The way Anonymous present themselves to the world and communicate to the world is interesting. They work underground to expose and educate. They also cause havoc in the financial and online systems to prove points. They can be threatening, carry out cyber attacks on major online services and their relationship to V for Vendetta and Guy Fawkes is a little complex.
I agree with a lot of what they do, for instance they stand by the power of an ‘idea’ remaining present, finding a place of eternal existence, making the point, the ‘idea’ is bullet proof and cannot be destroyed, this contextualises intellectual property and helps to add value to creative thinking. The big idea of the century is Tesla’s scientific discoveries around free energy, an idea that has not been destroyed. However to make free energy possible and to activate the idea, would be to motivate the enabling factors of this brilliant idea. Yet what they do is hold on to the concept and corrupt the already corrupted (like the financial services). Some of their videos are threatening, a catalyst in the creation of a trend, wearing the mask gives a ‘look’ that is stylised and carnival.
I am not sure they think about the effects they have on the so called ‘innocent’ or ‘ignorant’ (a lot of the world is corrupt out of ignorance) but where does the line of innocence to ignorance get drawn? I worry about the people on the outside ring of the group that are not totally of understanding the insiders values, if you put a key word search on ‘Anonymous’ on youtube you get a mass of posts, based on a sense of ‘real’ understanding but presented in a way to cause disorder for the benefits of their movement. As they all wear masks it is hard to know which are really Anonymous and which are outsiders influenced by Anonymous.
I supported the St Pauls protest, ‘Anonymous’ has a great presence in respect but is active in a much more technical manner. To me Anonymous’s standing is a little open to misrepresentation or misunderstanding. However there is a lot of value in its exposing and its intended corruption on financial services and corporations, the question I ask is, where can ‘Anonymous’ go?
I think if parliament was to shift to being about the people, instead of buying in to economic grid lock and the power dynamic of parliament went back to the people, Anonymous may reveal themselves further. The emergence of an underground group, needs open accessibility, to find pathways forward and to have support to enable a constructive ‘launch’ and support networks of future activity.
I would like to think about them from a place of emergence, so as to support the positive presence they bring, which is apparent, their intentions are to help peoples ‘security’ online, economically and in enabling platforms for the people and voices is effective. They are also successful in helping inquiries with the Amanda Todd inquest and the harassers exposure. They are listed as helping many.
Anonymous is a loose non-organisation describing an internet subculture which is actually a group of ‘hacktivists’, individuals who share ideas of freedom of speech and anti-censorship on the internet. The group is focused on exposing internet oppressors. They are known for hacking government and company websites including Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and Amazon, and have threatened outages aimed at Facebook and Twitter. Words Amanda McGregor © 2012