Anonymous, also known as Anons, are a collaborative being of hacktivists in the digital world also known as the internet. Hacktivists operate much like the activists in the real world, but instead of protesting physically they protest digitally. Anonymous’ work is considered to be extremely controversial by a number of people. This is mostly due to their infamous nature of broadcasting private information of those who slipped through the justice system. They have been described as vigilantes both by the people that want to rid of them and by those who praise them. The question remains, is vigilante a fitting term for this unorthodox group of internet rebels.
The question can only be answered with a proper understanding of the term vigilante.
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Since Anonymous is an everlasting being that changes and evolves with the times, it is fair to debate whether the act of violence can be replaced with the act of shame for the digital world. This would make sense, being that the active digital world’s weapon is loss of privacy. Since the physical doesn’t exist within the intangible world the system must adopt a common ground to make sense of the current state of vigilantism. This would mean that the act of exposing personal information as a deterrent for justice would be considered online violence. We could also look at “DDOS”, which stands for “Denial of Service attack”, as a viable criterion for vigilantism. DDOS consists of users using their personal computers (or any computers they have available) launch and attack to overload a target website or server that belongs to the opposing force. A prime example of this would be the attacks on the PlayStation Network, where Anonymous was said to overload Sony’s servers and penetrate their firewall to bring the whole service down to crawl and crate a major inconvenience for users and Sony alike. This attack was related to a user known as Gehot (George Francis Hotz)[7] in which Anonymous defended the user that was being bullied by Sony at the time in court. Although soon after Anonymous acknowledging its sole regret was that for the innocent PlayStation Network Users. These methods of attack …show more content…
Once again the answers give the nod more towards Anonymous which have constantly been upholding their views as for the greater good and for the justice revolving innocent people. Tracking back to the Maryville case, it was clear that Anonymous was the sole provider of closure for the case. Although they brought very unorthodox methods to the grounds, they fought the fight in a method best suiting their skills and abilities. Much like real life, there will sometimes been unforeseen events that might play out of hand and cannot be avoided. The single most proficient method of dealing justice might not always be the most accessible or viable option, but it will always have the most desired result for those who their fighting for. Their methods were compared to that of the Wild West by Helen McLure, where she points out “the brutish and malevolent aspects of this chapter of America‘s history”[8]. When compared to such a barbaric time of America’s past, it’s clear that the vigilante isn’t quite held in praise and is encouraged by the government to be no different than an outlaw. This is can be disputed as well where organizations will use the term vigilante in a way to manipulate people and corporations to profit off the situation (Anti-intrusion companies selling their products). A personal thought is that Anonymous embodies the good
In the essay “Where Anonymity Breeds Contempt” the author Julie Zhou demonstrates the negative impact Anonymity in the internet has had on human beings. Following with a convincing argument for unmasking these “trolls” of the internet.
Hackers. You know them as gangly kids with radiation tans caused by too many late nights in front of a computer screen. Evil beings who have the power to wipe out your credit rating, cancel your cable TV, raise your insurance premiums, and raid your social security pension. Individuals who always avert their eyes and mumble under their breath about black helicopters and CIA transmissions. Paranoid, social deviants who could start World War III from the privacy of their bedrooms. Or so the mainstream media would have you believe.
The vigilante is a reoccurring archetype in American entertainment and can be seen from comic books from the early 20th century to films released in 2010. Robert B. Ray in his piece about the vigilante makes it clear that the vigilante is a large part of American entertainment and culture. The vigilante is one that believes that they are above the law and that the law is inadequate. This idea that the law is inadequate or unjust stems from Henry Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience. Thoreau believes that when the government is unjust, that we should do what we believe is moral or right, even if it means breaking the law. The vigilante often takes violent and dangerous measures to create justice in their world and in doing so raise a moral question about our society. If we often idolize the vigilante in films and comic books, do we do the same with vigilantes that have been seen throughout our history and that are currently “creating justice” in our cities? Although the vigilante is a popular archetype in our entertainment the vigilante is not seen in the same light when it comes to reality, the “real” vigilante in American society is seen as a threat or danger and are disbanded in most cases. This idea poses a serious problem’s to Thoreau’s belief because the negative perception of vigilantes is proof that problems in society shouldn’t be solved by the individual, but through legal and civil means set up by our government.
