When the word “protest” is said many images can be conjured
up in your mind, depending on your life and the times you lived in. For many
African-Americans they still think of the sit-ins at cafes’ or Rosa Parks
refusing to give up her seat. Or they may think about the March on Washington lead
by Dr. King, or the brutal force the government used such as attack dogs and
police batons. For many people my parent’s age they think of the War protests
that went on in the 60’s and into the 70’s. They think of men burning their
draft cards in protest of a war that was wildly unpopular. For many law student’s
they think about the right to petition and protest the government as defined by
our First Amendment Right and they may think of subsequent court rulings that
have upheld that right.
But what about our generation? What does our right to
protest look like in the 21st century? To me, when I think of
protest my mind goes to a crowd of people in Guy Faux masks Rick Rolling a
crowd and holing up signs with catz on it just for the lolz. That is my
generation of protestors.
The media has labeled the group Anonymous as many things
including terrorists, hacktavists, and bored teenagers with too much time on
their hands. I was first introduced to Anonymous in 2008 during the Project Chanology phase when they were
protesting the church of Scientology. And I have followed the group’s
activities ever since.
With some protests, people
would go out bearing their Guy Faux masks and physically show up to places,
such is the case with much of Project Chanology and later when many Anons came
out in support of Occupy Wall street. But 98% of Anonymous work is done from
the inside of a home using nothing but knowledge and skill and a computer with
internet access.
Just recently members of
Anonymous hacked into the United States Department of Justice after the suicide
of Aaron Swartz. More information about that can be found here: http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/anonymous-hijacks-federal-website-threatens-doj-document-dump-174943824--abc-news-politics.html.
Another way Anonymous gets their
message across is through the use of Youtube. But Youtube, being owned by a
major corporation which Anonymous has had past issues with, quickly tries to
remove all videos as soon as they appear. But Anonymous is a lot like the Greek
mythological creature Lernaean Hydra. Every time one “head” is cut off, two
more appear in its place. Such is the way with Anonymous videos, every time
Youtube takes one down, two more are uploaded which is why no Anonymous
endorsed video has ever been successfully removed from the site.
They freely ask people to
upload and share the information. Because at the root of Anonymous is freedom, mainly,
freedom of information. They hacked companies like PayPal and Visa when they
would no longer allow their users to donate to the controversial website
Wikileaks. During the protests in Egypt when the Egyptian government shut down
the internet, Anonymous worked with many people to help them override the government
denial of the internet, and many members of Anonymous took to faxing articles
off of the internet to private Egyptian businesses and schools in an effort to
spread information where information was being denied.
Governments have managed to
trace down and prosecute members of Anonymous, but that has not deterred people
from continuing in the internet “protests” of hacking and whatnots. Mainly
because the group itself is like the space that gave birth to it, the internet.
So by definition Anonymous is chaotic and sporadic. There is no leader, there
are no followers. If you want to be in Anonymous or take part in an activity
that Anonymous is doing, than you simply do it. If some of them are doing
things you don’t agree with you simply don’t partake in that action. It is as
easy to join and leave Anonymous as it is to poen and close a web browser.
That is precisely where
Anonymous gains its strength. Yes there has been some in fighting between
different factions, but nothing that has ousted anyone who is or has been
affiliated with some or all of Anonymous agenda. No government can actually “take
down” the organization because of its chaotic order. There is no leader and no
chain of command.
There is not a secret base
that the group operates from. These are private citizens working from home.
There are no “bosses”, no “lieutenants”, no “foot soldiers”. Everyone is equal.
Everyone can go out and do something on their own and have a few other “members”
join them or not. There is no way that the government can “infiltrate” the
group. Sure, they can take down a few kids by dumping their computer, but it
doesn’t topple the whole of Anonymous. It really doesn’t stop any of them; it
only makes some of them more careful. It may make a few people boost their computer
security a little better.
Just like African-Americans
may think of Dr. King or Malcolm X when they think of the word protest, and
just like my parents may think of the men burning draft cards and Woodstock when
they think of the word protest, many in my generation will think of Anonymous, the
faceless crowd that represents the internet, with an ever changing agenda and
with people coming and going like traffic to a website. Anonymous is history in
the making. A group that was born from the internet, and works within the internet
is the group that will embody the idea of protests in this age of information.
And I don’t think they are
leaving anytime soon.
They are legion.
They do not forgive.
They do not forget.
Expect them.
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