Hactivism: admirable, but futile
Anonymous recently struck again.
After the horrific shooting in Paris in which terrorists attacked a controversial French magazine, Charlie Hebdo, Anonymous retaliated by attacking Twitter accounts of various terrorist organizations, according to an article
by The Guardian called, “Anonymous target terrorist Twitter accounts after Charlie Hebdo attack” written on Jan. 12, 2015.
By now, I have gotten used to the brand of justice this hacktivist group carries out on its own, specifically when Anonymous revealed the hidden story of a horrific rape that happened at a high school in Steubenville.
I think of Anonymous as the group that tries to defend the “little people.” In many ways, I applaud Anonymous for their efforts to dig deeper than what appears on the surface to uncover the truth of what is really going on around the world.
However, while I approve of Anonymous’s intentions, I do not necessarily approve of the way they carry them out.
Their actions are illegal, and Anonymous members have been arrested in the past for breaking the law. Their activities usually involve hacking into government agencies to reveal hidden information to the public.
And, while Anonymous’s intentions may be focused on bringing about real change in the world, it is not really possible for them to bring about this change effectively because of their illegal activities.
Anonymous calls attention to a certain issue for some amount of time, but sooner or later, the world moves on, and we are left with no major changes in policy to correct the issue at hand.