The writers introduce this whole concept of the vigilantees. Through the vigilantees the authors challenge the idea of heroism, what is justified and what is not. Rorschach being an example of this concept, has a view of the world which only allows him to see it in black and white. To see the evil and the good but nothing in between, there is no gray in his world. “Understood man's capacity for horror and never quit. Saw the worlds black underbelly and never surrendered. Once a man has seen, he can never turn his back on it. Never pretend it doesn't exist.” (Watchmen chapter VI, pg. 15) Rorschach is guided by his desire to stop injustice, showing no mercy for those who perform evil. Although having a vigilante with who is so intensely driven by anger could result dangerous, it is better than not having any type of security around at all times. The case of the 37 who saw murder and didn't call the police that appeared in the NY Times during the 1964, proves that vigilantees are necessary for the safety of the people. This case presents a women being killed while people witnessed it and did not do anything to help her. A policemen stated that “If we had been called when he (the murderer) first attacked, the women might have not been dead now.” (NY Times 3/27/1964) Witnesses could have saved the life of an innocent if they had chosen to do so, but they chose not to. This demonstrates that although vigilantees may get out of hand sometimes, when they do it they do it promote safety . If a vigilante would have been present during the murder of the women, she would have probably still be
Vigilantism - The term vigilantism is defined by the textbook as "the act of taking the law into one 's own hands" (Schmalleger 140). Although today this term has a negative connotation, most of the original vigilantes of the American West were honest men and women trying to forge an organized and predictable lifestyle out of the challenging situation which they encountered. Furthermore, vigilantes, who often times faced unscrupulous, money-hungry desperadoes, did what they could in order to bring the standards of civilization, as they understood them to bear in their communities. The idea of "vigilante justice" is often rationalized by the idea that adequate legal mechanisms for criminal punishment are either nonexistent, insufficient, or inefficient. Additionally, vigilantes typically see the government as ineffective in enforcing the law and often claim to justify their actions as a fulfillment of the wishes of the community. As defined by the legal-dictionary.com website, vigilantism is referred to as "Taking the law into one 's own hands and attempting to effect justice according to one 's own understanding of right and wrong; action taken by a voluntary association of persons who organize themselves for the purpose of protecting a common interest, such as liberty, property, or personal security..." (thefreedictionary.com). An example of vigilantism would be George Zimmerman, who decided to take law into his own hands by profiling someone as a criminal and shooting
Do you believe in vigilantism? Do you believe in criminals and outlaws being punished for their crimes in the name of justice? What if you knew someone who was so close to you, you would do whatever it took to find those responsible for the pain they caused and punish them in the name of justice. Would you walk down the path of a vigilante and help bring about an end to their tyranny? Vigilantism can be looked at as crime if you look at it in a negative way, or it can be looked at in a positive way. Many vigilantes help make the world a better place every day by doing away with the evil people in this world who kidnap, rape, murder, and loot people in the streets. Vigilantism is justified because the vigilantes help make the world a better place and help bring to justice the ones that the law cannot catch.
In this book Sterling discusses three cyberspace subcultures known as the hacker underworld, the realm of the cyber cops, and the idealistic culture for the cyber civil libertarians. At the beginning of the story Sterling starts out with discussing the birth of cyberspace and how it came about. The Hacker Crackdown informs the readers of the issues surrounding computer crime and the people on all sides of those problems. Sterling gives a brief summary of what cyberspace meant back then and how it impacted society, and he investigates the past, present and future of computer crimes. For instance he explains how the invention of the telephone led to a world that people were scared of because the telephone was something that was able to let people talk to one another without actually being in the same area. People thought that it was so strange and so different because they didn’t understand all of the information behind it. Back then people thought of the telephone as a tool that allowed others to talk to them in a way that was so personal yet impersonal. Sterling then goes on to explain how “phone phreaks” played such an important part in relating the telephones to computer crimes and how they were so closely related back then.
