The Internet: Public vs. Private

The status of what the internet is has been a debate since inception. Many of the early creators of the internet and other frequent users believe that the internet should be open and free for all to use. Just as the air that you use to speak is. But corporations, governments, and other entities try to make the internet a private space where access is given at their discretion and the content is subject to their filtering.

The documentary, “We are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists,” tells the story of groups like Anonymous who police the internet according to their beliefs of how it should be operated. Some of their actions were purely for entertainment purposes. Other times they expose corporate wrong doings and government corruption. Ultimately, those who identify as Anonymous believe that they are working for the common good to protect free speech and take down any threat to internet freedom. Through actions such as DDoS attacks, or distributed denial-of-service attacks, hacktivists are able to slow a websites service so much that it temporarily stops working.

Some have seen the actions of Anonymous and other groups as terrorist attacks. Many of those people are the people that Anonymous is trying to stop. While some of Anonymous’ actions are criminal, locating and prosecuting them can be difficult. There also comes the moral questions of if their actions are justified.

The film being released in 2012 talks about the early days of the internet “hacktivists.” Issues pertaining to the access of the internet are still debated today. The FCC’s decision to repeal net neutrality was seen to be the end of the internet as we knew it, but many of the worst-case scenarios have not occurred. Advocates of a free and open internet continue to push for legal protections of the internet to keep it a place where people can share ideas and create communities. Groups like Anonymous will continue to work as a sort of vigilante to protect their idea of a free and open internet. Ultimately, the public will need to decide if they want the internet to be a free space for all or a space that is regulated by corporations.