We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists

The film was written and directed by Brian Knappenberger and features the story of Anonymous assumed to stem from the imageboard 4chan. It also outlines major turning points and "operations" in their history. Angered by many diverse issues such as copyright abuse, police brutality, online censorship and would-be web controllers this loosely affiliated collective of hacktivists have organised both online and offline protests, cyber attacks on foreign governments during the Arab Spring movement and provided technical support to the Occupy movement.

Not surprisingly, "We are Legion" was extremely well received at Austin's SXSW Film Festival. This film sheds a great deal of light on the murky and confusing world of the hacker group Anonymous. The filmmakers were able to achieve incredible access to the group and tell the historical story mostly through interviews with participants. The film is essentially chronological so it tells their story so that people who haven't followed its development can gain some understanding of a very complicated and somewhat confusing organization. The film is done in a self-critical fashion that while generally favorable is not afraid to show the group's negatives, its conflicts and its internal struggles. It is extremely well-made and highly informative. The groups' almost accidental evolution from merry pranksters into some sort of political activists is fascinating. While they are clearly inspired by commitment to free speech – especially online – it is hard to clearly define their evolving ideology. They are clearly interconnected to emerging phenomenon such as the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street, but it is difficult to determine how significant their political impact has been in these events. In any case, "We are Legion" provides an opportunity to those of us outside these organizations to gain some insight into what they are doing and that is extremely valuable. I hope that this film is widely viewed since it provides a view of one of the new political frontiers of the internet.

To me the world is very unlike that of reviewer Thomas Chase who views this as a movie promoting crime. I didn't see a movie that promotes anything, but, it is about activism in different online forms. The activists themselves are doing most of the talking and it shows how loosely tied the group called anonymous is.

It shouldn't really matter if you are with this groups actions or not because it's about understanding their motivations and how groups like it can and will impact our shared future; sometimes with government crushing impact and sometimes for a cruel laugh at someones expense.

I came away feeling both uplifted and slightly scared, but whatever you feel it will make you think and to me that is always a good thing.

Anonymous, the collective of skilled hackers, has put fear into the hearts of businesses and governments across the globe. Documentary filmmaker Brian Knappenberger delves into the history of other "hacktivists" and draws a line to the loose-knit community of folks fomenting civil disobedience through technological resources. The film includes interviews with current members of Anonymous, writers and academics.

Knappenberger's film chronicles the rise of Anonymous from a disparate group hanging out in the forums of notorious website 4chan to the day recently when members of the Polish parliament, in protest of a vote they said would restrict Web freedom, donned their own Guy Fawkes masks in solidarity with the group.

I was interested in Anonymous because they thrust themselves upon everyone's radar back in the early '10s. What they did was impressive like a huge bank robbery is impressive: you know it's wrong, but you're still impressed that someone could pull off such an ambitious and difficult crime.

"We Are Legion" is a backstory to the hacktivist group Anonymous. There are interviews with former members and people dialed into the culture about Anonymous's formation, their beliefs, and their tactics. I was intrigued and I'd even say I was even enjoying the documentary until one point of the film. It was then that I noticed a shift in the tone which turned me off.

One interviewee who'd been arrested for DDoSing (Distributed Denial of Service) the Scientology website got a one year prison sentence for using a LOIC (Low Orbit Ionic Cannon) tool on Scientology. He said he received one of "the most lopsided punishments I'd ever read or heard of." It was then that I had two thoughts:

1.) You need to read more.

2.) You guys have lost all credibility.

It was then that I noticed that the documentary was morphing into this self-righteous gripe about unjust persecution and these far-fetched comparisons to the lunch counter sit-ins of the '60's and other Civil Rights activities. They lost me with that. I would've had far more respect for them if they simply said they were anarchists.

"We Are Legion" was good for informational purposes even if it was terrible at helping Anonymous gain sympathy (which is what it seemed to be doing). It's worth watching and then you can decide for yourself if Anonymous is a net good.