Anonymous: A Blessing In Disguise?
We are probably familiar with the hacker group Anonymous, or at least recognize the name. They have been grabbing mentions on the news every so often, and end up on my Stumble feed quite frequently. They have claimed responsibility for a variety of different events, some of them meaningless (for the most part), and some of them with a fairly straightforward message.
It’s hard to really call Anonymous a group, as the left hand really doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, in many cases. However, we will just lump it all together and call them hacktivists. Are these hacktivists beneficial to our society, or are they irrelevant and detrimental?
First, we will just look at Anonymous exclusively. Many of their actions (especially the highly publicized ones) are actually reactionary. They seem to focus on the right to free speech, and react to the suppression of it, like the cases of Hotz and Assange. They also take opportunities to act in regards to violations of human rights (Syria, Uganda, police departments). Granted, these are just their opinions on these violations, but the instances do seem to be justified. Anonymous may be loosely knit, but they are on the same page. Generally, the targets they deem necessary are cyber attacked, with the result being the websites in question being brought down.
So what is Anonymous doing for the world? Honestly, bringing relevant issues to the forefront. Due to the Internet’s global connectivity, they are illuminating dark corners of the world where problems exist that we may not be aware of. I would have never have heard of Hotz, or known how many governments restrict aspects of the Internet for their constituents. The worldly reach of Anonymous and their willingness to take on so many breaches of peoples’ rights has a strangely unifying effect; it seems to scream for us to pay attention and be aware. The results of their attacks aren’t so much a change in the status quo for the issue in question so much as the issue being made more public (PSN going down, anyone?). In this sense, Anonymous serves very effectively as an extent of our societal awareness, and that is, actually, a good thing.
Ironically, Anonymous has had another effect: they have made the world much more conscious about cyber security. Granted, we have been heading that way anyway, with things like Stuxnet floating around, but their presence made the concept more pressing. Suddenly, when cyber security firms (again, ironic) are being brought down, people realize that this kind of security needs to be taken seriously. This will benefit everyone, albeit maybe make Anonymous have to work harder, as our information will become more secure. Maybe firms won’t give their security contracts to the lowest bidder anymore?
These two results are beneficial, but tenuous. Anonymous has done a good job not being overtly damaging; their attacks are concentrated, not malicious in nature, and pertain to their defense of rights. However, if they start to change in focus and become malevolent and stray from Anonymous’ ideals, the credibility of the group suffers tremendously. Anonymous has a sort of cavalier, vigilante image. The deterioration of said image would just make them a bunch of hackers committing crimes in front of a computer screen.
So yes, Anonymous is a strange sort of blessing. A bunch of geniuses united around a core set of ideals that truly are admirable. Let’s just hope they keep on doing the same.
–MP
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