Wikileaks: The Power Of The Anonymous Group

Today most people would tell you that the stocks, pillory and other tools of public punishment are barbaric. We’ve moved passed them, having figured out more humane ways to deal with crime. Why, then, the resurgence of public shaming, namely the mainstream acceptance of the “dox,” which, in its purest form, is the digging up of a target’s personal information—name, phone number, address, Social Security number, familial relationships, financial history—and exposing it online to encourage harassment from others? This practice has gradually been popularized by Anonymous, the amorphous collective of trolls and “hacktivists” that alternately terrorize tween girls and disable government websites.

Using and managing a sockpuppet is an endeavor that necessitates vigilance, training, and proficiency. The role of the sockpuppet is still developing across the Internet, and it is important to recognize the historical significance of pseudonyms and anonymous speech. Additionally, it is critical to remember the unique, primarily autonomous nature of online communities, and the negative impact that mandated identification could have on free speech. The value of anonymity found in the use of a sockpuppet is profoundly connected to the establishment of the United States of America. Although John Hancock and several others signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution with their real names, pseudonyms forged the journey to the freedoms outlined in those documents. These early examples of sockpuppets disseminated publications which united colonizers to fight for independence. The question of anonymity was not as important as working together to fight persecution. The Silence Dogood letters, Common Sense, The Federalist Papers, and other writings exemplify an author's purpose for anonymity. This initial use of sockpuppets during the American Revolution carved a precedent for the importance of anonymity and pseudonymity in the United States, and, therefore, led to the First Amendment of the Constitution.

They’re calling for hackers everywhere to unite for a common purpose, to bring down Lex Lu-- Donald Trump. Appalled by his divisive ideas and witnessing the looming threat to civil liberty. Anonymous are seeking to rip the legs from under his high horse by revealing to the world who Donald really is, a self absorbed child who's only looking to benefit

Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency (N.S.A) subcontractor turned whistle-blower is nothing short of a hero. His controversial decision to release information detailing the highly illegal ‘data mining’ practices of the N.S.A have caused shockwaves throughout the world and have raised important questions concerning how much the government actually monitors its people without their consent or knowledge. Comparable to Mark Felt in the Watergate scandals, Daniel Ellsberg with the Pentagon Papers, Edward Snowden joins the rank of infamous whistleblowers who gave up their jobs, livelihood, and forever will live under scrutiny of the public all in the service to the American people. Edward Snowden released information detailing the

Anonymous, an infamous hacktivist group. Their slogan “We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.” Now, one can come to think that they kind of sound like an underground rebel group. Which is what they are, but they do it all via the internet. Once must also think, “well how do they do it all via internet and not get caught?” They tunnel all their nodes and logs through private networks and encrypted chats. You may ask, what do they fight for? Well it’s obvious, they all fight for one thing: Freedom and a proper Government. You can come to this conclusion just by taking a peek at their tweets, videos, speeches, and etc. It’s obvious that Anonymous’s intended audience is anyone they can reach out to, not only does this hacktivist group focus on American problems, but they also take third world countries problems into consideration. So, with all this information, you’re probably thinking, “well how do they solve America’s problems?” Anonymous isn’t only a group that just tweets hashtags, and what not. Anonymous is loosely organized group of hackers that attempt to use their skills to make a change. But, not all Anonymous members are hackers, some join just to promote what the cause. For example: @YouAnonNews on twitter, tweets operations that are going on, and daily news that has grabbed the attention of Anonymous.

The loose-knit hacking movement “Anonymous” claimed Sunday to have stolen thousands of credit card numbers and other personal information belonging to clients of U.S.-based security think tank Stratfor. One hacker said the goal was to pilfer funds from individuals’ accounts to give away as Christmas donations, and some victims confirmed unauthorized transactions linked to their credit cards.

Adam Segal’s “The Hacked World Order” reveals many prevalent issues in today’s technologically centered society. Starting at Year Zero, June 2012 to June 2013, the battle over cyberspace witnessed world-changing cyberattacks. This was accomplished due to the fact that nearly 75% of the world’s population has easy access to a mobile phone, and the Internet connects nearly 40% of the total human population, which is nearly 2.7 billion people. With that being said, cyberattacks are becoming a more realistic form of terror.

