 Anonymous is a loosely knit internet activist group mainly focusing on standing up against internet censorship.  The group is completely democratic, making decisions based on popular vote rather than having a leader.  Tactics usually involve DDoS attacks, releasing harmful information of corrupt leaders to wikiLeaks and the public, and organized protesting in order to bring attention to laws, events, and policies where they believe there is injustice.

 Began on the 4chan.org imageboard website in 2003  Members who posted on the site often used anonymity rather than an actual username resulting in “Anonymous” as a username used by all.  Users of 4chan began to join in on mass pranks or raids either by hacking social media websites or prank calling and Skyping the responses to large audiences

 The first activism project by Anonymous was aimed at the Church of Scientology after the NY blog Gawker received a cease and desist letter on grounds of copyright violation for uploading a video in which Tom Cruise praises the church.  Anons on 4chan organized multiple DDoS attacks on the church, prank called them multiple times and sent hundreds of black faxes to their offices causing their printer cartridges to run out of ink. They then uploaded a YouTube video claiming that they would expel the church from the internet and on Febuary 10 th thousands of Anons protested outside the churches all over the world.

 About a year ago, a British man named Lauri Love exploited a security flaw in Adobe’s ColdFusion web app development platform. From here Love and others created back doors in Adobe’s software to regain access later.  These back doors have lead to breaches in the US Army, Department of Energy, Department of Health, Human Services, NASA, and it’s estimated that even more federal agencies have been breached.  On October 10 th, an internal within The Department of Energy from Ken Knobloch estimated that these hacks had breached the personal information of over 104,000 employees, contractors, family members, and information of thousands of bank accounts.  This software hack also lead to the breach of the Federal Reserve during the Superbowl game, leaking login and personal information of over 4000 individuals to twitter.

 The reason for these attacks is believed to be in demand for computer crime law reform after the suicide of activist Aaron Swartz.

 After the seize of MegaUpload in 2012, Anonymous retaliated by taking down the RIAA, MPAA, FBI, and Broadcast Music Inc.’s websites with DDoS attacks.  In 2011 Anonymous aided the Arab Spring revolution by writing a script that Tunisians could use to protect their computers form government surveillance. They also launched multiple DDoS attacks against Tunisian Government websites bringing them down.  In 2012 Anonymous posted the names, addresses, s, and phone numbers of the Westboro Baptist church members as well as took down the GodHatesFags.com website in retaliation to the churches plan to picket the Sandy Hook children’s funerals.

 Encourage the freedom of the internet and of p2p sharing sites.  Protect the internet by shutting down multiple child pornography sharing sites on Tor and releasing the information of those users. Also by defending Gawker and internet copyright policy.  Bring awareness to the people of how vulnerable our federal software systems are.  Encourage change in social systems by participating in Occupy Wall St., Million Mask March, Arab Spring, and the Egyptian revolution.  Expose corrupt leaders and authority figures.

 They act without proof or due process and release personal information of, or attack, individuals who may not be involved in any crime.  Having no leader leads to miss communication and poor organization of protests/raids.  Anyone can be a member of Anonymous meaning that the central message of the group may not always be upheld and could be used by terrorists or even politicians.  DDoS attacks against non-consenting individuals or companies as well as the use of botnets are illegal.  Innocent victims of the botnets used in DDoS attacks may be charged of a crime.  Conflict between different groups within Anonymous (ex. Anonymous Indonesia and Anonymous Australia) could lead to cyber warfare affecting innocent people.

 Is it morally okay to release personal information of an individual who, although not proven, is believed and voted as guilty of a crime or corruption?  Would the issues of loss of freedom of speech, internet freedom, and the vulnerability of our federal and personal electronics be known without Anonymous’s illegal activities?  Can we trust that the information leaked or the reason for the leaked information to be truthful if there is no leader and all members remain anonymous?  Can the actions taken by Anonymous against cases such as the WBC and the seizure of MegaUpload be morally justified even if the actions were illegal?

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