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Who is Anonymous?atica (2004- Pre ram sent) dia D Anonymous is a loosely associated international lope WHY THE MASK? cyc network of activist and hacktivist entities. En A website nominally associated with the group describes it as "an internet gathering" with P ro "a very loose and decentralized command je ct C structure that operates on ideas rather h a n than directives”. The group became o lo known for a series of well-publicized ) g 3 y 0 ( publicity stunts and distributed 0 2 2 0 denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on ( 0 N 8 ) government, religious, and A H C corporate websites. 4 The Guy Fawkes mask is a depiction “Anons” have publicly of Guy Fawkes, the best-known supported WikiLeaks and member of the Gunpowder Plot, an the Occupy Movement. attempt to blow up the House of Lords in London in 1605. A stylized version, designed by illustrator David Lloyd, came to represent broader protest after it was used ) t as a major plot element in “V for n O e p s Vendetta”, published in 1982, and e e r r its 2006 lm adaptation. After a P - t i 3 appearing in Internet forums, the o 1 n 0 mask became a well-known : 2 P ( a symbol for Anonymous, used in r y e t HACKTIVISM: b Project Chanology, the Occupy n a i Main Targets c movement, and other anti-govern- k W i Hacktivism (a portmanteau of e US Government s ment and anti-establishment f a a Israeli Government hack and activism) is the use S protests around the world. B : i t n Tunisian Government of computers and computer c o h i t Ugandan Government ( networks to promote political a 2 r Child pornography sites 0 e 1 ends, chiey free speech, human p Copyright protection agencies 0 O ) rights, and information ethics. It is The Westboro Baptist Church WHAT IS A DDoS ATTACK? carried out under the premise that PayPal In computing, a denial-of-service (DoS) or proper use of technology can produce MasterCard distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is an results similar to those of conventional Visa attempt to make a machine or network resource acts of protest, activism, and Sony unavailable to its intended users. civil disobedience. Although the means to carry out, the motives for, and targets of a DoS attack vary, it generally consists of eorts to T temporarily or indenitely interrupt or suspend services of a ) h 2 e 1 O 0 2 c - c 1 u 1 p 0 y 2 ( M t o host connected to the Internet. n v e e m.

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How We Became Legion: Burke's Identification and Anonymous By
How We Became Legion: Burke's Identification and Anonymous by Débora Cristina Ramos Antunes da Silva A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfilment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in English - Rhetoric and Communication Design Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2013 © Débora Cristina Ramos Antunes da Silva 2013 I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract This thesis presents a study of how identification, according to Kenneth Burke's theory, can be observed in the media-related practices promoted by the cyber-activist collective Anonymous. Identification is the capacity of community-building through the use of shared interests. Burke affirms that, as human beings are essentially social, identification is the very aim of any human interaction. Cyber-activism deeply relies on this capacity to promote and legitimise its campaigns. In the case of Anonymous, the collective became extremely popular and is now a frequent presence even in street protests, usually organised online, around the world. Here, I argue that this power was possible through the use of identification, which helped attract a large number of individuals to the collective. Anonymous was particularly skilled in its capacity to create an ideology for each campaign, which worked well to set up a perfect enemy who should be fought against by any people, despite their demographic or social status. Other forms of identification were also present and important.
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Guy Fawkes, from Villain to Icon
FACULTAD de FILOSOFÍA Y LETRAS DEPARTAMENTO de FILOLOGÍA INGLESA Grado en Estudios Ingleses TRABAJO DE FIN DE GRADO Guy Fawkes, from villain to icon Rafael Calle Cardona Tutor: Berta Cano Echevarría 2016-2017 1 2 ABSTRACT In this dissertation, I will be explaining and analyzing the changes that the historical figure of Guy Fawkes underwent from being one of the most hated figures in England, with an annual celebration to commemorate his death, to a fictional character representing the fight against totalitarianism in the late 20th century. And finally, how, in the early years of the 21st century he became the face of the international hacktivist group known as Anonymous. Furthermore, I will be analyzing the historical context in which the character of Guy Fawkes was conceived as well as explaining why he was the main figure who was accounted responsible for the Gunpowder Plot despite the fact that he was not its leader. Moreover, I will analyze why the group Anonymous chose the “Fawkesque” mask from the character from the graphic novel as well as the movie V for Vendetta which was at the same time inspired in the historical character, to become the face of the 21st century hacktivist movement. Keyword: Guy Fawkes, England, Anonymous, Hacktivism, V for Vendetta, Gunpowder Plot. En este trabajo, explicaré y analizaré los cambios que sufrió la figura histórica de Guy Fawkes, de ser una de las más odiadas en Inglaterra, con una celebración anual que para conmemorar su muerte, a un personaje de ficción que representa la lucha contra el totalitarismo en la segunda mitad del siglo XX.
