Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous by Gabriella Coleman

Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous, Gabriella Coleman. London: Verso Books, 2014. eBook, 416 pps.

https://twitter.com/biellacoleman

http://gabriellacoleman.org/


     I have oodles of respect for Gabriella Coleman. She is an anthropologist, and she works at McGill which is one of my favorite universities. She writes about things that I am interested in. It was with great anticipation that I waited for the release of Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy. I did something that I almost never do-- I pre-ordered the book. I knew that I would love the book. And yes, I love this book.

     Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy gives much insight into some of the personalities behind the idea Anonymous. I enjoyed her re-counting of the emergence of some of the Secs. I was infuriated all over again with the treachery of he-who-must-not-be-named (and that isn't a reference to Voldemort). I was tickled by her descriptions of the I.R.C. chat-rooms. Talk of o-days and LOIC are things that hold my interest.

sapphoq reviews says: Gabriella Coleman has written a wonderful book. Anyone the least bit interested in Interwebz culture ought to find and read this book. Those who are not technically savvy will find the material presented to be readable. Those of us who are will relish the stories and the LULZ. Absolutely highly recommended. 

LulzSec by Kyle Schurman

LulzSec: How a Handful of Hackers Brought The US Government To Its Knees: 50 Days of Lulz, Kyle Schurman. San Francisco: Hyperink, 2012. e-book, 47 pps.

     First of all, I do not know why Michael Esseny's name appears on the cover. Did he draw the LulzSec cartoon? I don't know. Tis a great mystery.

     Hyperink is a unique sort of company that provides mini-works. LulzSec the e-book coming in at 47 pages can certainly be labeled as such. The real meat of the matter are the urls connected to various articles which have been written about LulzSec.

     I was there [in the digital sense] during the first fifty days of LulzSec in the sidelines so to speak. I was an insignificant dot in the audience cheering LulzSec on. 

sapphoq reviews says: This particular book which is more of a mini-work left out the story of the snitch who managed to avoid prison time and now fashions himself on fakebook as some sort of artista. The story of the snitch was a critical piece and LulzSec [the book] should be "updated" by Kyle Schurman and the Hyperink folks before I can recommend it. Actually, I don't recommend this e-book, even if it was to be updated. Boring and dumbed down to the point of utter boredom. The real LulzSec hackers-- minus the snitch who shall not be named in this particular review-- are worthy of awe. They certainly were not then and are not now boring. 
     I recommend following members of Anonymous on Twitter if that is your fancy, or following the nimjeh [identified usually as "my ______ ninja" with various words inserted in the blank] if you don't care for Anonymous. I don't recommend the book. The book LulzSec is kind of like what prison kitchens do to good food. Pass on it. Get involved in changing the system instead.
     P.S.: To be clear, I love my Anonymous family and I utterly adore the nimjeh on Twitter. The Anonymous accounts are varied and usually provide information about hacktivism and social revolution happenings world-wide. The nimjeh are all [except for the one snitch account] very wise and quite frankly are the only accounts on Twitter that consistently tweet like they actually are having fun.

We Are Anonymous (a remix) by Miso Susanowa

In skating through blogs on my reading list, I found Miso Susanowa's remix called "We Are Anonymous."


I listened to it here at     http://inworld.sl/mp3/We_Are_Anonymous.mp3

My So-called Virtual Life blog at    http://gomiso.blogspot.com/2012/02/we-are-anonymous-new-music.html   lists several other places where you can listen to it.

This is excellent tunage replete with a pounding drive reminiscent of Axel the Crazy Frog music but much deeper.  I love the Anonymous voice overs in it, which I was first introduced to via YouTube®, things like "We Are Anonymous. We Are The Internet," and "You should have expected us."

I have to tell you that the RIAA and some other folks have gone drunken silly over things like a little girl singing along with a female vocalist in a vid which was subjected to a takedown; a fervor over both the Happy Birthday song written by Mildred J. Hill and her sister Patty S. Hill in Kentucky back in the 1800s and an old scout standby New Friends and Old Friends © Joseph Parry; the recent attempt by the good ol' U.S.A. to imprison a young man from England for LINKING to a file sharing site-- an act which in and of itself is NOT illegal in Great Britain.  Give a bureaucrat an important sounding title and that bureaucrat will scream piracy until the sun burns out of the sky.  Stealing is claiming someone else's work as one's own.  Sharing is keeping the creator's name and credits intact.  Singing is singing.  I'm pretty sure that the little kid who was singing along with a female vocalist in a vid was not in any way wanting to steal the song.  People, can we stop going nuts now please?

The Internet is what it is today in a large part because of some folks who were willing to experiment, folks who were in on ARPANET and the first BBS boards, folks who wanted to push their little Commodores to the limit.  Those folks are my heroes.  The drive to make criminals out of ordinary people who are just a bit more curious than the average sell out is based on fear.  Fear of profit losses.  Fear of the phreaks, the hacktivists, the file sharers.  Fear of people who think differently than the rest of us.  

We need Anonymous.  We need the phreaks, the hackers, the coders, the mavericks.  We need folks who are willing to think.  And so with these thoughts threatening to turn into a full scale rant, I leave you dear reader.

Do take a listen to the song if you wish.  Learn some coding.  Learn something about how your computer works.  Don't be a push button ninny willing to believe the Corporate Lie.

sapphoq reviews says:  The remix "We Are Anonymous" is full of win.