WE ARE LEGION – an inside look into Anonymous

For a few years now, filmmaker Brian Knappenberger had been working on ‘We Are Legion’ – a documentary based around the infamous hacktavist group Anonymous.

Anonymous originated in 2003 on the imageboard 4chan. Since then they have gained a massive wave of support and have taken part in several large scale attacks on what they deem ‘wrong’.

“The hacker ethics has a passion for truth, it wants what’s real to be out there” - WE ARE LEGION

The movie has been released and is finally available to all through the film’s official Web site as a DRM-free download. It is not fully understood why the movie was given out for free, but it does fit in with what Anonymous believe.

“Anonymous was kind of like the big strong buff kid who had low self-esteem, and then all of a sudden punched someone in the face and was like ‘wholly s**t I’m really strong’” - WE ARE LEGION

You can download the full movie here: http://wearelegionthedocumentary.com/see-the-film/

One of the more recent stories Anonymous was involved in was with Amanda Todd. The 15-year-old committed suicide after struggling with depression and being bullied.

When Amanda was in the 7th grade, she flashed a camera while one of her friends was taping. A man somehow got the photo of her topless and leaked it on the web, and even to her school facebook page. Before she committed suicide she posted a video on Youtube of her talking about how she cried every night out of desperation.

Anonymous tracked down a man they feel is responsible for her death (the person who anonymously leaked the photo online). The bullying was most likely the main reason for Todd’s death, but the real villain in the eyes of Anonymous was the man who took and leaked the photo.

“We generally don’t like to deal with police first hand but were compelled to put our skills to good use protecting kids. Ironically we have some good people in Vancouver who brought this to our admin’s attention. It’s a very sad story that affects all of us.” - Anonymous

Learn all the techniques used by Anonymous and get paid for performing these attacks - legally. The average salary of a Certified Ethical Hacker in the UK is £42,750 according to ITjobswatch.co.uk. 

Learn more about becoming an ethical hacker here: http://www.firebrandtraining.co.uk/courses/ec_council/ceh/hacking.asp