The research, presented by Miloslav Kucera at the ISSE conference in Brussels, suggests that unemployment and growing discontent amongst young people will lead to increased formation and participation in professional groups like Anonymous.
“The deteriorating economic situation will lead to growing discount among the young generation, and graduate unemployment will lead to the formation of professional groups like Annonymous”, he predicted.
“Cyberspace will be transformed into a pressure medium due to the free flow of information and in an effort to bound the flow of information, the government will attempt to circumscribe cyberspace in the fight against terrorism”, Kucera envisioned.
Demonstrations of the future, predicts the research, “will be perfectly synchronized and strategically managed through social media and mobile equipment”.
Perhaps the most significant prediction of all is that suggesting the formation of political parties based on the ideology of anti-globalism – and supported by movements like Anonymous or Occupy Wall Street - in order to seize and administer the power.
“Anonymous represents the manifestations of disobedience in cyber space – the hacktivist movement”, Kucera claimed, suggesting that “the growing importance of internet technology and its accessibility” are responsible for this “civil disobedience phenomenom”.
Anonymous, he declared, is the most media exposed hacktivist group, despite the fact that “a lack of central management makes it very difficult to communicate to the media”. Anonymous is a unification of people who believe that corrupted corporations must be attacked. “Anonymous is everyone and no-one. You can be Anonymous by taking action”, he quoted.
Anonymous’ first known attack was in 2008 on the Church of Scientology. A more recent highly-publicised attack was that against the Federal Trade Comission, following ACTA..
“Experts disagree on whether hacktivism is a crime or a new kind of civil disobedience…it’s certainly a combination of cyberspace with real-space civil liberties”, Kucera affirmed.
What hacktivists and real-space activists have in common, Kucera listed, is the following:
- The movement is massive and worldwide
- Participants are mainly young citizens or “not senior” citizens
- Dissatisfaction with government acts or the current state of society
- A desire for rebellion against symbolic corporation.
- Both movements break the law
| The Anonymous manifesto is that society must be allowed to share information without restriction or censorship, privacy of citizens must be respected, and citizens must be allowed to organise their own institutions. |