{"id":23829,"date":"2012-12-10T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-10T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=23829"},"modified":"2012-12-08T15:08:36","modified_gmt":"2012-12-08T15:08:36","slug":"we-are-legion-the-story-of-the-hacktivists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2012\/12\/we-are-legion-the-story-of-the-hacktivists\/","title":{"rendered":"We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Film Review: Whether you think the cyberactivists of Anonymous are hooligans or heroes, \u201cWe Are Legion\u201d is required viewing.<\/em><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a war on\u2014over freedom of speech and information on the Internet. In this era of fractured media, decreased privacy and increasing corporate and government control, that war is affecting us all\u2014even if we\u2019re unaware of it. So whether you think the cyberactivists of Anonymous are hooligans or heroes, We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists<\/em> is required viewing.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also thought-provoking and highly entertaining, charged with the cerebral-but-feisty energy of the hacker-activists themselves. They drive the film\u2019s narrative forward with first-hand accounts of how, within just a few years, nerd culture spawned a serious political movement<\/p>\n

From chatting on 4chan to subversive Internet pranking to taking on the Church of Scientology, Anonymous grew from a subculture to a force to be reckoned with. Along the way, the hacktivists branded themselves with theatrics like a threatening YouTube video and the now-famous Guy Fawkes mask (initially worn for the protection of, well, anonymity). Those visuals, coupled with random bad behavior by nihilist hacker factions within Anon, secured their reputation as what one media scholar in the film calls \u201cthe rude boys of the Internet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, according to We Are Legion<\/em>, there was a defining schism. Those who made mischief for mischief\u2019s sake pulled away from Anonymous (or were pushed), leaving it to those who saw their role as defenders of freedom of speech, access to information, and yes, even democracy.<\/p>\n

According to the sharply edited presentation of writer\/director\/producer Brian Knappenberger, Anonymous has grown up and is using its power radically but responsibly. When PayPal decided to support the War on Terror by blocking its customers\u2019 contributions to WikiLeaks in 2010, Anonymous jammed up the PayPal site and established itself as the cybermuscle behind the court of public opinion. Occupy would not have taken off as it did without the support and example of the Anonymous movement. Anon\u2019s finest hour so far was during the Arab Spring, when it provided communications assistance to pro-democracy organizers after the Tunisian government cut off an entire country\u2019s Internet access.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Anonymous matters. The collective is a counterforce to powers that would control the public\u2019s right to know or right to speak. It can act quickly to send tyrants and censors a strong message. And according to We Are Legion, the cyberbattle has just begun.<\/p>\n

THE TRAILER:<\/strong><\/p>\n

httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Nwu5vXIO8gs<\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

Valerie Schloredt wrote this article for What Would Nature Do?<\/strong><\/a>, the Winter 2012 issue of YES! Magazine. Valerie is YES! Associate Editor.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 yesmagazine.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Film Review: Whether you think the cyberactivists of Anonymous are hooligans or heroes, \u201cWe Are Legion\u201d is required viewing. The collective is a counterforce to powers that would control the public\u2019s right to know or right to speak. It can act quickly to send tyrants and censors a strong message. And according to We Are Legion, the cyberbattle has just begun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23829\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}