“Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”-Benjamin Franklin
Hacktivists group Anonymous claims to
be virtual vigilantes defending the copper conductors of the internet. They
claim to be activists, exploiting big business, government, and personal
security in order to build awareness. Forming a movement, Anonymous is
anti-SOPA and for the sharing of whatever information over the internet freely.
Anonymous has an unknown number of members that carry out large malicious attacks
on targeted websites and persons. The actions of Anonymous are a peaceful
protest against censorship, their efforts have uncovered crimes, and has arose
awareness of social issues in America. Do you think their actions are
warranted?
Several years back a haktivist group
Anonymous appeared from 4chan, first stealing documents from a Scientology
church. They have branded themselves with the Guy Fawkes masks, attaching this
icon to their actions. Since, Anonymous has had its hands in supporting
Wikileaks, the Arab spring, advocating against SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act),
and ousting alleged pedophilia (Coleman & Ralph, 2011, p. 3).
Anonymous has even gone as far as
testing security flaws in government intranets in the U.S. and around the world.
Most recently stealing documents from the Department of Justice and even
defacing their website temporarily. John Dvorak (2012) asks, “Did the WikiLeaks
release of thousands of government cables [by Anonymous] do any real damage to
anyone or kill someone” (p. 6)? I feel the same as Dvorak. Anonymous exploiting
and ousting major flaws in governmental and big businesses networks hurts no
one but does give the public a better internal view our government. In
addition, since the security flaws have been identified, they can now be
addressed. Therefore, the ends do justify the means for the majority.
In
addition, Anonymous has been charged with uncovering the identities of internet
pedophiles. These include the alleged stalker of Amanda Todd and Chris Forcand
an accused pedophile (Kim, 2011, p.1) (Couts, 2012, p.2).
Most recently,
earlier in the month of April 2013, Anonymous has investigated the rape of 17-year-old
Rehtaeh Parsons from Canada. One year after Parsons rape her case is being
relooked at after her suicide and Anonymous’ publications of the alleged suspects
names (Ross, 2013, p.1). The interesting thing with Parsons case is that Anonymous
did not use and special hacking skills to uncover the identities of the aggressors.
It was through information shared, social media, and messaging online where Anonymous
was able to collect information about the crime and confirm the identities of
the aggressors.
SOPA is a U.S. bill proposed to combat
online piracy. In doing so, many feel the bill (including Anonymous) is
censorship and against some of our basic rights as Americans. Anonymous has
been actively fighting the SOPA bill. At the same time, Anonymous has used the
open internet, as it is right now sometimes to exploit personal information.
Such as in the case of Australian ISP AAPT, who confirmed 3.5 gigs of customer
data had been stolen by Anonymous (Henderson, 2012, p. 1).
This surely is not part of an American
value put out by one of our Four Founders Benjamin Franklin. Have the efforts
of Anonymous been for the greater good or just morally wrong? And if wrong, is
such a cyber-army even stoppable? Dvorak
(2012) thinks that, “This will never end, so just sit back and enjoy the show”
(p. 12).
-Joe Lundgren
References
Coleman, B., Ralph,
M. (2011). Is it a Crime? The Transgressive Politics of Hacking in Anonymous.
Retrieved from: http://www.socialtextjournal.org/blog/2011/09/is-it-a-crime-the-transgressive-politics-of-hacking-in-anonymous.php.
Couts,
A. (2012).
Anonymous,
Amanda Todd, and the dangers of vigilante justice online. Retrieved from:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/anonymous-kody-maxson-amanda-todd-bully/#ixzz2Q1DFS7Iu.
Dvorak, J. C. (2012). Can Anonymous Be Stopped? PC Magazine.
2011). Anonymous Takes On Child
Pornography Sites. Retrieved from: http://www.ibtimes.com/anonymous-takes-child-pornography-sites-360614.
Ross, W. (2013). Anonymous to the Rescue in Canada Rape Case.
Retrieved from: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/04/12/anonymous-to-the-rescue-in-canada-rape-case.html
6 comments:
This is a really great topic. I read a lot of what Anonymous does. I see them as vigilantes that are not hurting anyone they are not stealing peoples identities and stuff like that. They are exposing crimes and weaknesses in business and even government defenses on the internet. I think they are doing good. Nice work on this blog post.
Mike Rodriguez
I feel like this is a valid topic, I have followed the antics of Anonymous, and believe that the ends do not justify the means. Ultimately it is not the right of anonymous hackers to determine what is important of valid to a free public, and their actions can expose weaknesses, or undermine the very people they seek to protect.
This is a topic that is interesting to me, for one, more awareness needs to be brought to Internet privacy and they (ANON) are doing just that but I do not know if they are doing it the best way. Either way change is needed. Anon has proven results but some of their means are reported as illegal. It is a double edge sword in my opinion, they get results but are sometimes breaking the law to do it. Would we accept such means from law enforcement? Would we accept our police breaking the law to better protect us?
“Hacktivists Or Privacy Invaders?”
Are we Activists or are we Terrorists? Do not get me wrong I am not pointing the finger at the Hacktivists group Anonymous and / or those pirated by this group, but I can see both sides of the coin. Freedom truly does come with a price and as does one’s ability to “uncover” what is purposely covered up. Life is about checks and balances – Anonymous will put you in check if the situation presents itself.
CJ Lay
Communicating in Cyberspace
Regis University
Hacktivists or Privacy Invaders, good question, information is powerful and anytime you can get information to the masses, it is powerful. However, is the group Anonymous identifying and reporting the facts? Are they operating with the best intentions? Are their actions warranted? But most importantly, are they investigating within the boundaries of the law. I realize Anonymous claims to be the defenders of the internet, they have utilized their expertise and talents to solve a rape crime and identify a stalker through the information they gathered, without hacking; thus, operating within the boundaries of the law. If Anonymous is truly societies defender, protecting society, by exploiting big business, government flaws, and personal security; how do we protect ourselves from Anonymous exploiting us?
Zena Horne
Communicating in Cyberspace
Regis University
I am not sure I would classify what Anonymous does as peaceful. True, they are not physically attacking. However, their actions do have real consequences that can be just as disruptive as a physical attack.
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