Edward Snowden was a former CIA agent and government contractor who leaked classified information from the US national Security agency NSA to three journalists. The US Government decided to file a criminal case against Snowden which included theft of Government property and two counts of violating the espionage charge. The espionage charge involved giving classified defense information to unauthorized persons.

Hacktivism, according to the Reference Dictionary, is “the practice of gaining unauthorized access to a computer system and carrying out various disruptive actions as a means of achieving political or social goals” (Hacktivism). However, they are even more well known for the Guy Fawkes mask that the members where when, on a rare occasion, perform a stunt in public. By doing this they are protecting their identity and, in a sense, disrespecting what activism was in the first place. This is because, in the beginning, activism of any kind was done in public without masks. So, by Anonymous wearing masks in public and using code names on the internet, they embody the exact group Gladwell argues is not considered social activists. In short, Gladwell argues activism cannot be done through mainly social media as Anonymous

Anonymous is more than just a hacking group—it’s a culture of people devoted to accessible information and transparency. Although the group is intent on making the rest of the world more transparent, Anonymous is also known for being secretive in its actions, making the actions it commits difficult to monitor and attribute to them. The Arab Springs uprising was one event in which Anonymous took part in where most of their actions were largely unknown to the public. However, despite the eponymous anonymity, Anonymous played a supporting role in sparking these uprisings and maintaining attacks as they saw fit, changing the dynamic and course of the uprising in a major way.

Anonymous is a group whose members are geographically scattered around the world but unitedthrough the Internet, consisting largely of multiple imageboards and forums. Originating in 2003 on theimageboard 4chan, the name came from the perceived anonymity of users posting content on theInternet. In its early form, Anonymous was a decentralized online community of people actinganonymously in a coordinated manner, usually towards a loose goal of entertainment. Beginning in 2008,the group became increasingly associated with international hacktivism, often with the goal of promotingInternet liberty and freedom of speech.The name “Anonymous” is inspired by the perceived anonymity under which users post imagesand comments on the

First of all what was the content of the documents Wikileaks released and why is it such a big deal? Wikileaks has leaked a lot of things ranging from Military information to private emails of government officials. Now it’s pretty obvious that this could hurt the government 's sense of security, but what’s so wrong in the people of America knowing these things? It’s understandable why the government feels attacked it’s enemies, America 's enemies could get there hands on some Military information. But why does all this really matter and who really cares about some website and it’s drama? Some see Mr. Assange as a vigilante doing the things no one else

In the mid-1990’s Tor was built to support government spying operations by military programmers. The program later resurfaced in 2013 when a man named Edward Snowden “leaked a trove of secrets about U.S. government surveillance, and showed a sticker on his laptop supporting the Tor Project, the nonprofit that runs the anonymity network” (Smith). Today, Tor is software that can be downloaded online and operates like a web browser, however, it tends to move slower because it is “bouncing packets of data across several continents to protect anonymity” (Smith). The United States Department initial provided money to the Tor Project, so that many people such as journalists,

Technology is conceived as an actor that results in certain phenomena that have societal characteristics. In this sense, in one well-known study, Paolo Gerbaudo (2012) challenges theoretical and empirical grounds the assumption of Castells’ and others that the internet brings about leaderless movements (Fuchs, 2015: 783).

They want to promote the transparency of the government and to show the people how much the government isn't telling us. They have gotten much attention from government officials and cause a commotion threw out the government. A quote from an article named, “ Wikileaks: Guide to critical analysis”, says “ Wikileaks has drawn significant criticism from governments and corporations fear the ability of such whistle blowing to expose their embarrassing secrets.” This comes to show how people such as the government are concerned about them. They have gotten lots of attention from them and also from the media. Unlike other exposing sources, Wikileaks has gotten quite famous. I believe that is good because the more they are out there in the media the better. More people will find out about the subjects and stay