On Thursday, Jan. 27, history was made. In an unprecedented act, Hosni Mubarak’s National Democratic Party stopped the Internet in Egypt. Since then, no single Egyptian website has been accessible from the outside world, and modern communication has ground to a halt throughout Egypt.
The next day, all hell broke loose. Amidst rubber bullets and raging fire, the people of Egypt unanimously shouted, “Enough!”
Sitting at my desk on Friday night, I bore witness to history. On a window streaming Al-Jazeera’s live coverage, I watched as President Mubarak showed his people the rigged deck he had been playing with for the past 29 years. He promised his nation a unilateral dissolution of the government and his intention to rebuild it in order to better serve the people. In effect, he admitted, on live television, that he and he alone ran the show. The free people of Egypt called for his head.
None of this is news. At this point, everyone around the world knows what is happening in Egypt. But right next to my browser sat a different sort of window: one looking at the back-door of the Egyptian Revolution.
While Al-Jazeera’s pundits commented on the continued unrest, I watched as hundreds of Anonymous agents worked to restore communication to Egypt. I was sitting in the #opegypt channel of the Anonymous network’s Internet Relay Chat (IRC) server.
IRC is more or less the iChat of serious Internet junkies. Depending on the server and channel you connect to, you can find everything from video-game enthusiasts and hackers, to pretty much any type of pirated multimedia your heart desires. The whole program is minimalistic in that disheveled sci-fi way that made the Matrix eye candy for your office’s IT guy.
There are five windows – only one of which I actually know the function of – pertaining to various ports, usernames and server addresses. The one that I pay any attention to is a continuous scroll of boring looking text punctuated by a symphony of clicks, beeps and what I can only describe as “dunts.” This – the chat window – is where all the action is, where all the Anony-mites reside.
Anonymous, in case you’ve missed it, has gained a reputation as WikiLeaks’ shock troops. While it’s recently attracted some colorful press for malicious Internet attacks on organizations that cross its sense of ethical standards, its beginnings are much more humble if just as zealous.
Anonymous first reared its head in 2006 when a group of anonymous users logged onto the social networking site “Habbo” and formed various offensive shapes, for… well apparently for no reason.
Their next move revealed Anonymous’ political sensibilities after it knocked racist radio host Hal Turner’s website offline.
Then, in 2007, an Internet predator named Chris Forcand was arrested. Shortly after his arrest, information came out that members of Anonymous had been tracking and monitoring him. They apparently employed some Chris Hanson-style tactics trying to catch him. But anyway, the whole incident revealed the scarily old-testament ethics of Anonymous. This same wrath has since then aligned itself with the villainous looking Jullian Assange’s WikiLeaks and been directed towards the Church of Scientology, MasterCard, the Tunisian government and now Hosni Mubarak.
In the case of Egypt, the users logged into the #opegypt channel were busy establishing a series of proxy servers that would allow Egyptians to access the Internet and begin communicating with the outside world again while simultaneously dumping as much information on Egypt as their efforts would allow.
With such a media overload going on, I found myself a little thirsty, and so I went to the kitchen for some needed hydration. As I turned off the faucet, I heard the frantic punditry of Al-Jazeera rattling off rapid fire, punctuated by IRC’s erratic percussive alerts. As I stood outside my closed door I couldn’t help but feel as though history was on the other side. It was the same feeling you get when you realize you’re a part of some mass of humanity all rabidly pursuing a shared goal.
Then I started to feel guilty and more than a little stupid.
I had been staring at a computer for the better part of a half-hour, absolutely enthralled by a bunch of light on a screen pertaining to an event that was a world away. But that didn’t change the familiarly human energy that was seemingly oozing from my laptop’s monitor.
We live in a very different time. On “Anonymous Operations,” the Anonymous blog, their latest post reads, “Anonymous is a machine that harnesses the talent that other, lesser institutions often fail to acknowledge or incorporate.” It continues stating, “All significant human activity is the result of human collaboration – including this very press release. And the means by which humans may collaborate has exploded – not expanded, not increased, but exploded.”
What all this means for democracy I can’t really say. What I do know is that Anonymous’ effort in support of the Egyptian people is a new type of historical precedent that says something about our potential for meaningful change if we drop the ego games so characteristic of contemporary social movements.
Max Calloway is a Collegian contributor. He can be reached at [email protected].
thomas vesely • Feb 9, 2011 at 3:20 am
“is this fair ?”
has to be the most beautiful phrase in the language.
Anonymous • Jan 31, 2011 at 7:01 pm
Never be silent! Always be proud!
We all knew these days would come.
+1
Anonymous • Jan 31, 2011 at 4:36 pm
we are anonymous
we do not forgive
we do not forget
WeAreAllHuman • Jan 31, 2011 at 3:32 pm
This is history. When humans are treated badly, no longer do they need to wait for the deaf ears to be reached. No longer will they be alone in the fight against the unjust.
anonymous • Jan 31, 2011 at 2:36 pm
“… potential for meaningful change if we drop the ego games so characteristic of contemporary social movements”
+1
AllisFree • Jan 31, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Anonymous does not exist
We have no body
We are anybody
We act as one…
GermanAnon • Jan 31, 2011 at 12:54 pm
Very nice article.
We are Anonymous!
YOU are Anonymous!
We love you!
Anon • Jan 31, 2011 at 10:45 am
Wise words.
Anonymous is everyone.
We are the voice inside your head that asks. “is this fair?”
We are Legion
TimeKeeperAnon • Jan 31, 2011 at 7:16 am
We are Anonymous
We are Legion
We do not forgive
We do not forget
Expect us
😉
Guidio_Puddi • Jan 31, 2011 at 6:33 am
“As I stood outside my closed door I couldn’t help but feel as though history was on the other side. It was the same feeling you get when you realize you’re a part of some mass of humanity all rabidly pursuing a shared goal.”
Excellently put Max