February 2016
A case study about Anonymous in Brazil opens the HCS-Manguinhos supplement dedicated to cyberactivism (vol.22 ten. 2015). In the article Between control and hacker activism: the political actions of Anonymous Brasil, the journalist Murilo Bansi Machado analyses the political character of this movement, describing its motivations, methods and the ethics of its political actions.
This article, based in the autor’s master’s thesis proposes a comparative analysis of two operations carried out by Brazilian Anonymous adherents in 2012: #OpWeeksPayment and #OpGlobo.
The work began with a search for the origins and principal leaders of the collective. Twenty-two people involved with Anonymous Brasil – mostly hackers – were interviewed. Nevertheless, Murilo notes that the Anonymous network does not consist only of hackers. On the contrary: its supporters include activists with very distinct backgrounds.
Hacker activism appears as a response to the control society. Day after day, hacktivists join together to, among innumerable other activities: release information of public interest; promote protection of Internet user privacy; develop inclusive software; and, more specifically in the case of Anonymous, carry out direct digital actions in protest against governments and corporations.
Read more in HCSM-Manguinhos:
Jerez, Ariel, Maceiras, Sergio D’Antonio and Maestu, Enrique. Esferas públicas, crisis política e internet: el surgimiento electoral de Podemos. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, Dic 2015, vol.22, p.1573-1596. ISSN 0104-5970
Campos-Domínguez, Eva, Valera Ordaz, Lidia and López García, Guillermo. Emisores políticos, mediáticos y ciudadanos en internet: hacia un nuevo marco comunicativo en la jornada de reflexión en España. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, Dic 2015, vol.22, p.1621-1636. ISSN 0104-5970
