Blockchain-based content platform Steemit has banned hacker group The Dark Overlord from using the open source network, days after Twitter and Reddit took similar steps.
The Dark Overlord hacker group has been in the news since the turn of 2019 after they hacked into the systems of insurance and law firms and emerged with what they call damning evidence about the September 2001 terror attacks in the U.S.
The group demands ransom in bitcoin and has been using Steemit to publish its demands and threats, including one for $2 million in BTC or they release “9/11 papers” with answers to so-called secrets.
Steemit.com Bans Users
Steem is a crypto token that powers the Steemit platform in the form of incentivization for creating and curating content.
Steemit, D.tube (functions like YouTube) and Busy.org are all platforms built on the Steem blockchain. It is Steemit.com that has moved to bar the hacker group.
The platform maintains a list of those users it has banned for violating its Terms of Service as well as for GDPR purposes.
Banning these users does not in any way exclude them from the blockchain, which means that such users can still use their WIF to access Steem wallets in any number of ways.
It also means that other services that use the blockchain can display the prohibited content.
Steemit has banned a number of users as contained in its “GDPRUserList.js,” which is also reportedly the same list that has users that violate its Terms of Service.
It is a short list, containing only six users in mateja.klaric, xondra, tgylhn, vichkovski, wizzymt and the latest addition, thedarkoverlord.
The Steemit “terms,” which are similar to those on other social media sites, includes a “god clause.” This clause gives the platform the power to terminate a user’s access and use at their discretion.
It also reads:
In the event of termination, your access to the funds in your account will require you access to the Steem blockchain via the command line API or a third-party tool and will require you to have access tother backup of your Account data including your Account and Private Keys.
For The Dark Overlord, their posts may have been deemed to violate Steemit’s clause on use of the site to advance or commit an illegal activity.
It states:
Although Steemit.com has banned the hackers, their posts are still visible over the Steem blockchain. Busy.org, a Steemit alternative is still showing content from the group.
It therefore implies that should the hackers publish the next tier of 9/11 papers, the public will access them via the blockchain.
And the group, which maintained that its activities have nothing to do with hacktivism, have said that “censorship and fake news cover-ups won’t silence” them.
They also bank on public support which has so far extended a further $800 on the initial $12,000 sent before the group released tier 1 documents.
The Dark Overlord says it will need BTC worth $2 million to release the “juiciest” part of the trove. Given the high demands, it could be a long wait for the “megaleak,” if it comes to that.
Activities of the hacker group will not gain much support even as debates regarding censorship resurface.