2. Anon tells other anons he got the UDIDs from a laptop.
3. Other anons tell more anons it was a government laptop.
4. Release group writes "FBI laptop" in their pastebin.
(5. ??? --> 6. Profit!)
The heterogeneity and disorder in Anonymous (at least it was like this back in the day) means that the chain from leaker to releaser -- usually passing through several people and IRC channels -- plays out a bit like a game of telephone. This serves to protect the leakers, but it can mess with some of the details.
The releaser of the data mentioned the name of a specific FBI agent and claimed the data had a specific file name containing the acronym of an non-profit organization set up to share data between private industry and intelligence organizations.
Details like that don't emerge over the course of a game of telephone. If this story is correct, and the data was not in the possession of the FBI, someone deliberately decided to make up an elaborate lie.
The FBI Agent (Christopher K. Stangl) appears in a recruiting video for cybersecurity experts. It is no sign of secret knowledge when his name is used.
It's entirely plausible that you work for the FBI and are trying to discredit talk of the FBI's involvement by proposing relatively poor arguments to the contrary.
1. Anon breaches laptop, finds UDIDs.
2. Anon tells other anons he got the UDIDs from a laptop.
3. Other anons tell more anons it was a government laptop.
4. Release group writes "FBI laptop" in their pastebin.
(5. ??? --> 6. Profit!)
The heterogeneity and disorder in Anonymous (at least it was like this back in the day) means that the chain from leaker to releaser -- usually passing through several people and IRC channels -- plays out a bit like a game of telephone. This serves to protect the leakers, but it can mess with some of the details.