La plus grande partie de capture de drapeau de l'histoire d'Internet

On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump is sworn in and becomes the 45th president of the United States. Part of America is unsatisfied, notably actor Shia LaBeouf.

Shia LaBeouf creates a performance art project: a stream meant to stay live 24 hours a day until the end of Trump's presidency. Viewers are invited to repeat the phrase "I will not be my guest" (he will not divide us).

The project attracts the attention of 4chan, particularly the /pol/ forum. This community is known for being a haven for trolls and controversial figures.

• Bored teens seeking an activity • People who disagree with Shia's political message • 4chan users seeing an opportunity for chaos

A live stream backed by celebrities gets invaded by an army of people looking to annoy viewers. The sidewalk in New York becomes a forum where people come to have fun.

• Presence of dollar and Russian trolls • A woman chained a man for no clear reason • A man attempted to shout about the Holocaust • Racist and antisemitic scandals

Internet chaos literally spills into reality. People ignore the rules of civility in real life, behavior typical of an internet culture without consequences.

The New York museum hosting the project had enough of the chaotic crowds. The exhibition is shut down, and Shia must relocate his project elsewhere.

Shia moves the project to Albuquerque, New Mexico, a city known for its hot air balloons and chemistry labs.

Albuquerque is not dominated by 4chan trolls. Local gangs have their own concerns, and security issues are very different from those in New York.

The exhibition closes by the first week for security reasons, particularly the risk that trolls would get shot by bothering the wrong people.

Shia realizes that even without trolls, his celebrity attracts chaos. He needs to find a solution that lets the project continue without this perpetual turmoil.

Shia decides to plant a flag in a secret location with a live stream showing only the flag, blue sky, and ambient audio.

• The flag floating in the sky • Stream audio with wind and frogs • Sound indicates proximity to water • Sunset times

By observing the North Star in the night sky, investigators deduce the latitude. The height of the North Star above the horizon indicates the distance from the North Pole.

Investigators narrow the search area to approximately 35 degrees north latitude, still covering more than 200,000 square kilometers.

Investigators use triangulation, a technique dating back to antiquity. With two reference points and their angles to the north, one can locate a third point.

• Planes passing through the sky during the stream • Their exact position obtained through aerial maps • Wind direction observable on the flag

An internet user goes to Greenville, Tennessee and honks continuously while leaving town. The sound comes through clearly on the stream, confirming the location about 5 minutes from the town.

After just 24 hours, people find the flag planted behind a barn. It's an impressive spontaneous intelligence operation run by strangers coordinated on the internet.

While technically impressive, finding the flag is morally reprehensible. Shia just wanted to be left alone, whether in political disagreement or treasure-hunting enthusiasm.

3,000 people searching for a flag are as effective as an organized team of 3,000 people. The internet makes information exchange so easy that even without formal organization, it's remarkably efficient.

The property owners are unhappy with cars circling around. Police must intervene, and people back off.

Using satellite images to find a discreet road, someone manages to replace the flag with a t-shirt featuring a frog and a Donald Trump cap at dusk.

Shia announces that the United States no longer provides sufficient security. The project moves to England, a country of culture, understanding, and refinement, according to Shia.

The flag is installed at the Foundation for Art and Creative Technologies in Liverpool, on the building's roof.

• Guarded entrance with security agents • Upper floors sealed off • Patrols throughout the building

This is no longer a simple localization mission like in Greenville. It's a complex infiltration mission requiring multiple levels of bypass.

On the first day, several attempts to access the roof are immediately thwarted by security who know the building's layout.

• Flaming arrows shot from an abandoned church 170 meters away • Plans for a flame-throwing drone • Attempts with explosive-laden drones

Project defenders create anti-fascist messages across 4chan. Others spread false clues to misinform 4channers about the actual location.

The team discovers that an adjacent training center has easy access to the building. The plan is to cross from that building to the museum roof to retrieve the flag.

The team prepares a detailed plan: cross the training center, reach the balcony, boost each other to move from one roof to the next.

Despite meticulous planning, the team doesn't think to bring scissors. The flag is tied to the mast with ropes, which they cannot cut.

The team plays victory music but doesn't get the flag. It becomes as memorable as a real success, just for the wrong reason.

The museum cancels the exhibition. Letting it continue meant risking a 22-year-old slipping off a roof. The internet creates a funny song about the moment.