Historically, the Anonymous has been engaging in activities that qualifies the group as hacker group as opposed to troll organisation. The group began its operation on December 2010 by attacking the MasterCard for blocking the Wiki Leaks website donations (Coleman 1). In January 2011, the Anonymous group attack the Tunisian government website for using illegal means against protesters. In February...
“We are #Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget #ExpectUs #MillionMaskMarch #OpVendetta #UK”. That message is from the many tweets off of Twitter that the group Anonymous. That message has been one of their many slogans. In Anonymous’ case how do you have an all-encompassing slogan when you have no structure or hierarchy? When you are just a loosely aligned group of internet users how do you become an international group that is an example of an alienated counter-culture Anonymous is many things. Lots of different people have their opinions on them. One thing for sure is that they use Twitter to voice their alienation. The alienation I believe is the strongest is the feeling and belief that they are a counter-culture. They think they are exposing the corruption of the majority and the societal system. Anonymous thinks they are the moral opposite of that corruption. However, the group has many battles to fight. There are many who mock the group. To find research on the group, you have to go to nontraditional media sources often including their home website 4chan. The alienation felt by Anonymous is that of a counter-culture. First however, you must learn what is Anonymous is, how they started, and what they did. That may answer where they will go next.
Vigilante justice is the act of a citizen or group who takes the law into their own hands and enforces it. The town of Lucan, Ontario takes the law into
The documentary Rise of the Hackers, focuses on the rising criminal use of hacking and how it is effecting multiple areas of technology. The documentary describes simple and complicated situations concerning hacking, but there still questions that must be answered when it comes to hacking and crime. The main question is in trying to determine why a person would choose to commit computer hacking. There are various theories already present within the criminal justice system that may explain at a micro-level and macro-level. These theories would explain why offenders would commit the crimes, but it may not answer the full scope of the question. The Routine Activities Theory would help to explain why offenders offend, why victims are victimized,
Many people through out the world use the internet in way you can’t imagine. Hacktivism being a virtual way to make a statement for the world to see is only the beginning. A recent demonstration of hacktivism followed the death of a Chinese airman when his jet fighter collided with a U.S. surveillance plane in April 2001. Chinese and American hacktivist from both countries hacked Web sites and used them as "blackboards" for their statements. This is only an example of what hacktivist are capable of. This in my opinion is not ethical. I do understand they are making a point but the way to make the point is all wrong.
The use of hacking to identify weaknesses in computer security has become an increasingly controversial issue in recent years. Awareness of this issue is important, because our ever increasing reliance on technology means that breaches in computer security have the potential to have wide-ranging and devastating consequences to society, worldwide. This essay will begin by clearly defining the term ‘hacking’ and will examine the type of people who hack and for what reasons. There will then follow a discussion of the moral argument on hacking before examining a few brief examples. The essay will then conclude by arguing against the use of hacking as a means of identifying weaknesses in computer security.
Haley, Jacqueline. "Anonymity of Cyberstalkers: The Cyber-Watchdog's Tough Collar." Georgia State University College of Law May 2001.
The issue with tackling the ethical hacker scenario is that the event is almost entirely action based. There is no end to give meaning to the action and there is no finalized result or indication that it impacted happiness, which many ethical theories depend on. Namely consequentialism, utilitarianism and ethical egotism require an end result in one form or another. There is also no purpose in committing the hackings which makes applying moral theories that deal with motivation and intent, ethical egotism and aspects of virtue ethics, increasingly more difficult to do effectively. Therefore moral theories that apply almost exclusively to the action itself will be utilized in this argument.