Difference between revisions of "Anonymous (group)"
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| − | While the anonymous factor of Anonymous evidently makes it hard to connect specific individuals with the responsibility for the actions of the group, some steps are beginning to be taken. The Digital Economy Bill will allow net users to be disconnected on suspicion of copyright infringement. Additionally, tweets by Anonymous are being taken more seriously, interpreted as threats of terrorism, and police are starting to push for the power to disconnect websites. <ref | + | While the anonymous factor of Anonymous evidently makes it hard to connect specific individuals with the responsibility for the actions of the group, some steps are beginning to be taken. The Digital Economy Bill will allow net users to be disconnected on suspicion of copyright infringement. Additionally, tweets by Anonymous are being taken more seriously, interpreted as threats of terrorism, and police are starting to push for the power to disconnect websites. <ref name="Manuel"> |
==Ethical Concerns== | ==Ethical Concerns== | ||
Revision as of 01:58, 16 December 2011
Anonymous is an international group of hackers that originally began in 2003, with founding members coming largely from the popular imageboard 4chan. The group is a loosely organized collection of individuals who participate in anonymous actions online, getting involved in various civil disobedience campaigns. A specific culture is associated with the group, which has caused some prominent members to reveal their identity and thus lose their membership. The group largely attacks other groups in an attempt to support freedom of speech and expression on the internet.
Background
Origins
Anonymous formed in 2003 in response to a YouTube video titled Dusty the Cat in which a cat was abused by an "anonymous" boy only known as Timmy (see 4chan). The group successfully determined Timmy's true identity (Kenny Glenn) and caused him to be arrested for his cruel actions. The group met on a specific IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channel and kept other members informed through various websites. The group was largely quiet until 2006 and 2007, when they invaded the website Habbo, a social networking service centered around the idea of a hotel, with multiple versions of the same avatar (dressed in grey with an afro) used to block other users from entering the pool area. They blocked the users on the grounds that the pool was "closed for AIDS."[1]
Anyone can summon a call to action by Anonymous by posting on various message boards, although 4chan is the most common outlet for requests. Anyone can join the fight, in an army without a leader mentality. Every battle that Anonymous engages in is composed of new and different individuals making it a revolutionary army. Their main motivations, however are for the "lolz," for fun. [2]
Notable Contributions
In 2008, Anonymous launched Project Chanology, a systematic attack against the Church of Scientology in response to their request for a YouTube video in which Tom Cruise discussed the church be taken down from the site[3]. The types of attacks initially included denial-of-service (DoS) attacks against Scientology websites, prank calls, and black faxes to various centers.
They disrupted Visa's payment system as an act of revenge because of Visa's refusal to handle donations to Wikileaks by overloading the site, taking out Visa's payment processing systems which use the same network.[2] Additionally, they launched a campaign to send multitudes of Christmas cards to Josef Fritzl in jail. Yet another contribution was uploading flashing images to an epilepsy forum in an attempt to give users seizures. [2]
The most notable, recent, and widely spread action of the group has been the Occupy Wall Street protests. Anonymous has not received substantial media coverage in regard to this but the protests were originally called to order by the Anonymous twitter account and AnonNews.org, the organization's anonymous website. The protests began largely as an outcry to hold people accountable for the financial crisis which toppled the United States economy. As time has passed and the movement gained momentum, their main message has evolved to general discontent with the economic structure in this country and the government's general lack of effort to change it.
Anonymous has since taken a metaphorical back-seat to the action, no longer organizing the protest but rather "live tweeting" (continuously tweeting updates about the event and what is currently happening) about it and facilitating the continued live stream of video that emanates from the parks and streets where the protesters have made camp. There is a possibility that some of the live streaming video hosts are in fact members of anonymous, however that is unconfirmed, as no identities have yet to be uncovered by some sort of counter-hacking organization.
Responses to Anonymous Actions
While the anonymous factor of Anonymous evidently makes it hard to connect specific individuals with the responsibility for the actions of the group, some steps are beginning to be taken. The Digital Economy Bill will allow net users to be disconnected on suspicion of copyright infringement. Additionally, tweets by Anonymous are being taken more seriously, interpreted as threats of terrorism, and police are starting to push for the power to disconnect websites. [2]- ↑ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/09/palin-hacker-gr/
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Manuel, Rob. "The Ragtag Army Marches to a Political Tune; Once It Was Fun That Motivated Anonymous 'hacktivists'. Now It's Attacks on Internet Freedom." 10 Dec. 2010. Web. 15 Dec. 2011.
- ↑ Singel, Ryan (January 23, 2008). "War Breaks Out Between Hackers and Scientology – There Can Be Only One". Wired CondéNet, Inc.. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
