The Role of Anonymous Cyberactivism in the Black Lives Matter Movement in the United States (2014-2020)
Abstract
The practice of racism in the US stems from a long history of slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation and the various laws that the Government had issued in an attempt to regulate the rights of black people did not prevent black discrimination from continuing to this day. This situation triggered the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, which is one of the biggest movements in the United States. This research discusses the role of Anonymous as a community using cyberspace during the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. This research applies the qualitative method using various kinds of secondary data ranging from books, related journals, government websites, and other online sources aiming to analyze the concept of cyberactivism and the idea of cyber libertarianism regarding the role of Anonymous within the BLM movement. This research shows that based on the cyber libertarianism concept the role of Anonymous is as one of the important information sources within the BLM movement by hacking and then propagating the information to the public. Based on the concept of cyberactivism, Anonymous has helped the Police in raising racism awareness. This racism has been rooted in the existing systems in the United States of America. Besides, cyberactivism by Anonymous using hacktivism has shifted the concept of hacking not only as a crime but also a resource of social movements.
References
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Frizell, S. (2015, 2 November). “A KKK Leader Says You Shouldn’t Believe Anonymous.” Time. Retrieved from https://time.com/4097516/ku-klux-klan-anonymous/.
Fuchs, C. (2013). The Anonymous movement in the context of liberalism and socialism. Interface: A journal for and about social movements, 5(2), 345-376.
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McCaughey, M & Ayers, M. D. (Eds.). (2013). Cyberactivism: Online activism in theory and practice. New York: Routledge.
McNutt, J. G and Menon, G. M. (2008). The Rise of Cyberactivism: Implications for the Future of Advocacy in the Human Services. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 89(1), 33-38.
Nunes, R. (2020). Outlining the history of cyberactivism in Brazil. Internet Histories, 1–17.
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Rogers, A. (2014, 21 August). “What Anonymous Is Doing in Ferguson.” Time. Retrieved from https://time.com/3148925/ferguson-michael-brown-anonymous/.
Ryan, Y. (2011, 20 May). “Anonymous and the Arab uprisings.” Al Jazeera. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/05/201151917634659824.html.
Sherer, E. (2015, 6 April). “Cyberactivism, Its Past And Its Future.” Digital America. Retrieved from https://www.digitalamerica.org/cyberactivism-its-past-and-its-future-elizabeth-sherer/.
Sandoval-Almazan, R., & Ramon Gil-Garcia, J. (2014). Towards cyberactivism 2.0? Understanding the use of social media and other information technologies for political activism and social movements. Government Information Quarterly, 31(3), 365–378.
Schwartz, G. L and Jahn, J. L. (2020). Mapping fatal police violence across US metropolitan areas: Overall rates and racial/ethnic inequities, 2013-2017. PloS one, 15(6), e0229686.
Smithsonian Magazine. (2020, 4 June). “158 Resources to Understand Racism in America.” Retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/158-resources-understanding-systemic-racism-america-180975029/.
Spangler, T. (2020, 31 May). “Did Hacktivist Group Anonymous Take Down Minneapolis PD Website?” Variety. Retrieved from https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/anonymous-hackers-minneapolis-police-department-website-george-floyd-1234621332/.
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Sylvester, T. L. (2000). Slavery throughout History: Almanac. UXL.
Thaver, N. (2015, 6 November). “We Got a First Look at Anonymous' List of Alleged KKK Members.” Vice. Retrieved from https://www.vice.com/en/article/9bggd8/a-first-look-at-the-list-of-kkk-members-compiled-by-anonymous-115.
Underwood, P and Welser, H. T. (2011). “The internet is here' emergent coordination and innovation of protest forms in digital culture. Proceedings of the 2011 iConference, 304-311.
Winston, A. (2020, 13 August). “Feds are treating BlueLeaks organization as ‘a criminal hacker group,’ documents show.” The Verge. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/13/21365448/blueleaks-dhs-distributed-denial-secrets-dds-ddosecrets-police.
Winner, L. (1997). Cyberlibertarian myths and the prospects for community. ACM Sigcas Computers and Society, 27(3), 14-19.
Wong, W. H and Brown, P. A. (2013). “E-bandits in global activism: WikiLeaks, Anonymous, and the politics of no one”. Perspectives on Politics, 11(4), 1015-1033.
