Photo Shoot: Anonymous Controversy - Should the Public Work to Expose Sexual Predators?

Hacktivist group Anonymous has made controversial efforts to expose and intimidate groups involved in sex trafficking and exploitation of minors, especially online. This photo shoot and article is meant to publicize their efforts and the controversy regarding possible unintended effects generated by such activism.

Operation Death Eaters

In 2014, the Group Anonymous organized an operation to combat sex trafficking by high profile individuals, they questioned propaganda, raised awareness and worked with journalists and human rights activists and attorneys. The group focused on legal methods of obtaining information.

Operation Death Eaters was a global operation that focuses on establishing a database to analyze seemingly random instances of sex trafficking that goes reported and unreported by the media. The goal of this tactic is to gain insight into the identity and function of the underground networks.

Operation DarkNet

In October 2011, Anonymous launched Operation DarkNet, an attack on servers related to websites catering to an underground community involved in sharing pornographic content of minors. Anonymous began by removing links to images and videos posted on a website called "The Hidden Wiki".

By October 20th, Anonymous released the names of the 1589 users of Lolita City, a central hub for sharing lewd content of minors online, and took down over 40 websites altogether. They then invited the FBI and Interpol to investigate their findings.

The Controversy

Christian Sjoberg, boss of image analysis firm NetClean which helps police forces categorise images of abuse, said while removing images was laudable, hackers should think carefully about what they have done. "It could be dangerous," he said, "because if its a big host the police will definitely know about it."

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at security firm Sophos, said the attacks were misguided. "Take-downs of illegal websites and sharing networks should be done by the authorities, not net vigilantes," he said.

The attacks could have put an existing investigation at risk, stopped the police from gathering evidence they need to prosecute, or made it difficult to argue that evidence has not been corrupted.