• New York cancelled due to fighting • New Mexico cancelled due to cartel problems • Tennessee cancelled due to frogs and police • Liverpool cancelled due to failed infiltration

A Swiss design studio creates a virtual version of the flag. It's cancelled because too many people promote their design services and servers get overloaded.

Shia finally puts the flag in his hotel room, a poor substitute for the impact of the original participatory stream.

There's no scenery, no audio, no sky. Without these clues, the treasure hunt seems impossible.

The "I Will Not Divide Us" project is not carried by Shia alone. It's a collective of artists including Finnish Nastja Säde Rönkkö and British Luke Turner.

By observing brightness changes on the stream, the internet determines the flag is in England, in the London suburbs, at Luke Turner's home.

Turner finds himself barricaded at home with the flag. He can't disappear to the countryside because 4chan would find him. He contacts authorities, and the FBI gets involved.

For a month, nothing happens. People lose interest elsewhere. The project seems destined to end with the flag taped to a wall like a tokio hotel poster in a teen's bedroom.

Turner receives a call. Someone is finally ready to help the project. With the help of seven people, a final round is scheduled in France.

The city of Nantes, in Brittany, becomes the last battlefield. A location specifically chosen to confront the nonsense the internet can dish out.

Turner contacted authorities to recover the flag stolen from Tennessee. It's the FBI's Art Theft Unit that gets involved, a prestigious unit.

The FBI invites Turner and Shia to participate in the investigation. A team of nazis with Jews as allies in an investigation into a stolen artwork.

The flag is placed at Lieu Unique in Nantes, a building that is simultaneously a museum, concert hall, and bar. It's recognizable by its 38-meter tower, the former chimney of a biscuit factory.

• 38-meter-high tower • Security team experienced in crowd management • Advanced cybersecurity protocols • Cards reissued and passwords regularly changed

The flag is installed on October 16, 2017. The tweet announcing the stream's return shows the crane used for installation, as a warning to 4channers that accessing the flag won't be easy.

The question becomes: will they manage to steal the flag from a 38-meter tower, guarded by a professional team in the heart of a French city?

Paul's division executes its flame-throwing drone plan, a resurrection of the Liverpool idea.

The flag doesn't catch fire. It's fireproof, specially treated to resist flames.

The amateur pilot flees, leaving his drone behind. Police recover it and launch an investigation. This striking incident draws a line the internet doesn't want to cross.

Everyone realizes at once that the treasure hunt may have gone on long enough. The internet became afraid of its own capabilities. Chaos should not have deadly consequences.

• Data redundancy and encryption • Protocols to regularly change passwords • New badges issued • Employee briefing on security best practices

It's literally tower defense like in video games. A fortress building with a nearly 40-meter tower, staff experienced in dealing with invasions.

• Someone with an iron bar attempts entry • A man claiming to vote for Mélenchon tries to grab the flag • A person manages to access a skylight

Even reaching the roof, there are still 20 meters of climbing on a smooth surface with deadly overhangs. If you slip, you fall with little hope of survival.

After the drone incident, everyone decides the treasure hunt has gone on long enough. The internet seems afraid of itself and its potential consequences.

• Ten months after Trump's election • 6,000 kilometers from the country in question • The internet maintained focus for an impressive duration

The flag is lent to a Polish museum that retries the interactive stream, but without pro-Trump trolls or original project supporters, it doesn't work.

The flag returns to Nantes where it remains. Time finally stops what neither security nor distance could stop.

There is no single morality in this story. Whether people chase Shia out of political opposition, antisemitism, or simple entertainment, it's wrong in all cases.

• The internet doesn't make people fundamentally evil • It shows how people behave when there are no consequences • They could act because everything is findable online • No consequences because you can be anyone anonymously

The internet remains the greatest source of power and freedom ever given to all citizens. But these traits will likely disappear in the future or be heavily restricted.

In 50 years, stories like this will remind us how chaotic it was when the internet spilled into reality and what it looked like when immature young people discovered power.

Shia gets chased across six different cities but ultimately wins using the method any exasperated parent uses to protect an object from an insufferable child's hands.

He put the flag too high to reach. A 38-meter tower was enough where even gravity becomes the project's ally.

The story ends in a way that's both unstoppable and incredibly immature, typical of the internet. The artist wins through a non-solution in a fortress.

Sometimes the best defense against chaos isn't a complex counter-attack, but simply placing what you protect out of reach. Nature and time do the rest.