Hacktivism and Ethics

Anonymous is a large loosely affiliated group of internet super heroes.
They are split off into several factions; the main groups being the People's Liberation Front, whom are the skilled organizers of collaborators of attacks and the Low Orbit Ion Cannon, which is comprised of thousands of novice computer hobbyists who offer their computer's resources as a "zombie attacker". Anonymous' exploits over the years include DDoSing racist websites, exposing internet child porn traffickers, hacking into political pundits emails and even hacking government run websites. The hacking group has faced punishment for their offenses; several members have/are spending time in jail. This jail time is deserved, however, IMHO (as they say), they commit completely righteous crimes. This editorial will focus mainly on Anonymous' stop-SOPA campaign and cooperatively their influence on the majority of internet users.

Anonymous functions as a gadfly in several ways:
They not only impede certain targeted parties but at the same time they make more of the general public aware of said parties' actions. In addition they cohesively explain their actions and their purpose. A primary example is Anonymous protest of SOPA and PIPA. SOPA (stop online piracy act) was introduced in May 2011. Supporters of SOPA promised it would almost entirely put an end to internet piracy. If SOPA were to pass it would effectively censor and block many aspects of the internet that would reduce the overall usability and our freedom as users. PIPA offered a way to track copyright offenders online and then proceed to remove their content from the internet and prosecute these offenders. Anonymous set out to spread the word on sites like 4chan, reddit and youtube. They distributed informative image macros, copypasta and videos. The flow of legalese free SOPA information spread across the web. In January 2012 the US Department of Justice shut down a popular file hosting service called MegaUpload, the owner Kim Dotcom was arrested and incarcerated in a New Zealand prison. This prompted a series of DDoS attacks against websites of the involved organizations: The Department of Justice, and Federal Bureau of Investigation, The MPAA(Motion picture Association of America), the RIAA(Recording Industry Association of America) and BMI(Broadcast Music Inc.). All of the websites were disabled for several hours. Anonymous' information campaign had reached millions, in defiance of the Department of Justice a massive online protest began on January 18th: 10 million petition signers, 3 million emails
to congress and 100,000+ calls to congress. 4chan, Reddit, wikipedia, google, IMGur et. al. posted anti-SOPA messages on their websites. They received over one billion views in one day. On this day thirteen senators had retracted their support of SOPA. 

T.M Scanlon's position on consequentialism can offer an explanation of how Anonymous acted justly: Congress took on the idea that digital copyright must be protected on the internet. Taking this as their primary goal gives the idea extra weight in the bill writing process. What trade offs in freedom are lawmakers prepared to make in exchange for more control over digital copyright? Scanlon uses the example of a tennis game. If the you win a match you may hurt your opponent's feelings; you can choose to lose, but is it worth losing the match to protect these feelings? Do the ends justify the means? If congress were to pass these SOPA and PIPA would it be worth the loss of our rights?

Anonymous is a prime example of a gadfly. Their efforts against SOPA influenced and eduacated millions. In this scenario they were not punished for their efforts, but embraced. Their millions of supporters expressed their distaste with SOPA and were heard by congress. The bill did not pass.

Socrates would approve of Anonymous because, much like himself, they work for the pursuit of knowledge and the freedom of knowledge. He would agree with Anonymous' dissent in the face of tyranny.



Helpful image that explains SOPA: http://www.techjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/sopainternet-1.png

Mr. Orchid signing off.