Unmasking Canada's Anonymous culture
Jeff Johnston takes an inside look at CanAnon, the Canadian branch of Anonymous, witnessing first hand how through the influence of the Anonymous culture, young Canadians now have the ability to easily organize massive online protests.
CanAnon, like other Anonymous groups, was formed primarily on Internet Relay Chat (IRC) with secure channels allowing activists to arrange meetings, communicate amongst each other and include people from all across the country. It is through this network that CanAnon can bring important issues to national attention very quickly. The activists within CanAnon do not condone illegal hacking as means of achieving their goals. They instead use public information and raise awareness through social media and traditional activism.
On CanAnon’s Web site, the activists have stated, “There is no need to hack into officials’ E-mails, leak documents, or threaten people. We simply must inform the public what’s happening, this story speaks for itself, all the information we need is already publicly available.”
