The other day in Intro to Peace Studies, we viewed some propaganda from the group Anonymous. During their call for Operation Payback, to avenge Julian Assange after several major companies (Amazon, MasterCard, &c) withdrew their support for WikiLeaks, Anonymous called access to the Internet “a basic human right,” and that Anonymous’ chief complaint is that the ACTA Laws (presumably WikiLeaks posted something about these laws, for which Amazon &al withdrew their support) “would infringe upon it.”
The first thing that came to mind when I heard this, and it was echoed by others in class, was that access to the Internet is not a basic human right. Anonymous mentions something like, “In these modern times…” yet the majority of the world’s population doesn’t have readily available access to the Internet like we have the privilege of having in countries like the US and Japan (where I believe Anonymous has its beginnings).
While traveling in India this past January, I saw poverty on a level that I had never seen before. There are people in India and elsewhere that do not have access to clean water and do not have adequate shelter. These are “basic human rights” and while there may be philosophical reasons behind freedom of speech and censorship on the Internet, I think there are more pressing issues in the world that need humanity’s collective attention before we tackle issues like censorship. For instance, a group the size of Anonymous could promote human rights and pressure abusive governments to reform.
As much as I like “V for Vendetta” I think the masks are a little unnecessary. Also, since Anonymous I probably watching, they should know that I am expecting them.
Here is the link to the Operation Payback video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZNDV4hGUGw
Here is a link to another Anonymous video that scares me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0WCLKzDFpI&feature=related