This past week
in class we watched a documentary that discussed Anonymous and Wikileaks. I had
not heard of either of these before. I found the documentary to be very
interesting, I had no idea that there was Internet activists and hacktivists.
Anonymous was originated in 2003 and the Sunshine Press initiated Wikileaks in
2006 in Iceland. After we started the documentary on Monday I did some research
that night to find out more information. I was surprised I had never heard of
Anonymous or Wikileaks. For the most part I think Anonymous is a great thing
the only think I do not like is if they give out peoples personal information
like credit card statements, while tying to prove a point. The point could
still be proven without hurting the consumers like the example in the documentary.
I think both of
these are very important. Anonymous is a group that publicly hacks and blocks
government, religious and cooperates websites. They do this to give people a
voice and stand up for things they believe in. People who support anonymous
view that as “freedom fighters” and people who oppose them refer to them as
“cyber-terrorists.” I feel like anonymous is a helpful and that they keep a
watchful eye on issues that the general public would most likely not know
about. They believe everyone has the right to Internet and it is a key aspect
of communication and knowledge.
I also really like Wikileaks; to me they
believe in the right of people to know information that the government and
other institutions are trying to hide. Over the years group has released many
significant news documents, which became front-page news items. The citizens of
the United States, in my opinion, have the right to know information about the
wars and so on and this is essentially what Wikileaks believes in.
I have posted a documentary about Wikileaks that is very informational. It gives you more information about the group and why they choose to expose information.
I think you bring up a lot of ideas, and I really liked the beginning of the documentary, I think that is a really informative video, and look forward to finishing it! Thank you for sharing your views, and I completely agree that people have the right to know what's going on. Excellent blog!
ReplyDeleteI think it is really interesting to hear your opinion on these two groups knowing that it hadn't been influenced by media or the opinions of other people! I am glad that you see value in them. I think most people do feel that any action on the part of Anonymous that hurts innocent people or makes them more vulnerable is unnecessary. I think that this type of behavior is mostly done in some factions of the Anonymous group, and is probably (as mentioned in the documentary we watched) partly a reaction the shift in the group's 'purpose.' I wonder though if you think that people who take these actions have any sort of goal? The only thing I can really think of is to show people how vulnerable our reliance upon worldwide systems of technology has made us and that maybe we should apply this concept to other things - what's supposed to serve us or protect us might simply be using us for it's own good. Good post!
ReplyDeleteI can see where you are coming from but I would have to disagree with you. I think that Anonymous is going about "proving a point" the entirely wrong way. They are being hypocritical and bullying people to try to get their point across and I think it needs to be stopped.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that you haven't heard of either of these groups before. I'm not trying to be rude i'm just surprised. I do support many actions of Anonymous but they do sometimes push the envelope a bit too hard and can even attack some people that don't even necessarily deserve it. They stand for human rights but sometimes their ethics are a bit off.
ReplyDeleteI wrote about some of this in my blog. I mean the government is crazy. Anonymous goes to the most radical measures but at least their honest with what is really going on. I hate being left out of the loop and I sometimes feel as though the government tells us nothing. You were on point with you positions and your arguments and stood for something in this blog... Great job.
ReplyDeleteBlair Williams