Hacktivism

Hacktivism has become one of those words that everyone has heard but might not realize what is actually going on. Honestly, before watching We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists, I wasn't even aware of how involved Anonymous truly was. It's one of those things that you don't necessarily hear about in the media because they're constantly painted as the "bad guys." However, after watching, I now stand actively behind the hacktivists.

Anonymous is a network of people floored to engage in political hacking. They have taken on fairly minor issues, like with the Church of Scientology, up to larger issues like the conflict in Egypt. If you want to take a look at the evolution of Anonymous, I highly recommend watching the documentary. They take the covered up truth and bring it public - just like Aaron Swartz. They believe that information and technology are free to the public and should not be censored. Honestly, with this whole net neutrality stuff going on, it's not hard to already anticipate an Anonymous attack.

In terms of our book, it's easy to see the humanity in hacktivism. Christian mentions in one chapter about how actors are able to keep playing a continuous character. He states on page 97 that, "It's be tempting to think that you spend a certain amount of time learning what to do, and the rest of the time knowing what you're doing, and simply doing it. The good actor will refuse to let this happen to him. The moment it does, he dies. A robot takes his place." In a sense, the government socializes us. We are shuffled into education, by law, and taught certain curriculums that the government could actually control (e.g., public schools). The government instills certain norms into our brain, like how stealing is bad and you'll go to jail or how we are supposed to sit back and let the government do their job. One could easily argue that we are merely actors just doing what the government has taught us to do. Hacktivists, on the other hand, throw that dynamic into a loop.

They specifically take what the government thinks and shoves it away. They dig up confidential documents and post them to Wikileaks. They encourage internet rebellion and protests at certain places that have wronged the citizens. If they even remotely think the government is interfering with their internet, they take to their computers, and turn the issue on its back for mere fun. They refuse to become robots because they are tired of just "doing." That's why activism of all kinds is part of our humanity. We can take to the streets to show how unhappy we are and attempt to change it. It might take years, but the end result will benefit us as a society. Anonymous is only trying to facilitate that process.

Furthermore, Christian also mentions the importance of reacting locally as being part of humanity. He writes on page 84, "You're not just doing something; you're doing the very human thing of simultaneously stepping back and considering the process itself." While it was mainly talking about continuous improvement for big companies, I think that it's a fair fit for Anonymous, too. If you think of it as similar to a company, they're effective because they don't just look for ideas, they actually act on them. Once the group catches wind of a situation, they take a step back and decide how to continue. If they threat is big enough, they will act on it, and incite internet protests. If it's deemed just an annoyance, they go about their business. They're effective because they act and don't stand aside.

Overall, I have developed a huge respect for the hacking world and glad that I was able to see past the faux "bad guy" image the media gives them!