Have you seen the words "We are anonymous. We are legion." around? Maybe you've seen teenagers wearing Guy Fawkes masks? How about the group Lulzsec? Have you wondered where any of these phenomenons came from? Then let me ask you another question. Have you ever been to 4chan.org?
Launched in 2003 by its creator Christopher Poole, 4chan.org was an attempt to bring a thread-based imageboard to the English audience similar to its Japanese counterpart, 2chan.net. Like 2chan, 4chan featured multiple boards for different topics. Unlike most websites, 4chan moderated its users differently. Some boards had multiple rules, while others were only checked for child pornography (In accordance with international law, to keep the site legal.) One such thread was the famous /b/.
Out of this completely unmoderated board came a new sense of power. While some users preferred to share pictures of cats, /b/tards, as they came to be known, were pioneering what the rest of the internet would soon follow, although it might not look like it. Users took to creating inside jokes and tests to haze new users (which would become the first memes), posting slurs and gruesome pictures to startle other users, and defining the principles (the rules of the internet, they would call them) that movements such as Lulzsec, wikileaks, and other internet anonymity groups would come to adopt. Anonymous, the activist group originating from 4chan (so accurately named because of the importance of being an anonymous poster on 4chan) began to act in political interests, performing "raids", attacking groups like the Church of Scientology.
These groups began in their infancy as teenagers with "Fight Club mentalities" seeking to harass others for fun (trolling, as it is now known), but it grew into something very important. Lulzsec, a group founded from Anonymous, has taken down the CIA's website, helped in international revolutions, and has foiled the British Government's plans to find them multiple times.
The group serves as a good reminder that progress is not linear, and that, given a mask, people will show their true selves. The anonymity of the internet gave those who did not want to be noticed the power to both change history and be total assholes to others. But in the end, I like to think that the changing the world part was a little more important.
Vamosi, Robert. "ANonymous Hackers Take On the Church of Scientology." CNET News. (2008): n. page. Web. 23 Feb. 2012. <http://news.cnet.com/8301-10789_3-9857666-57.html>.
http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_m00t_poole_the_case_for_anonymity_online.html
The Anonymous era has been an interesting one, and it's certainly not over. I was recently reading an article (http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/13/tech/web/anonymous-sxsw/index.html?iref=allsearch) that touched on certain people associated with Anonymous that are willing to use their names and show their faces in public. It adds an interesting element to the situation, and provides the group with a public face. They have been involved with the interruption of Fortune 500 companies, governments, and intelligence agencies. Who knows what will be next
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting. It is peculiar how one small message board could become such a large revolution. The anonymity of the internet can be an extremely scary thing, as this shows. People lose their filters, as it is easier to hide behind a computer screen than say things to people's faces. Yes, this is a much smaller problem regarding the anonymity of the internet, but it shows people's true colors.
ReplyDeleteThese days, more and more people are learning to take advantage of anonymous Internet surfing to keep as much of their information private and keep the threat of trackers and attackers at bay. internet anonymity
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