“We are Anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”
These are the words commonly associated with the online “hacktivist” and activist group Anonymous, which Time magazine has stated are one of the 100 most influential “people” in the world in 2012. There’s certainly no doubt that Anonymous has had some impact on the world since its conception back in the early 2000’s, having since targeted religious associations such as Scientology and the Westboro Baptist Church as well as world governments such as the US government and ISIS. They are notorious for bringing down websites through Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and leaking information that they find should be brought to the attention of the public.
The main question some people may have for Anonymous is who or what they stand for, and whether or not that makes them good or bad. The problem with determining this though is that Anonymous is a very loose organization. A website that claims to represent Anonymous states that the group is “an internet gathering” with “a very loose and decentralized command structure that operates on ideas rather than directives.”
Originating on the image-board website 4chan around 2003-2004, Anonymous has always consisted of various individuals with one or many ideas that they want to explore and act upon. These ideas become goals for its members to be accomplished with some form of coordination, but most times each member who identifies as being apart of Anonymous will act on their own terms and answer to no-one. This means that each member is partially on their own despite whatever goal they’re trying to achieve, and thus it is hard to distinguish what was an action made by the group at large or just an individual apart of the group.
There are a lot of things many Anonymous members stand against though, which include, but are not limited to; child pornography, Scientology, religious fundamentalism, conservatism, zionism, and censorship. These ideas help the public paint a picture of what Anonymous wants to accomplish through their activism and what sort of messages they are sending to the people they affect.
As a result of their illegal internet activities such as executing DDoS attacks, the media, government officials, and companies have labeled the group a terrorist organization, and by definition of what a terrorist group is, that can be a fitting label. The actions Anonymous take and whether or not they are good or bad for the world and humanity is ultimately up to the public. Deciding on what one should stand for ultimately decides whether one would support Anonymous and their actions or not. For instance, a Republican supporter is most likely going to find the efforts of a Democratic supporter to get their candidate elected to be wrong, and vice versa, since that is what they personally believe in.
But no matter what the public and anyone else thinks of them, Anonymous continues to do what they do best to this day. Recently they have been credited with bringing down nearly 4,000 ISIS recruitment websites and social media accounts. In October of 2015, Anonymous also threatened to release the names of 1,000 prominent KKK members, which they later did anyway, revealing even some US politicians who had been affiliated with the racist organization. Although these are just a few of the acts committed by Anonymous, it can be shown that they stand against evil agents in our society that work to spread fear and hatred, placing them possibly on the right side of justice.
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The only true issue to be had with this article is the statement that anonymous exists as a single organization, which is fundamentally incorrect and is one reason why Anonymous remains ever illusive. It is a name. A moniker and rally flag that is flown overhead as an ideal, less as an indentified. Anyomous is and always has been the byproduct of the computer subculture that started back in the 70s and 80s, but far more radicalized. Where the original ‘hackers’ of MIT lived under the rule “Do No Damage” the components that firm Anonymous all too often ignore that rule, giving those who follow the old addage a bad name. ‘Splinters’ or ‘cells’ make up the whole of the ideal of anonymous, LulzSec being the most prominant, and everyone else simply flies the flag without knowing who the are supporting, or what their end goal may be. While the original grouping was about having fun and moving the world of computer science forward with jokes and lightheartedness, the culture is now seen in public eyes as a menance and scewed. Yet, rightfully so for those who exist in those circles have allowed the bad apples to ruin the whole batch. Romanticize all you want, but just be careful who you indirectly or directly support in the matter of the internet, it is like the wild west. Often times with no rules.