Anonymous, what does it mean?

Anonymous, a word which Merriam-Webster describes as: of unknown authorship or origin, not named or identified, or lacking individuality, distinction, or recognizability. There are some in this world that wish to remain anonymous, not named or identified. Sure I am one of these people, but I have my reasons. With the work that I do, clinging to my anonymity is how I keep myself safe, out of harm’s way. There are many people that would like to see me hang for what I’ve uncovered about them. It’s a part of my job that I hate, but one I must live with. Because the truth bears all, and some don’t want that truth to be found. I can’t tell you the lies I’ve had to tell, the missed family events, the constant fear of being found out. Some of us must remain anonymous to save our lives, it is what we do to protect and serve those around us.

There is another connotation of anonymous, one which has become more popular over the past year. Anonymous, the group without a face, the group without a leader, the group that threatens to bring the world to its knees. Why does Anonymous exist? What drives it? Two questions that have plagued my mind for the past few months. I see it pop up on the news, bringing down massive servers with a simple command. And all for what? There is no money involved, no fame or glory, not even a guarantee of bettering their world. What is Anonymous? The group so far as I can tell, exists to “unite under one common desire for true freedom and a world rid of oppression.” Which to me sounds an awful lot like communism. Communism is an interesting concept, but one that has no chance of succeeding. When the human race is complacent, nothing works. And when nothing works, the world falls into chaos.

Anonymous claims that they do not stand for hacking, which is an interesting statement, seeing as all that they do is hack. The hacks against Sony, Bank of America and Fine Gael were all claimed by Anonymous. Their purpose? Many can speculate, but no one is really sure. Maybe it was to raise awareness of the lack of security that each of these targets presented. Maybe it was an attempt to find incriminating information on them. Maybe it was just for the fun of it. We will probably never know. It will be one of those unsolved mysteries that just gets buried over the years. But this brings us back to Anonymous main purpose, to eliminate corporate tyranny. But Anonymous expects to achieve this, without the individual fame or monetary gain for its members. Because as soon as one of its members speaks out, its game over for that poor human. So the only explanation left is, they do it simply to make a point, that they can do whatever they want.

The question on everyone’s minds now is, what comes next for Anonymous? So far this year they have caused a great deal of trouble. Teaming up with Pirate Bay and Wikileaks just to name a few, Anonymous is quickly making a name for itself by becoming the “go-to guy” for getting things done in the cyber policing world. But they’re new plan is a strange one. www.whatis-theplan.org, which was launched a few months ago, calls for everyone to stand up to corporate tyranny. To what end? To live a better life. We shall see how this all works out. So far they have been doing very well in recruiting over 72,000 people worldwide, and this number is growing day by day. The big question is going to be, can they really pull together over 72,000+ people to support this cause, whatever that cause might be. The answer is of course they can. They have what everyone wants, freedom. Freedom that has been here all along, but nobody has seen it. A freedom, called free speech.

So where does this leave me? I am perplexed as to the exact nature of Anonymous, are they a communist organization, or simply people who want the truth from the world. Either way, something is going to go horribly wrong, either for Anonymous or the world. I am not for the Anonymous movement, nor am I really against it. I think that truth should be known by all, but the way that Anonymous, and Wikileaks for that matter, is going about it is wrong. They have the world as their stage, yet they stay in the shadows, silent, waiting, waiting for that moment to strike. June 15th 2011 is when Phase 1 of “The Plan” was started. In a year, Phase 3 will be completed, and I wait to see what they bring to the world. And I hope for their sake, that they have crossed their t’s and dotted their i’s, because I have a feeling that this is not going to be pretty, and many innocent people will get hurt.


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