The hacktivist group Anonymous has been making the headlines since its emergence from obscurity in the winter of 2008. Some find Anonymous annoying and threatening, while others applaud their vigilante type acts that occasionally explode all over the internet. Some look at the group as a bunch of punks, hiding behind their computers and stirring things up. Others have even raised the question about whether the things they do should be labeled as terrorist acts. Whatever the case, many have been left wondering, what is Anonymous? What does Anonymous do?
Anonymous has gotten a pretty bad rap lately, but members of the mysterious group are speaking out saying they are just misunderstood. The group claims that they are an online consciousness of every sex, race and age, and that it is everywhere and never rests. They are an antiauthoritarian group that gives the voiceless a voice, and stands with the weak to fight for human rights and demand freedom. Nobody knows who the members are, and they wear vigilante masks while engaging in protests to hide their identities. Sounds a little Peter Pan-ish and creepy right? People may change their minds after hearing three of the greatest hacks by the mystifying Anonymous.
1. Operation Free Korea
In April of 2013 Anonymous started Operation Free Korea. The goal of the movement was to get the Kim Jong-un, Korea’s notorious leader to resign from his position. They demanded for democracy across the country as well as internet access for all its citizens. They hacked into the government’s web service and apparently stole and released 15,000 usernames and passwords on the internet. Anonymous also took over the organizations Facebook and Twitter accounts and threatened to wipe all of its data.
2. The Steubenville Rape Case
In 2013 a 16 year old girl was repeatedly raped by several athletes at a college football party. Anonymous leaked incriminating photographs, videos, messages, tweets and emails belonging to members of the football team. Two were originally arrested for the rape, but due to the evidence put out on social media by Anonymous, many other members of the football team came under fire.
3. Fighting Child Pornography
In April of 2013, Anonymous launched Operation Alice. The famous hacking group chose the 25th of April specifically because it is reportedly a secret holiday for pedophiles on which they celebrate pedophile pride. The goal of the operation is to hack into, destroy and cause mass chaos within pedophile networks, through which they have exposed many pedophiles via social media networks. The organization has a long history of fighting for children who are victims of sex crimes, and taking down websites that distribute child pornography.
These operations launched by Anonymous may show people a different side to the puzzling entity. It seems they are here to stay, as they show no signs of giving up their power and control of the internet. In the past several years they have easily become the most powerful hacking force on the internet. While it might be scary that they have that much control, and totally baffling to many as to how they even get the power they have, hopefully they will keep it up with the good deeds, and stick to being the Peter Pan of the internet.
Opinion by Lauren DiDonato
