Anonymous Declares War on Donald Trump
With the amount of controversy surrounding the upcoming general election in the United States, every candidate is undoubtedly weaving their way through various threats to their campaign, their families, and even their lives. The most recent of these threats comes from the well-known cyber group Anonymous. Their target is none other than GOP presidential candidate, Donald Trump.
Image Credit: Flickr/Gage Skidmore
For a hacktivist group, Anonymous has a history of crying wolf when it comes to cyber threats. The likelihood that they will follow through with their most recent attack to take down TrumpChicago.com using the hashtag #OPTrump on April 1 is still to be determined. The group started in 2003 when unknown members (tagged as anonymous) worked together to post random images, pull internet pranks, troll events, and raid websites. For several years the group did little more than pull random internet pranks mainly against groups supporting anti-piracy acts. In 2008, they started a hacking movement called Project Chanology against the Church of Scientology. They have made a name and an image for themselves ever since.
Their movement against Trump urges hackers everywhere to help release controversial information about the current candidate. The validity of the information collected and posted against Trump and his staff is still unconfirmed, but the stability of his campaign is not out of the woods yet.
Anonymous used to target corrupt governments for abusing their populations. Now it targets Trump over mean comments. Pointless. #OpTrump
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) March 16, 2016
The public's reaction to this most recent threat is varied. Many people are supporting the plan to release the information while others are claiming that Anonymous has lost its direction. Their video below is described as anything from "cringe-worthy" to "amazing" to "ridiculous." The majority of conversations are currently hovering in the political sphere and almost entirely ignoring the impending violations of free speech, privacy, and protection of personal property. Regardless of the outcome of April 1, the actual repercussions will realistically be weighed in the hands and the votes of the American people.
