing the ghost site due to Super Cache being installed on the website. We will rebuild it and we will be even stronger!
I just found out this morning. Disturbing because it could be just a coincidence (hackers hack…it’s just what they do) or it could be further evidence that “reform” and testing are parts of a wrong-headed and destructive plan and those driving it are also willing to undermine collective resistance.