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Thesis (844.6Kb)
ABSTRACT You Should Have Expected Us – An Explanation of Anonymous Alex Gray Director: Linda Adams; PhD Anonymous is a decentralized activist collective that has evolved using the technology of the information age. This paper traces its origins as a way of contextualizing and better understanding its actions. The groups composition is examined using its self‐ascribed imagery to illustrate its’ unique culture and relational norms. Its structure and motivation are analyzed using the framework developed for social movements and terrorist networks. Finally a discussion of a splinter cell and official reaction delineate both strengths and weaknesses of the movement while suggesting its future development. The conclusion serves to expound on the ideal end for the online anonymous community as a new frontier in meritocratic activism. APPROVED BY DIRECTOR OF HONORS THESIS: ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Dr. Linda Adams, Department of Political Science APPROVED BY THE HONORS PROGRAM: ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Dr. Andrew Wisely, Director. DATE: ________________________ YOU SHOULD HAVE EXPECTED US AN EXPLANATION OF ANONYMOUS A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Baylor University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Honors Program By Alex Gray Waco, Texas May 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface iii Acknowledgements iv Dedication v CHAPTER ONE 1 Introduction CHAPTER TWO 4 The Story of Anonymous CHAPTER THREE 20 A Group with No Head and No Members CHAPTER FOUR 39 Activists or Terrorists CHAPTER FIVE 56 Distraction, Diversion, Division CHAPTER SIX 67 Conclusion Bibliography 71 ii PREFACE Writing a paper about a decentralized, online collective of similarly minded individuals presents a unique set of challenges. In spending so much time with this subject, it is my goal to be both intellectually honest and as thorough as I can be.
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The Coming Swarm.Indb
Sauter, Molly. "Which way to the #press channel? DDoS as media manipulation." The Coming Swarm: DDoS Actions, Hacktivism, and Civil Disobedience on the Internet. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014. 59–75. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 30 Sep. 2021. <http:// dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781628926705.0009>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 30 September 2021, 15:01 UTC. Copyright © Molly Sauter 2014. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. CHAPTER THREE Which way to the #press channel? DDoS as media manipulation The direct action DDoS provides participants with the theoretical structure and the tactical pathways to directly interact with systems of oppression. But, though disruption may be an effect of a DDoS action, the disruption itself is not always the greater goal of activists. Often, the disruption caused by the DDoS action is used as a tool to direct and manipulate media attention to issues the activists care about. We saw a related example of this in the Lufthansa/Deportation Class Action covered in the last chapter. The challenge for these types of actions, as with public, performative activism on the street, is getting the media to cover the issues that are driving the activist actions, and not merely the spectacle of the activism itself. In a campaign that primarily seeks to achieve change through the medium of popular attention, activists must enter into an often uneasy symbiotic relationship with the mass media industry. News coverage of an action may result in further coverage of an organization and a cause, which may, in turn, inform a public outcry or directly influence decision makers to initiate desired change.
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Tactical Frivolity Jemima Wyman
These collages developed out of witnessing various protest move- ments online. In early 2011, as part of an effort to be active, embodied, and empathetic in the interface with the computer screen, I started pulling, archiving, printing and hand-cutting images of pro- testers wearing Guy Fawkes masks. The archive has developed in Tactical Frivolity tandem with the growing protest culture over the last few years. There was something compelling about this shared collective face that ignored geographical borders and divergent ideological per- spectives. A mask is magic, especially when it multiplies to become Jemima Wyman a communal architecture and a social camouflage in a world of net- worked surveillance. This iteration in X-TRA documents a selection from six different sub- categories of protesters who customize and accessorize the Guy Fawkes mask. These interventions range from appropriated Ukuku masks (a traditional Peruvian mask that appears to merge the color- ful knitted balaclava of the Free Pussy Riot movement with the face of Guy Fawkes) to spray-painted masks by Black bloc and a decaled First Nations variation. On the mask: Guy Fawkes (1570–1606) was a British revolutionary whose failed plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605 is still commemorated each year in the United Kingdom with bonfires and backyard fireworks. In the days leading up to November 5, chil- dren traditionally solicited donations to buy fireworks by displaying a “guy” on the sidewalk (a figure made of discarded clothing stuffed with rags or paper, often wearing a home-made mask).1 Their cry— “Penny for the Guy!”—rang out in the cold November evenings, as passers-by hurried home from work or school.
