Anonymous Hacks Internet Politics
Politics, a term that feels like it has been around since dinosaurs ruled the Earth, has been going through a bit of modernization in the past few decades. The traditional forms of media and campaigning that used to be universally used are in many cases being phased out and replaced by more web-based alternatives, in order to keep up with the continual technological advances today. The specific term for this shiny, new type of politics is ‘internet politics’, aptly enough. While it has not gone all the way to a complete revolution of the ways in which politics is handled today, primarily because of the politicians and institutions themselves which have not fully embraced the era of internet politics yet, it has developed its own complex definition and place in the world.
The functions of internet politics can be broken down into five categories: advertising, fundraising, mobilizing supporters, spreading of information, and interactivity. All four of the former items on that list have in some way or another been present in politics across other media, but the main addition that the internet is held responsible for is that of ‘interactivity’. This addition is an incredibly important one since politicians can now be held to a system of accountability, where not every general statement that they choose to offer up is blindly accepted. Interactivity creates the space for one-to-one conversations between various users of the web, regardless of their position or status, and leaves room for questions. With such drastic changes to the composition of politics happening in recent years, it is only natural that new players and factors now have to be considered in response.
One of these new players that have shown up — uninvited — to the tech party is known as Anonymous, a hacking group that started on the anonymous message boards of 4chan. Fittingly for the spirit of the collective that it birthed, 4chan has been defined by Urban Dictionary as:
“The sphincter of the internet. Where integrity goes to die.”
In more serious terms, the site’s legitimate purpose is intended to be for sharing images and discussing them, but in the less structured sections of the website, it becomes nothing but a contest of absurdities and a race to see who can be the most controversial in the most attention-grabbing way. It’s like the Olympics for internet trolls. Traces of this mentality can be found all over Anonymous, like grimy fingerprints across the glass front of the proudly un-organized organization. But the actually effective leftover of Anonymous’s beginning is that it has been left initiative-based, with no clear leaders. As Quinn Norton says in her article and detailed profile on Anonymous, “How Anonymous Picks Targets, Launches Attacks, and Takes Powerful Organizations Down”:
“Anonymous is a classic ‘do-ocracy’, to use a phrase that’s popular in the open source movement. As the term implies, that means rule by sheer doing: Individuals propose actions, others join in (or not), and then the Anonymous flag is flown over the result.”
The latest operation that Anonymous has attempted is labeled Operation White Rose (#OpWhiteRose#WhiteRoseRevolt#OpTrump), and its goal is to take down America’s current largest ‘Oops’, AKA Donald Trump, as a possible presidential candidate.
To be specific, Anonymous declared what they like to call a “total war” on Donald Trump. The first phase of this included leaking a large amount of sensitive personal information about Donald Trump, including his Social Security number and private cell phone number. The second phase, which was supposed to have taken place on April 1st, was to flood his campaign websites with traffic in order to shut them down. The unfortunate kink in their plan was a divide within their own hacking collective. Some members claimed that Donald Trump should be allowed to continue saying whatever he likes, as one of the main guidelines is the protection of free speech, to the farthest and most grotesquely twisted extremes of the term that can be found. In short, the mission was an absolute failure, and a mess in its own right.
So why is it worth discussing?
By no means can Anonymous be considered a purely beneficial addition to the world of internet politics; to claim that would be laughable. At the end of the day, they are children playing in a room full of adults. The hacker group’s main objective is to cause the maximum amount of chaos possible without having to face any kind of consequences. In addition to that, they are primarily composed of those who identify as Anarchist, a dirty word across the majority of the political spectrum. But Anonymous and the hacktivist community, in their attempts to make fools out of those in power today, do carry out one very valuable thing:
They do legitimately contribute to the new model of internet politics. By forcing politicians to be accountable for their actions, drawing attention to important political problems, and providing web-users with the opportunity to mobilize for important issues, they serve as a secondary empowering tool within the ultimate empowering tool — the Internet. When the formal institutions do not give the average voter the power needed to make a difference, Anonymous and other hacktivist organizations provide the opportunity to be a rebel for a cause, even if that cause happens to be a little disorganized and occasionally more preoccupied with issues such as the censorship of female orgasms on the Internet in Australia than the major political issues. Yay for modern politics!
