Anonymous – Fighting for the Under Dog

Anonymous – Fighting for the Under Dog.  A new YouTube video by hacker group Anonymous warns Mexico’s Zetas drug cartel that if the cartel doesn’t free a kidnapped member of the group, the hackers will expose the Zetas’ allies in the local police and news media to the world. In the video, Anonymous says it is “tired of the criminal group the Zetas, which is dedicated to kidnapping, stealing and extortion,” and that it will fight back with information instead of weapons.

You’ve likely seen the visual symbol of Anonymous that’s made its way onto the streets: a Guy Fawkes mask borrowed by Anonymous from the V for Vendetta graphic novel and movie for use in real-world protests. So how did this chaotic, volunteer-driven, non-organization manage to create a visual identity stronger than many commercial brands?

Since June 2001, the Department of Homeland Security has issued three “bulletins” warning cyber-security professionals of hacking successes and future threats by Anonymous and related groups, including a call to physically occupy Manhattan’s Wall Street on Sept. 17 in protest of various U.S. government policies.

The hacking group Anonymous claimed via its Twitter feed to have breached servers belonging to NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization military alliance that has largely been responsible for the military defense of Europe since the end of World War II. There has been a lot made of the fact that the files were not really secure documents but “lame” as described by one writer, but then, when does the government or any big agency ever tell that truth.

Anonymous has also breached the Strafor site retrieving credit card information and emails. They have made donations to charities using information obtained from hacking Strafor. Wishing everyone a “Merry LulzXMas” – a nod to its spinoff hacking group Lulz Security – Anonymous also posted a link on Twitter to a site containing the email, phone number and credit number of a U.S. Homeland Security employee. The employee, Cody Sultenfuss, said he had no warning before his details were posted. “They took money I did not have,” he told The Associated Press in a series of emails, which did not specify the amount taken. “I think ‘Why me?’ I am not rich.”

Anonymous has adopted a cool logo, a headless-suit-guy and the Fawkes mask are both stark, simple, and vaguely ominous in a way that’s compelling. The suit-man depicted against the U.N. map is also a cleverly subversive, and ironic, appropriation and exploitation of paranoia about Big Brother-style faceless power. Particularly when paired with Anonymous’ over-the-top rhetoric, it suggests that the most powerful entity on earth isn’t a corporation or a totalitarian regime: It’s something so amorphous that the person next to you on the subway could be part of it. And the Fawkes mask, with its hard-to-read expression and mild air of menace, extends that idea into the public sphere especially now the record and media barons are trying to force censorship and control of the internet.

In Canada alone we have events that ended some of our freedoms, but at the time seemed innocent enough. Prior to the party affiliation being shown on election ballets, anybody could run based on their abilities and people being able to recognize them, but with the implementation of the Party Symbols being placed on the ballets, now the Prime Minister and parties have control of who will be visible on the ballot….this was not a good thing for Canadian people and instantly changed the face of Canadian politics.