Ethics Assignment #1

                Operation Payback was an attack by Anonymous which covered a wide range of different industries. Attacks on the film/music industries to credit card and banking companies to even foreign governments. Operation Avenge Assange was one of the numerous operations within Operation Payback. The attacks were carried out in support of Wikileaks when major financial corporations (Paypal, Amazon, MasterCard, Visa, etc.) cut their services to the site. Donations to the site were either stopped or frozen. As Wikileaks was a site which leaked classified information to the public, it was long a target of the government. Under political pressure, the financial corporations removed their services, cutting off a source of income for the site. Anonymous, which believes in a more transparent government, went into action. Operation Avenge Assange was carried out in retaliation against those financial corporations. The targeted sites were hit by sustained DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks, either taking them down completely or slowing their services.

                I will not judge the actions by Anonymous as right or wrong. It seems more like a way of expressing opinion, similar to a protest, although a bit more disruptive than a peaceful protest. The government does many shady things, many of which they would not like us to know. This in turn brings about an uneasiness and distrust in the citizens. You can’t really trust the government if they are constantly lying to you. Wikileaks publishes classified documents on what the government has been up to openly to the public, understandably making themselves a government target. I respect people’s beliefs for a more transparent government and would like that to become a reality myself, but I don’t think Wikileaks is the way to do it. The documents exposed by Wikileaks can potentially have information on government/military personal, making them potential targets of our enemies. These documents can also give potential enemy states or terrorist organizations a glimpse into our government, military, infrastructure, economy, etc. Information in these various sectors of our country can potentially undermine our nation’s security.

                While I do agree when it comes to a more transparent government. I don’t really approve of Wikileaks operations. Some actions by our government are shady and therefore classified to hide them from the public, but some are classified in order to protect our nation. Even if names and personal information were to be blacked out, there are still many clues within these documents that our enemies can leverage for their cause.