Anonymous: cyber vigilantes or cyber terrorists?

"We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us."

“We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”

Offers chance for unfiltered justice


by John Tkebuchava
The Advocate


What do you think of when you see the word vigilante? A caped billionaire with a raspy voice?

What you probably don’t picture is a middle-aged, average-looking Joe, face illuminated by a computer screen. Rather than a mask, this hero hides his identity through the ambiguity of the Internet. Instead of superpowers, he brings with him a knack for hacking — and a legion of like-minded companions.

I am referring, of course, to the famous (or infamous, depending on how you view it) hacktivist group “Anonymous.”

When looking at how people will react to the actions of Anonymous, they are usually divided into two groups.

First, there are those who support the group’s deeds, though they may be illegal, and may even call themselves “fans” of Anonymous. The second group, however, tends to condemn Anonymous’ actions and ask the old question of “Who do they think they are?” and just put them off as cyber-terrorists.

But when you look at some of the deeds of this hacktivist group, you can’t help but smile. For example, the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., notorious for picketing the funerals of dead American soldiers, announced that it would be picketing the funeral of Aaron Schwartz, a famous Internet activist, after he committed suicide several weeks ago.

But Anonymous, outraged by the church group, announced they would retaliate should it go through with its plan. Apparently intimidated, the church stepped down.

Also, early this year, the group leaked a video of several high school football players in Steubenville, Ohio, bragging about allegedly raping and urinating on a teenage girl. Soon after, several arrests were made. Before the video leak, there was a lack of action against the boys, and many observers even accused the very “football-oriented” community of trying to cover up the case.

This, and many other events, such as hacking into a pedophilic website server and releasing thousands of users’ names, have been added to the long Anonymous resume.

Despite the negative feelings some may have against the group, what’s interesting to note is that in film, everyone in the audience always loves the superhero.

But, if you say you love freedom, you cannot truly hate vigilantism. After all, that is how revolutions are born. Hell, that’s even how America was born. Early Americans decided enough was enough and decided to take up arms and take matters into their own hands. They stood against the establishment and the “law” in order to fight injustice and a tyrant and his broken system.

That’s exactly what Anonymous is doing.

Anonymous is not perfect, mind you. It is comprised of humans, after all, and some of their actions are questionable, much like those who run this government.

But what the government has that Anonymous doesn’t is a lot of red tape. And so, Anonymous is able to cut right to the core of a problem rather than having to sift through the paperwork.
And when they get it right (which they usually do), I don’t see the problem in that.

 

Lawlessness will never replace justice


by Mike Mata
The Advocate


Little did Guy Fawkes know back in London in 1606 on the day of his execution for plotting to blow up Parliament that a stylized version of his goateed likeness would one day become the outward symbol of resistance, protest and popular justice in the form of Anonymous.

Anonymous, the populist “hacktavist” collective, is a loose group of individuals from various Internet imageboards and forums, notably 4chan, who band together to protest, hack and inhibit those they as a collective deem to be harmful to the masses while seeking to inform aforementioned masses about topics.  A common slogan for the group is, “We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”

In this manner, Anonymous acts as the Batman of the Internet, a form of vigilante justice that seeks to fill in where they perceive that the legal authorities are faltering.

The crux of the issue with Anonymous’ activities lies in one of the central themes of their aims: an uncensored Internet free of restraints.  However, while Anonymous is fairly anarchic, they take upon themselves the responsibility of deciding what is worthy of existing on the Web and who is worthy of punishment.

Sound a tad confusing? Take the infamous Project Chanology from 2008 and the point will become clear.

In early 2008, Anonymous took issue with the Church of Scientology for taking down an interview of then-nearly rabid Scientologist acolyte Tom Cruise.  Anonymous claimed this action was a form of Internet censorship, especially when the Church started threatening YouTube if it didn’t remove the video (hint, it did.) Thus, Anonymous initiated Project Chanology, a series of cyber attacks upon the Church’s operations: denial-of-service attacks (DDoS), which attacks the user’s site and functionality; black faxes; prank calls; and then, getting its tax-exempt status investigated by the IRS and mounting a non-violent physical protest outside Church of Scientology offices.

This was one of the first large-scale and highly public instances of Anonymous’ actions, which went on to include participation in the Occupy movements, the hacking of various government sites, including the FBI and Department of Justice, and several cyber attacks on the Pentagon.

While there may have been merit in the spirit of the attack, these attacks could have taken on too much collateral damage to be effective. For example, attacking the FBI and the Pentagon could have resulted in major security breaches or threats while any information leaked could affect innocent citizens, such as Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks when that group released personal information on guards at Guantanamo Bay.

Anonymous’ other actions provide still another perspective, with attacks on those governments persecuting LGBTQ members as well as the horrifically offensive Westboro Baptist Church. The attacks on the Westboro Baptist Church, as well as Project Chanology, were directed, according to self-appointed Anonymous spokesmen, with the ultimate aim of destroying both organizations, and featured the hacking of their websites and the release of personal information.

So, yes, there have been ups and downs with Anonymous. However, the idea of so much power in a rogue group’s hands should leave more than a few citizens a tad worried. While Anonymous may be on the front line as a watchdog, they ought to leave the doling out of justice to real authorities.

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