Over the past couple of years, the hacker group Anonymous has gained growing attention from their spree of internet videos calling for world peace and an end to government corruption. In many cases, their videos receive views at an excess of several million (example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrXyLrTRXso). On the other hand, it seems that most people forget about the importance of being able to have such entities in existence. Although they penetrate many government infrastructures and leak sensitive government information, as you will find from reading this article, it is all for the betterment of "we the people."
Anonymous is a group that was formed around 2003-2004. As stated by Wikipedia, Anonymous is a "loosely associated network of hacktivists" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_%28group%29). Although it is a "group," in essence, it is more of a movement that has grown all around the world; exposing the corruption within government, religious, and corporate entities. In fact, all around the world in several different protests, you can see people wearing the Guy Fawkes mask that the organization has taken on as one of its main symbols of "being anonymous" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_mask). That only stresses more on the fact that we are all (or should be) "Anonymous." We should strive to preserve freedom and expose and oust corruption wherever it may exist.
One of the most notable attacks that Anonymous posed to an entity was the OPERATION SONY event (http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2011/04/anonymous-attacks-sony-to-pro...). This gained a great amount of attention because not only did Anonymous take down a large corporation's gaming services, but it also angered millions of gamers in the process. The issue with the outrage from gamers is that they weren't seeing it from the perspective of Anonymous who was trying to preserve the personal freedom of gamers. Sometimes you have to make a little sacrifice in order to reap the benefits of freedom later down the road. According to Nate Anderson's article at arstechnica.com, Anonymous attacked SONY "in retribution for Sony's lawsuit against PS3 hacker George Hotz (aka "GeoHot")." The point is that consumers should be able to have the freedom to do with the products they buy in the ways that they want. Unfortunately, many corporate companies (more so even Microsoft), try to keep gamers trapped within the confines of their lack of creativity.
Recently, Anonymous emerged again, making threats of an attack on US banks (http://www.neurope.eu/article/anonymous-announce-plans-attack-us-banks-i...). According to the previously mentioned article, "the attack, according to Anonymous, would be a response to social and political injustices. "America you have committed multiple war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and recently you have committed war crimes in your own country. ...Now it is our time for our Lulz (fun)," the group said." Anonymous is not through standing up for the people, and this is an example of how far they are willing to go; attacking the banking system for the social and political freedom of the people.
Despite possibly being angered or upset with the way in which Anonymous handles its business, like some people do, we should all be content with the thought of an underground organization (or even better said, movement) looking out in the best interest for us while we carry on with our daily lives; not always noticing the corruption and secrecy that is emanating around us.
"We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us."
-Anonymous