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The Masked Avengers: How Anonymous Incited Online
A REPORTER AT LARGE | SEPTEMBER 8, 2014 ISSUE The Masked Avengers How Anonymous incited online vigilantism from Tunisia to Ferguson. BY DAVID KUSHNER Anyone can join Anonymous simply by claiming affiliation. An anthropologist says that participants “remain subordinate to a focus on the epic win—and, especially, the lulz.” n the mid-nineteen-seventies, when Christopher Doyon was a child in rural Maine, he spent Ihours chatting with strangers on CB radio. His handle was Big Red, for his hair. Transmitters lined the walls of his bedroom, and he persuaded his father to attach two directional antennas to the roof of their house. CB radio was associated primarily with truck drivers, but Doyon and others used it to form the sort of virtual community that later appeared on the Internet, with self- selected nicknames, inside jokes, and an earnest desire to effect change. Doyon’s mother died when he was a child, and he and his younger sister were reared by their father, who they both say was physically abusive. Doyon found solace, and a sense of purpose, in the CB-radio community. He and his friends took turns monitoring the local emergency channel. One friend’s father bought a bubble light and affixed it to the roof of his car; when the boys heard a distress call from a stranded motorist, he’d drive them to the side of the highway. There wasn’t much they could do beyond offering to call 911, but the adventure made them feel heroic. Small and wiry, with a thick New England accent, Doyon was fascinated by “Star Trek” and Isaac Asimov novels.
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ABSTRACT the Rhetorical Construction of Hacktivism
ABSTRACT The Rhetorical Construction of Hacktivism: Analyzing the Anonymous Care Package Heather Suzanne Woods, M.A. Thesis Chairperson: Leslie A. Hahner, Ph.D. This thesis uncovers the ways in which Anonymous, a non-hierarchical, decentralized online collective, maintains and alters the notion of hacktivism to recruit new participants and alter public perception. I employ a critical rhetorical lens to an Anonymous-produced and –disseminated artifact, the Anonymous Care Package, a collection of digital how-to files. After situating Anonymous within the broader narrative of hacking and activism, this thesis demonstrates how the Care Package can be used to constitute a hacktivist identity. Further, by extending hacktivism from its purely technological roots to a larger audience, the Anonymous Care Package lowers the barrier for participation and invites action on behalf of would-be members. Together, the contents of the Care Package help constitute an identity for Anonymous hacktivists who are then encouraged to take action as cyberactivists. The Rhetorical Construction of Hacktivism: Analyzing the Anonymous Care Package by Heather Suzanne Woods, B.A. A Thesis Approved by the Department of Communication David W. Schlueter, Ph.D., Chairperson Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Baylor University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Approved by the Thesis Committee Leslie A. Hahner, Ph.D., Chairperson Martin J. Medhurst, Ph.D. James M. SoRelle, Ph.D. Accepted by the Graduate School May 2013 J. Larry Lyon, Ph.D., Dean Page bearing signatures is kept on file in the Graduate School Copyright © 2013 by Heather Suzanne Woods All rights reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................
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The Weird History of Usamerican Fascism: a Guide (1979-2019) Phd in Critical and Cultural Theory 2019 M.C
The Weird History of USAmerican Fascism: A Guide (1979-2019) PhD in Critical and Cultural Theory 2019 M.C. McGrady Summary The future, as ever, can be read in comic books. Foretold by the Dark Age of Comics, the doom that now comes to Earth arrives in the form of self-realizing eschatologies, horrors born out of the rutting between unfettered capitalism and its favorite child, technological hubris. When the Big Two comic book publishers began hiring British and Irish authors en masse over the course of the 1980s, these writers brought with them a critical eye sharpened by the political and economic cruelty of the decade. The victims of the Iron Lady came to the New World and set their sights on the empire of the Teflon President, using superhero stories to explore the ideological weapons deployed in the service of global capitalism. The Weird History of USAmerican Fascism tracks the interrelated networks of popular culture and fascism in the United States to demonstrate the degree to which contemporary USAmerican politics embodies the future that the fictional dystopias of the past warned us about. Although the trans-Atlantic political developments of 2016 and their aftermath have sparked a widespread interest in a resurgent Anglophone fascism and its street-level movements – seen most obviously in the loose collection of white supremacists known as the ‘alt- right’ – this interest has been hamstrung by the historical aversion to a serious study of popular and ‘nerd’ culture during the twentieth century. By paying attention to the conceptual and interpersonal networks that emerged from the comic books and videogames of the 1980s, The Weird History of USAmerican Fascism fills a critical lacuna in cultural theory while correcting recent oversights in the academic analysis of contemporary fascism, providing an essential guide to the past, present, and future of the bizarre world of USAmerican politics.
