Anonymous, hacktivism and Wikipedia Options

[Peter Damian]

This http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16881582 was in the news a couple of days ago. (a) To what extent do the ideals of these 'anonymous' hacktivists overlap with those of orthodox Wikipedians? (b) To what extent are they one and the same people?

I'm thinking the ideals overlap a lot. The love of anonymity and secrecy when it comes to themselves. The paradoxical hatred of anonymity and secrecy when it comes to the establishment and state and any kind of government. The obsession with hackerish things and computers. The whole 'Occupy' thing.

As to whether the people are one and the same, I don't know.

[Herschelkrustofsky]

I dunno... it seems natural to me that people would conspire with other people to achieve objectives that are important to them (particularly if they have the means to do so.) I do it all the time. It certainly worked for the American Revolution and any number of other revolutions. I would naturally concede that there is an abundance of bogus and incompetent conspiracy theories. I would also note that there are some real whoppers, like the Muslim Conspiracy theory (like the Jewish Conspiracy theory a hundred years ago, under similar circumstances,) that are embraced by the mainstream opinion shapers and subjected to very little skepticism.