Woolf, N. (2015, 6 November). “Anonymous leaks identities of 350 alleged Ku Klux Klan members.” The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/06/anonymous-ku-klux-klan-name-leak.
Anggito, A., and Setiawan, J. (2018). Metodologi Penelitian Kualitatif. Sukabumi: Jejak Publisher.
Asmardika, R. (2020, 1 June). “Kelompok Hacker Anonymous "Nyatakan Perang" Terhadap Kepolisian Minneapolis Atas Kematian George Floyd.” Okenews. Retrieved from https://news.okezone.com/read/2020/06/01/18/2222619/kelompok-hacker-anonymous-nyatakan-perang-terhadap-kepolisian-minneapolis-atas-kematian-george-floyd.
BBC. (2015, 6 November). “Anonymous posts Ku Klux Klan alleged sympathisers list.” Retrieved from: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34736941.
Beran, D. (2020, 11 August). “The Return of Anonymous: The infamous hacker group reemerges from the shadows.” The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/08/hacker-group-anonymous-returns/615058/.
Beyer, J. L. (2013). The Emergence of a Freedom of Information Movement: Anonymous, WikiLeaks, the Pirate Party, and Iceland. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(2), 141–154.
Black Lives Matter. (2020) “Herstory.” Retrieved from https://blacklivesmatter.com/herstory/.
Brown, N. L. M and Stentiford, B. M. (2008). The Jim Crow encyclopedia. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.
Carty, V and Onyett, J. (2006). Protest, Cyberactivism and New Social Movements: The Reemergence of the Peace Movement Post 9/11. Social Movement Studies, 5(3), 229–249.
Cencus.gov. (2019). “Table Population of United States.” Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045219.
Dahlberg, L. (2016). Cyberlibertarianism. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, 1–2.
Durham, M. (2007). White rage: The extreme right and American politics. London: Routledge.
Edwards, F., Lee, H and Esposito, M. (2019). Risk of being killed by police use of force in the United States by age, race–ethnicity, and sex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(34), 16793-16798.
Frizell, S. (2015, 2 November). “A KKK Leader Says You Shouldn’t Believe Anonymous.” Time. Retrieved from https://time.com/4097516/ku-klux-klan-anonymous/.
Fuchs, C. (2013). The Anonymous movement in the context of liberalism and socialism. Interface: A journal for and about social movements, 5(2), 345-376.
Garcia, S. (2015). Can Cyberactivism Effectuate Global Political Change?. Academic Leadership Journal in Student Research, 3(1), 1-10.
German, W. (2012, 29 February). “What Is 'Anonymous' And How Does It Operate?” Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty. Retrieved from https://www.rferl.org/a/explainer_what_is_anonymous_and_how_does_it_operate/24500381.html.
Goode, L. (2015). Anonymous and the Political Ethos of Hacktivism. Popular Communication, 13(1), 74–86.
Gupta, A. (2015, 13 November). “From Occupy Wall Street to Black Lives Matter: Where Does Radical Protest Go From Here?” Occupy. Retrieved from http://www.occupy.com/article/occupy-wall-street-black-lives-matter-where-does-radical-protest-go-here#sthash.xirotrxV.dpbs.
History.com. (2020a, 10 July). ”Black History Milestones: Timeline.” Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-history-milestones.
History.com. (2020b, 21 February). Ku Klux Klan. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/reconstruction/ku-klux-klan.
History.com. (2013, 13 July). ”The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter first appears, sparking a movement.” Retrieved from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/blacklivesmatter-hashtag-first-appears-facebook-sparking-a-movement.
Lawford, E. (2020, 1 June). “What is Anonymous? Hacker group targets Trump, police and others.” Evening Standard. Retrieved from https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/who-anonymous-hacker-group-a4456151.html.
Lebron, C. J. (2017). The making of black lives matter: A brief history of an idea. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lee, M. (2020, 15 July). “Hack of 251 Law Enforcement Websites Exposes Personal Data of 700,000 Cops.” The Intercept. Retrieved from https://theintercept.com/2020/07/15/blueleaks-anonymous-ddos-law-enforcement-hack/.
McCaughey, M & Ayers, M. D. (Eds.). (2013). Cyberactivism: Online activism in theory and practice. New York: Routledge.
