Anonymous Releases List of ISIS Supporters and Their US/UK Hosts

The online hacker-collective known as Anonymous released a list of websites related to ISIS supporters and the companies who are hosting these websites.

This bold move is one part to a several-step campaign by the group known as "#OpISIS" which was launched earlier this year following ISIS's noticeable online presence, which gave the group an elemental advantage and opportunity for such an attack. Earlier this year, the group released a comprehensive list of 25,000 Twitter accounts linked to ISIS. GhostSec, a branch of Anonymous, said this to the IBTimes;

“All websites listed below are frequently used by the Islamic State through Twitter and other social media platforms for transmission of propaganda, religion, recruitment, communications and intelligence gathering purposes. (Web host companies) are unaware of their customers content or they turn a blind eye for easy profit and choose to accept blood-money. CloudFlare is by far the largest offender on this list and they have been made aware of the specified content they are protecting… Together we can stop this from spreading and hold these companies accountable for their less than ethical business practices.”

There is an undeniable controversy to this attack, how Anonymous's actions should be interpreted, and how companies should react to the issue. While it is indisputable that ISIS is a destructive, and, for lack of a better way, evil group, the Internet is suppose to be a free, open, and immovable force. That philosophy is designed to be equally spread, not segregated amongst different ideologies.

Censorship is wrong no matter how it is implemented, even if the information being blocked is from that of one of the most despicable groups in the world. While we may not agree with what is being presented, the method of action some propose would be similar to that of the burning of "Communist" books during the Red Scare.

So, I leave my reader with a question in mind. Is censorship okay if the material is evil or considered morally wrong? Or does that mean we should learn from it nonetheless?

That's all I have to say today, but I'll be back tomorrow.

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known." -Carl Sagan