Article 2 - Jack Miles

In this week’s studio, my group came up with approximately 15 different topics we could write about concerning Anonymous. Additionally, we worked well together in creating the bubble map of our main points and ensuing branches for those topics. As for these topics, we grouped Anonymous into various fields such as origins, organization of the group, tactics they use, major figures, causes, and events they were a part of. Each of these had many branches, but some of the main ideas stemmed from the topics of “organization” and “major events.” In organization, we discussed the group’s notorious “hacktivism” and decentralization. These factors contribute to the moral ambiguity of the group in different ways – although Anonymous may be involved in controversy, as their actions reflect, many times they are pursuing some sort of justice, whether it is raising awareness, donating to charities, or hacking certain profiles or websites. Additionally, the decentralization of the group only expands on their anonymity, making any specific section or person in the group impossible to identify, thereby making the general public unsure whether to hate or appreciate their work. Under the “major events” section, we listed current issues that Anonymous is undertaking, such as hacking the Twitter profiles of ISIS recruiters, identifying the wrong suspect in the Ferguson shooting of Mike Brown so the police will release the correct officer’s identity, “Project Chanology”, or their attack on the Church of Scientology, and many others. These events are all seemingly unrelated, but are brought together by a common cause – the level of virality shown. Each of these events played a significant role in social media, and has circulated the world, making many more people aware than in previous years, especially before the Internet. Anonymous’s involvement only highlighted the significance of these events, which gave people opinions – for both sides – and made them want to act. This is significant today because many people believe that they alone cannot make a difference. However, Anonymous shows that individuals working towards a common goal are able to make change happen.