McNutt, J. G and Menon, G. M. (2008). The Rise of Cyberactivism: Implications for the Future of Advocacy in the Human Services. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 89(1), 33-38.
Nunes, R. (2020). Outlining the history of cyberactivism in Brazil. Internet Histories, 1–17.
Olson P. (2012, 17 February). “Click 'n Hit: How Supporters Of Anonymous Are Making It Easier To Cripple Websites.” Forbes. Retrieved fromhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2012/02/17/click-n-hit-how-supporters-of-anonymous-are-making-it-easier-to-cripple-websites/#70e750973e50.
Olson, P. (2013). We are anonymous. London: William Heinemann.
Peterson, A. (2014a, 15 August). “The complete guide to Anonymous and OpFerguson.” The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/08/15/the-complete-guide-to-anonymous-and-opferguson/.
Peterson, A. (2014b, 15 August). “How Anonymous got it right and wrong in Ferguson.” The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/08/14/how-anonymous-got-it-right-and-wrong-in-ferguson/.
Rogers, A. (2014, 21 August). “What Anonymous Is Doing in Ferguson.” Time. Retrieved from https://time.com/3148925/ferguson-michael-brown-anonymous/.
Ryan, Y. (2011, 20 May). “Anonymous and the Arab uprisings.” Al Jazeera. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/05/201151917634659824.html.
Sherer, E. (2015, 6 April). “Cyberactivism, Its Past And Its Future.” Digital America. Retrieved from https://www.digitalamerica.org/cyberactivism-its-past-and-its-future-elizabeth-sherer/.
Sandoval-Almazan, R., & Ramon Gil-Garcia, J. (2014). Towards cyberactivism 2.0? Understanding the use of social media and other information technologies for political activism and social movements. Government Information Quarterly, 31(3), 365–378.
Schwartz, G. L and Jahn, J. L. (2020). Mapping fatal police violence across US metropolitan areas: Overall rates and racial/ethnic inequities, 2013-2017. PloS one, 15(6), e0229686.
Smithsonian Magazine. (2020, 4 June). “158 Resources to Understand Racism in America.” Retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/158-resources-understanding-systemic-racism-america-180975029/.
Spangler, T. (2020, 31 May). “Did Hacktivist Group Anonymous Take Down Minneapolis PD Website?” Variety. Retrieved from https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/anonymous-hackers-minneapolis-police-department-website-george-floyd-1234621332/.
Statista.com. (2019). “Number of people shot to death by the police in the United States from 2017 to 2020, by race.” Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-death-by-us-police-by-race/.
Sylvester, T. L. (2000). Slavery throughout History: Almanac. UXL.
Thaver, N. (2015, 6 November). “We Got a First Look at Anonymous' List of Alleged KKK Members.” Vice. Retrieved from https://www.vice.com/en/article/9bggd8/a-first-look-at-the-list-of-kkk-members-compiled-by-anonymous-115.
Underwood, P and Welser, H. T. (2011). “The internet is here' emergent coordination and innovation of protest forms in digital culture. Proceedings of the 2011 iConference, 304-311.
Winston, A. (2020, 13 August). “Feds are treating BlueLeaks organization as ‘a criminal hacker group,’ documents show.” The Verge. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/13/21365448/blueleaks-dhs-distributed-denial-secrets-dds-ddosecrets-police.
Winner, L. (1997). Cyberlibertarian myths and the prospects for community. ACM Sigcas Computers and Society, 27(3), 14-19.
Wong, W. H and Brown, P. A. (2013). “E-bandits in global activism: WikiLeaks, Anonymous, and the politics of no one”. Perspectives on Politics, 11(4), 1015-1033.
Woolf, N. (2015, 6 November). “Anonymous leaks identities of 350 alleged Ku Klux Klan members.” The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/06/anonymous-ku-klux-klan-name-leak.
Published
2021-01-24
How to Cite
YONITA, Sonya Rino; DARMAWAN, Arif.
The Role of Anonymous Cyberactivism in the Black Lives Matter Movement in the United States (2014-2020).
Insignia: Journal of International Relations, [S.l.], p. 1-15, jan. 2021.
ISSN 2597-9868.
Available at: <http://jos.unsoed.ac.id/index.php/insignia/article/view/3758>. Date accessed: 20 apr. 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.20884/1.ins.2021.0.0.3758.
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