Over the last few weeks no doubt we have all heard the recent controversy of Wikileaks and the man at the for front, Julian Assange. I think the most interesting thing to come out of the media hysteria is how the online world has decided to fight back. The community group "Anonymous" has recently been at the center of attacks on sites such as Visa, and Mastercard (amazon.com is said to be its next target) in support of Wikileaks. The attacks are carried out by users voluntarily giving control of their computers as part of a global botnet. Once activated LOIC adds your computer to a network that is then activated by a single user. All computers then hit the same site in a coordinated attack, thereby shutting it down temporarily. The news around Anonymous has been viral, which has led the group to posting its manifesto.link
The power of an online mob rises questions in uncharted territory. Some people believe this will lead to the eventual complete censorship of the internet. Some are claiming that Assange is a patsy for the U.S. in order to get this control (how does he have a 256bit encrypted file that even the CIA cant break via "doomsday file"). But who really controls the internet? Is it a national government? Does their jurisdiction of the internet end at the borders of the country? If the U.S. is putting pressure on sites like Paypal does that mean they are the ones who are in control? The ideas in the manifesto are intriguing for the fact that it doesn't really claim to be anything or even to be a group of specific people.
How do you control something as fluid as the internet? In my opinion it is only through an equally fluid entity (mob) such as Anonymous. I think it is simple, the governments of the world say "we will force you to be free". Anonymous says "we like cats."
Many people question that a person would willingly give their computer do an entity such as Anonymous they know nothing about in order to voice their opinion. I have to ask the question, would you give your money, time, and life to a government you do not believe in?
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