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The “Anonymous” Movement: Hacktivism As an Emerging Form Of THE “ANONYMOUS” MOVEMENT: HACKTIVISM AS AN EMERGING FORM OF POLITICAL PARTICIPATION by Galina Mikhaylova, M.S. A thesis submitted to the Graduate Council of Texas State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts with a Major in Sociology December 2014 Committee Members: Nathan Pino, Chair Patti Giuffre Mina S. Guirguis COPYRIGHT by Galina Mikhaylova 2014 FAIR USE AND AUTHOR’S PERMISSION STATEMENT Fair Use This work is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, section 107). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgement. Use of this material for financial gain without the author’s express written permission is not allowed. Duplication Permission As the copyright holder of this work I, Galina Mikhaylova, authorize duplication of this work, in whole or in part, for educational or scholarly purposes only. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Nathan Pino, for all of his continued advice and suggestions; it was a true privilege to work with this extraordinary member of the Sociology faculty. I am also thankful to Dr. Patti Giuffre and Dr. Mina Guirguis for their feedback and insightful remarks. This thesis would not be possible without these dedicated professors, who constantly guided me throughout my research and the writing process. I want to pay special thanks to the Sociology department at Texas State University, whose professors inspired and strengthened my love of sociology. I was truly lucky to be taught by this faculty, and I am thankful for this opportunity. Lastly, I want to thank my husband, Chris Vinecombe, who spent hours and days from his free time to help me both with brainstorming and grammar. Chris was very helpful and supported me every step of the way, and this work would also have been impossible without his support. I also want to mention all of the help I received from my family in Russia: they have supported me both financially and emotionally throughout my studies at Texas State and my move to America. I am greatly thankful for their help and encouragement. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................1 Research Questions ......................................................................................2 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................3 Hacktivism: The Background ......................................................................3 The Evolution of the Hacker Community: From Hacking to Hacktivism .............................................................................................3 Hacktivist Ethics & the ‘Villainification’ of Hacktivists .......................3 The Culture of Hacktivism.....................................................................5 Is Hacktivism Ethical? ...........................................................................8 What Triggers Hacktivism? .......................................................................10 The Role of Technology ......................................................................10 Global Crisis and the Growing Political Awareness of Hackers .........13 Suppression of Traditional Protests .....................................................15 Control of Intellectual Property & the Internet ....................................16 The Hacktivist Collective “Anonymous” ..................................................18 Background ..........................................................................................18 “Anonymous” as ‘Cyber Vigilantes’ ...................................................20 “Anonymous” as ‘E-Bandits’ & the ‘Politics of No One’ ...................21 Political Worldviews & Core Values of “Anonymous” ......................23 Organizational Channels of “Anonymous” .........................................24 The Importance of Anonymity and the Guy Fawkes Masks ...............27 Importance of Humor and Creativity ...................................................28 III. METHODOLOGY ..........................................................................................29 About the Forums ......................................................................................29 Content Analysis Specifics ........................................................................32 v Interviews Specifics ...................................................................................38 IV. ANALYSIS OF ONLINE FORUM.................................................................41 Who Are Anonymous? ..............................................................................41 Anonymous: An Idea or Group? .........................................................41 Anonymous as a Force for Good .........................................................50 Anonymous as a Hacktivist Group ......................................................53 Group’s Structure and Functioning ............................................................56 Anonymous as a Leaderless Group......................................................56 How to Join Anonymous? ....................................................................59 How Members of Anonymous Organize? ..........................................62 Anonymous: What are Their Goals? ....................................................67 Anonymous: Public Image & Perception ............................................75 Group’s Values and Beliefs .......................................................................76 On Hacking and Security .....................................................................76 On Symbols: Guy Fawkes Masks ........................................................83 Anonymous: Peace Makers vs. Revolutionaries ..................................86 Anonymous: On Anarchy ....................................................................91 Content Analysis: Results ..................................................................107 V. INTERVIEWS WITH SECURITY PROFESSIONALS...............................113 Theme One: Familiarity with Hacktivism ...............................................113 Theme Two: Security Professionals’ Personal View on Hacktivism ......118 Theme Three: “Anonymous” and Their Hacking Skills ..........................121 Theme Four: Ethics behind Hacktivism ..................................................128 Theme Five: Hacktivism and Its Effects of Security Industry .................134 Theme Six: Importance of the Guy Fawkes Masks .................................138 Theme Seven: Security Professionals on the Popularity of Hacktivism..146 Theme Eight: Security Professionals on the Security of the Internet ......153 Theme Nine: Alternatives to Hacktivism ................................................157 Interviews Analysis: Results ....................................................................160 VI. CONCLUSIONS & STUDY LIMITATIONS .............................................165 APPENDIX SECTION ....................................................................................................169 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................170 vi LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. The goals of Anonymous based on forum responses .............................................67 2. The differences in views between the members who support anarchy, the ones who reject anarchy and the ones who view it neutrally .......................................106 3. Security professionals on ethics of hacktivism ....................................................134 4. Hacktivism and its effects on security industry ...................................................138 5. Why do members of Anonymous wear the same mask and/or conceal their identity?................................................................................................................146 6. Why is hacktivism more efficient than regular protest? ......................................152 7. Security professionals on the security of the World Wide Web ..........................157 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. The main page of the forum: www.anonnews.org .................................................30 2. Forum’s threads: the conversations in each of the forum’s sections are presented in a list format; each thread displays the number of user responses (or ‘replies’) ...........................................................................................................32 3. Sorting the threads/topics based on the number of replies (or the interest of the responding group members) and the name of the thread .......................................33 4. Further analysis of the forum’s topics: list of forum topics was copied and pasted in Microsoft Word; the grayed out topics indicate the topics that will
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