The mysterious hackers of Anonymous have been more busy than usual this week. But are they a legitimate movement or a bad joke?
On Monday we reported that they leaked some Bank of America emails from a former employee. The emails are discussions about deleting documents from loan files for a group of insured properties.
They also launched Operation Skankbag on Monday, which is a campaign against French fashion designers Louis Vuitton. The cyber campaign is a response to Louis Vuitton’s petty lawsuit against a Danish artist.
Then on Wednesday they released details about their investigation Operation Metal Gear, which has the goal of tracking down a government contracted computer program that allows the user to control multiple social media profiles and use them to manipulate the masses or track down anonymous activists.
And according to JOE.ie, Anonymous ended the work week with a bang by targeting Zangief Kid, Casey Haynes’ school for suspending him. Anonymous is upset that Casey was punished for sticking up for himself after being bullied repeatedly, so they hacked the schools website and replaced the content with this: “We have had enough of this bigotry. They failed at providing a violence-free environment for their students, and when Zangief Kid (Casey) took things in his own hands they bitchslapped him for defending himself.”
Anonymous has inserted themselves into some significant issues with their hacking and activism, but you have to wonder: are they a legitimate political movement or are they a bunch of troubled computer geeks?
I can understand why a group of hackers might be motivated to use their computer skills to get involved in the political/economic issues that Anonymous has chosen. They are important issues and all of them are related to the fact that there are some serious flaws with the way people in power operate in society.
Based on what we know about the cyber activists their organization is somewhat decentralized, but the things they are attacking all relate to the immorality of the centralization of power in government and economics. This would lead one to believe that Anonymous is made up of people who are fed up with totalitarianism that occurs all over the world.
That is why it makes perfect sense that the United States Federal Reserve System is one of Anonymous’ main targets. Last Saturday Anonymous began Operation Empire State Rebellion which is an attack aimed at breaking up the Federal Reserve banking system with a campaign of non-violent, peaceful, civil disobedience.
Breaking up the global banking cartel that consists of the Federal Reserve, International Monetary Fund, Bank of International Settlement and World Bank is a near impossible task. But, I think that if Anonymous is even a quarter of the way successful, then they will bring attention to one of the most important political and social issues of our time.
The real power in this global economy lies with the most powerful banks in the world. The most powerful nations in the world wouldn’t be able to wage so much war if they didn’t have the central banks and their printing presses. It is their polices and their close relationships with governments all over the world that have caused the recession we are currently in.
So while you might be able to make the argument that Anonymous is just a group of childish hackers who have taken their pranks too far, you cannot argue that Anonymous doesn’t understand what fuels the totalitarianism they despise.
Plus their efforts in support of Zangief Kid have bought them a few brownie points for now. Schools are usually supposed to step in before someone gets bodyslammed, it’s BS that Zangief Kid was suspended.
