Meet the New Face of Cybercrime.

A name that some of you might of heard of from a British history lesson: Guy or Guido Fawkes was originally a British terrorist dating back to 1600's. He was tried for treason, found guilty, and was tortured and hung for his crimes in 1605. Guy Fawkes was commonly known for his attempt to blow up Parliament with gunpowder, which failed and led to his arrest and ultimately his death. 

Flash forward to 1982 when Vertigo Comics, a division of DC comics, published the V for Vendetta series. This series was set in a bleak Orwellian future of England. The anarchistic antihero known only as V spent most of his career wearing  a characterized Guy Fawkes mask. 

V for Vendetta was also made into a popular movie in 2008, where the antihero never removed his mask throughout the entire movie. During one part of the comic series also seen in the movie, V sends his mask to every person in London with the hope to create an uprising.

This uprising has sprung from the pages of comic books and taken life in the deep, dark corners of the internet. From these webways  spring a group of activists who attack the websites of various different corporations by way of hacking into the computer code of such websites or virtual communities. Hactivism is just another fancy word for cybercrime.

Among the admirable list of hactivism that this Anonymous group has wreaked havoc upon is the FBI website, the Playstation Network, the Church of Scientology, Amazon.com, Paypal, Mastercard, Visa, and 40 Child Porn websites.

Anonymous has been known to rise up to protect the rights of who they feel is being overwhelmed by corporate or government bureaucracy by speaking out against them. The most famous backlash was the large scale assault for the arrest and detainment of Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange and his informant, Bradley Manning.

This mask has been seen as the hidden supporter of the Occupy Wallstreet demonstration movement that spread across the United States and Europe.  

The Guy Fawkes/V mask has been recently spotted at a demonstration to protest against Pope Benedict XVI's arrival in Mexico. 

As life often imitates art, Guy Fawkes did not meet a good end for his attempts to terrorize the British Government during the 1600's. Treason was treason, no matter how you slice it. Could this Anonymous group be facing the same fate going forward. Cybercrime is cybercrime no matter what the cause or reason even if you want to attach a fancy word to it such as "Hactivism."

After listening to their reason and causes, but not exactly agreeing with the methods,  Anonymous has stood up for many causes against corporate corruption and governmental manipulation. It depends on the stance one can take if this mask is the new face of fear, or the new face of freedom.