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History of Hacking Part 4: Internet Attacks by Bruce Nikkel
History of Hacking Part 4: Internet Attacks By Bruce Nikkel Published in HISTEC Journal, a publication by the Swiss computer museum Enter (https://enter.ch). This is part four of a four part series on the history of computer hacking. In the first three articles we covered the early hacking of global telephone switching systems, hacking with dial-up modems, and the evolution of the computer virus. This article describes the history of Internet based attacks, including intrusions, man-in-the-middle attacks, and denial of service. In the early years of the Internet there were no firewalls. Organizations connected their TCP/IP networks directly to the nearest Internet Point-of- Presence (PoP) with dedicated lines leased from the phone company, or using modems for dialup on demand. Servers were not built with security in mind (“hardened”), and Internet services were configured to provide maximal functionality (insecure default settings). The Internet of the 1970s began with individual systems connected to each other. The 1980s was a decade of “internetworking”, where the Internet became a network of networks. The 1990s was the decade of the World Wide Web and the commercialization of the Internet. The first free implementation of the TCP/IP protocol was provided with BSD UNIX, which was popular among univerisities. This open networking environment and fast growth led to more security breaches, and a security community started to form (http://securitydigest.org/unix/). “Beastie” BSD UNIX Mascot As the Internet grew, one of the hacking challenges was to identify new machines on the Internet and find out what services they provided.
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Failing at One's Own Job 20/9/19, 809 Pm
Failing at one's own job 20/9/19, 809 pm A Drunken Madman A gin-soaked skeptical atheist malcontent pontificates on subjects diverse posts - 567, comments - 1135, trackbacks - 6 Switch to Elastic Layout << Those bike lanes again | Home | Goodness Gracious, The Beast from the Cretaceous >> Failing at one's own job If there's a common thread that runs through the ranks of antivaxers, chiropractors, homeopaths and general fucktwats that I've blogged about over the years, it's an inability to quantify or even recognise their own incompetence that stands out most clearly for me. Enter Professor Brian Martin, Faculty member in Social Sciences at the University of Wollongong, a regional centre some 85km or so south of Sydney. Brian has reared his head in support of Meryl Dorey and her Anti-Vaccination Network a few times in recent years. Brian sees himself as a champion of "whistleblowers", and sees Dorey and her band of crystal-stroking sandalistas as a natural fit with his chosen topic. Of course, Dorey doesn't have a whistle to blow. More a party squeaker. And that's the first sign of Martin's incompetence raising its head. Martin has not done the due dilligence required to determine whether Dorey's argument is in any way valid, and therefore whether she's entitled to be defended as a whistleblower. Martin has said, in print, that he has no strong views for or against vaccination, implying that he hasn't investigated the science, because his concern is the treatment of the AVN by their detractors.
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From Indymedia to Anonymous: Rethinking Action and Identity in Digital Cultures
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Middlesex University Research Repository From Indymedia to Anonymous: rethinking action and identity in digital cultures To cite this article: Kevin McDonald (2015): From Indymedia to Anonymous: rethinking action and identity in digital cultures, Information, Communication & Society, 18, 8, pp. 968-982, DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2015.1039561 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2015.1039561 Kevin McDonald Middlesex University, London [email protected] Keywords: Anonymous, digital networking, social movements, transparency, information society, connective action, digital culture Beyond collective identity and networks The period following the mobilizations of 2011 – the Arab Spring, the Indignados movement in Spain, and Occupy Wall Street – has seen a new focus on the relationship between emerging practices of digital communications and emerging forms of collaborative action or movement. This has prompted new disciplinary encounters, as scholars working on social movements and collective action have begun to focus much more on the significance of communication processes. Within dominant approaches to social movement studies this represents a significant shift, to that the extent that the study of social movements has historically not attached a great significance to communication processes, which have been essentially understood within a ‘broadcasting’ paradigm, where collective actors ‘display’ their ‘worthiness, unity, numbers and commitment’ (Guini, McAdam & Tilly, 1999), principally by ‘occupy[ing] public space… to disrupt routines and gain media attention’ (Tilly & Tarrow, 2005 p. 20). This approach to social mobilization underlined the critical importance of ‘the shared definition of a group’ (Taylor & Whittier, 1992, p.
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The Megan Meier Myspace Suicide: a Case Study Exploring the Social
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