The past four weeks we have touched base with issues on the
Internet involving the topics of freedom of information, privacy, security, hacking
and activism. I believe issues concerning the topics mentioned above; arise mostly
because our government would like to regulate the information available to us
on the Internet. Of course once we—individuals here in the U.S.—hear regulate, we
automatically tend to fight back and try to protect our freedom of speech by
peaceful marches or by other conventions that can be seen as a form of civil
disobedience. Should we let our government decide on what it sees as fitting when
it comes to information? A certain group doesn’t think so!
One great example that touches all topics mentioned before, and why the government is some what worried, is the work of the loosely collected group of individuals known as Anonymous. I
was really engaged with the actions taken by Anonymous (group) because of how
they fought for our freedom of
information using the Internet. Reading about Anonymous, I went through a
whole range of emotions with each individual operation and found myself
classifying them as heroes in one operation to chumps in another.
When I first read and watched some feedback on YouTube about
Operation Payback—which targeted corporations for withdrawing their funds to a
website that leaked confidential and sensitive information (WikiLeaks)—I found
myself with a huge smile and could have stood up clapping after seeing how this
group of individuals orchestrated successful Distributed Denial of Service
Attacks (DDoS attacks) on the websites of MasterCard, Visa and PayPal. I
couldn’t believe that these individuals were willing to stand up to ‘Goliath’
and I quickly labeled them as ‘heroes’ (Internet
activists) because they were willing to stand up to the big corporations
and willing to fight to keep our rights to freedom of speech.
But the more and more I read and watched about their
operations, I started to feel different about Anonymous (group). When they went
after the Church of Scientology because of human right violations—which I
couldn’t find any articles supporting this— and fraudulent activities, I
started to realize that maybe they weren’t ‘heroes’ and maybe more along the
lines of hacktivists because they
didn’t seem too concerned about human rights. I felt they instead wanted to
ridicule Tom Cruise and the Church to get a laugh (lulz) by leaking the video
and DDosing their website.
Then I lost most of my respect to this group and called them
chumps after reading that they abandoned Operation Cartel because it was too
dangerous. Sure, of course it would be crazy to go against a drug cartel that
shows no mercy but if they were really true to their statement in which they
say, “We don’t forgive” then it just goes to show you that this group is mainly
composed of tech savvy individuals that hide behind their keyboards when the
action gets tough.
At first I was all for Anonymous' actions and didn't want any part of our freedom of speech/press to be regulated but then I could see how some information should be regulated (towards some regulations not all). We already have seen some of our rights taken with the Patriot Act and It’s not hard to see why our government would like to
control more of this fast and unfiltered information. If there is no regulated way of
controlling the Internet than our future national security can be compromised because we won’t be able to track down
with ease any malicious hackers. In the long run—regulating the internet, even
if we compromise some individual freedom and some privacy—will help track down future groups like Anonymous, that are
willing to take it a step further (terrorist). Using the utilitarian approach
to their decision by only allowing information that is fitting
because it will be good for the greater number of citizens is ok with me because I feel very safe here in Wisconsin J
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