Anonymous (Internet Group)
Categories: Tech, Ethics/Morals
The characterization of the Internet group Anonymous depends a lot on your point of view: they might be villains on par with SPECTRE in the James Bond series; they might be a group of bored, overeducated kids with little else to do but cause trouble; or they might be a vanguard revolutionary movement protecting the people against the growing power of our Internet-based overlords.
The so-called "hacktivist" organization is a loose affiliation of computer hackers who perform high-profile acts of online mischief and cyber attacks. Members tend to target institutions they find distressing, like government or religious organizations, or individual business leaders and political candidates.
The group has no central leadership, so espouses no particular goal or manifesto. Anonymous is associated with creepy white masks featuring decorous mustaches and goatees, meant to evoke Guy Fawkes, a real-life historical figure accused of trying to blow up the British parliament in 1605. The style of the masks themselves come from a graphic novel from the late 1980s called V for Vendetta, as if a group of people dedicated to achieving computer mastery and inspired by an obscure 17th century historical figure needed a comic book connection to be any more nerdy.
