Page 6 | Ka Leo | Monday, Nov. 7 2011
Opinions@kaleo.org | Taylor Gardner Editor | Boaz Rosen Associate
Opinions
Anonymous: Internet bad boys gone good TREVOR Z AKOV Staff Writer
WILL CARON / KA LEO O HAWAI‘I
Much of Anonymous’ early hacking activity was coordinated on imageboard 4chan’s /b/ thread, where the focus was initially on “trolling” or pranking websites. The “Trollface” meme, illustrated above, is a mascot of sorts for this behavior.
The Internet has proven to be a powerful tool, far beyond anyone’s imagination in terms of creativity and the number of new frontiers continuously being explored and enhanced. The Internet allows people from all over the world to connect and communicate, and this mixing has resulted in the formation of online communities where people with common interests converse. With the good also comes some bad, and the Internet is no different. Numerous frauds and scams are conducted online, all facilitated by the anonymity of online communication. The Internet has also brought unprecedented
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challenges to governments and corporations struggling to keep up with cyber criminals. The Internet has had time to mature and coalesce. One outstanding example of the convergence of an online community, coupled with Internet mischief, is the online group Anonymous. The naissance of Anonymous can be traced to a few unique, underground blogs and discussion boards over the past several years. Anonymous, as an entity, is difficult to describe or codify; it is this way by design. The question of whether Anonymous is actually a group is analogous to asking if you would define a school of fish as a group. There is no central authority or designated See Altruistic hackers, next page