Cyber War: Anonymous vs. ISIS
We are now living in an era of technology, or what many call, the “Digital Age”, the reason for this name, is due to the fact that most, if not all, of our current technology is centered around the internet. In this Digital Age, around 3.2 billion people, or 42.4% of the world, uses the internet. The internet is used in many different ways. For instance, one can find almost any information, by simply typing whatever they are looking for into the search bar and pressing enter. Another and massively popular use of the internet is social media.
Social media is defined as “forms of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content” …show more content…
They have taken to calling the cyber war “Operation Paris”. Anonymous proposed that they would take to social media and other internet based programs to interfere with the ISIS plan and message. The threat may not seem like much, but when you understand the powerful impact media messages like ISIS advocate, it is clear that the attack can indeed hit ISIS in a major way interrupting recruiting, branding and fundraising through their social media outlets. The Anons enlisted the help of the worldwide public with a guide to help identify suspicious appearing social accounts. Consequently, the activist and those working through the aid of their guide have reported and help shut down thousands of twitter accounts, as these are identified as one of the main recruitment areas of ISIS. The problem lies in the fact that the general public has a misconstrued and incomplete image of what ISIS activity is, and relates it to Muslim religion and Arab language of any sort, instead of recognizing it as an extreme faction. Because of the lack of the media clarification, many legitimate sites that have dialogue in Arabic languages are also being swept into these shutdowns. Islamic descendants that are not extremist terrorist continue to feel the pain of the effect caused by a fraction of individuals that comprise ISIS and other terrorist groups, now not only in public but in the privacy of their homes where their social media sites become under
We are now living in an era of technology, or what many call, the “Digital Age”, the reason for this name, is due to the fact that most, if not all, of our current technology is centered around the internet. In this Digital Age, around 3.2 billion people, or 42.4% of the world, uses the internet. The internet is used in many different ways. For instance, one can find almost any information, by simply typing whatever they are looking for into the search bar and pressing enter. Another and massively popular use of the internet is social media.
Social media is defined as “forms of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content” …show more content…
They have taken to calling the cyber war “Operation Paris”. Anonymous proposed that they would take to social media and other internet based programs to interfere with the ISIS plan and message. The threat may not seem like much, but when you understand the powerful impact media messages like ISIS advocate, it is clear that the attack can indeed hit ISIS in a major way interrupting recruiting, branding and fundraising through their social media outlets. The Anons enlisted the help of the worldwide public with a guide to help identify suspicious appearing social accounts. Consequently, the activist and those working through the aid of their guide have reported and help shut down thousands of twitter accounts, as these are identified as one of the main recruitment areas of ISIS. The problem lies in the fact that the general public has a misconstrued and incomplete image of what ISIS activity is, and relates it to Muslim religion and Arab language of any sort, instead of recognizing it as an extreme faction. Because of the lack of the media clarification, many legitimate sites that have dialogue in Arabic languages are also being swept into these shutdowns. Islamic descendants that are not extremist terrorist continue to feel the pain of the effect caused by a fraction of individuals that comprise ISIS and other terrorist groups, now not only in public but in the privacy of their homes where their social media sites become under