Dear Dearest,

She was always so happy. And beautiful.

Perhaps one of the most iconic symbols of global protest is, of course, the Guy Fawkes mask. The internet ‘hacktivists’ group, Anonymous, who currently don the mask aren’t much different from good ole’ Guy Fawkes who, quite frankly, was standing up for what he thought was right and doing so in quite, well.. an illegal way.

Of course, Anonymous are not attempting to blow up a House of Parliament (although there have been supposed arson threats), but are a global, online ‘hacktivist’ group which stemmed from 4chan, an online imageboard and forum, in 2004. They have since been the masked men behind the protest of The Church of Scientology, the shutdown of the PlayStation Network, and the attacks on PayPal.

The 2012 documentary by Brian Knappenberger, 'We are Legion', takes us through a timeline of Anonymous and even unveils some of those masked men in what are quite genuine and riveting interviews that tell the profound tales of Anonymous and give you a true insiders peek into the world that these ‘hacktivists’ live in. Once inside we open our eyes to a very noble and brave collective of Anons who are simply fighting for what they believe in, whether its internet freedom, opposing censorship, or government/corporate transparency.

However, just after you begin to feel inspired and want to join the cause, the realization settles in that not only is Anon powerful enough to do good in the world but it is also powerful enough to do just the opposite. It seems that some Anons do not walk along the thin line of ethics; they prance across the line like a schoolgirl gathering flowers in a basket, except in this case the schoolgirls are actually bored white men and the flowers are ‘lulz’.

The major ethical dilemmas that some hackers toy with really create overwhelming tension, and at one point, the film really has you questioning who is the bad guy and who is the good. Are they Robin Hood or are they the Joker?

However, Knappenberger tells the story so perfectly in that you realize that even though what Anonymous is doing is technically illegal and some Anons may indeed stray from the ‘good’ path, the justice they fight for is far more important. Anonymous is Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat, and the Vietnam War Protests, and the Occupy movement of the online world and of the modern day. You are empowered and inspired by Anonymous and want to be a part of this global movement that is ultimately FOR the people.

  In addition it should be pointed out that the digital version of this film is available for purchase for a meager $4.99 and is DRM-free (Digital Rights Management-free)! Basically, what this means is that you can play, watch, and even copy the video as often as you like and on as many different devices as you like. This does not mean that one is allowed to pirate the film, however, as copyright is still in effect. For example, if one uploads a copy of the film onto YouTube, the copyright owners do have the ability to take it down and have enforced this ability. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the way in which I viewed this documentary, which was for a college course, was via YouTube and thus illegally.

The specific link is HERE, and as you can see, was uploaded by user ‘NEO2012anonymous’ and currently has 191,177 views. With simple research into this user and specific upload, one can assume that the user has an affiliation with (or is) Anonymous and is advertising, quite well in my opinion, for both Anonymous and for the filmmakers. I can imagine that for this reason the copyright owners of the film have chosen not to issue a copyright claim.