Modern cyber vigilantes ‘Anonymous’ describe themselves as Hacktivists who “never forget and never forgive”. In a surprising step, following their attack on security firm HBGary, the legion of hackers have seen the stolen information they released adopted by another altogether more ‘accountable’ group.
In the fallout from Aaron Barr’s resignation, the CEO of HBGary, a group of Congress members have revealed an intention to use the electronic documents against HBGary Federal and two other federal technology contractors, Berico Technologies and Palantir Technologies. The charge; plotting to attack, discredit and frame pro-union groups opposing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The tactics outlined in excruciating detail by the stolen documents show the three federal defense and intelligence firms, dubbed Team Themis, plotting to trick Chamber of Commerce opponents by planting false financial information for them to find. The scheme relies on the opponent rushing to expose the document, only for it to be proven fake afterward. The embarrassment in shouting from the rooftops, only to find out afterward that the evidence was fake, would discredit the opponents.
There were other tactics planned, but one that was already in motion according to the stolen secret documents detail the practice of destroying personal information belonging to anti-Chamber activists.
In a letter dated 1st March, 2011, and revealed by The Washington Post, Congress members have called for an investigation into a “dirty-tricks campaign that included possible illegal actions against citizens engaged in free speech”
Referring to Team Themis, the letter describes the intricate plot as “deeply troubling”, before asserting that “tactics developed for use against terrorists may have been unleashed against American citizens”.
The troubling question from an ethical point of view is; if the documents were seized through other illegal methods such as violence or burglary, would they be so readily adopted by politicians in order to gain a leg up? Or does the invisible nature of a cyber attack, allow the illegality to be brushed under the motherboard?
The same group of House Democrats who so readily compared the planned underhand tactics from Team Themis to those developed for use against terrorists, seem happy to ignore the fact that this information was gleamed through tactics just as underhanded. A great big stinking elephant; relatively ignored because when the heavy door needs opening, the elephant’s strong trunk comes in use.
In the same way that some people may view the illegal pirating and downloading of movies as frustrating, but the physical robbery of a DVD store much worse, it seems the methods used by Anonymous have allowed those with an agenda to leap opportunistically on the fruits of their labor without condemnation. Without approval either, merely an ambiguous glance.
Along with the ethical questions arising from the irony of Congress utilizing information obtained through illegal schemes to announce their outrage of another group’s illegal schemes, are the questions regarding the nature of Anonymous.
The group see themselves as an organic collection of cells with members coming and going, dividing up into different factions and acting on multiple ideas as and when the opportunity and need arises. Rather than a vigilante group coerced by a leader with a game plan, they prefer to be seen as a modern Iron Curtain of bytes and code.
The Iron Curtain seemed like one monolithic entity, satellites of an organized movement overseen by dictator, be that Khrushchev or a Tito. Once the curtain was lifted however, one could see that the Eastern Block consisted of separate groups, all with their own goals and motivations.
Opium Virus 