Jake Anderson

March 15, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) — Donald Trump has a new enemy, and this one doesn’t have any salient physical characteristics the Republican presidential candidate can derisively mock — unless he takes aim at the Guy Fawkes mask. In a new video, the hacktivist collective Anonymous has declared “total war“ on Trump, claiming that his “hateful campaign” has legitimized “appalling actions and words.”

Donning the idiosyncratic mask that has become a symbol of anarchism and anti-establishment revolutionary fervor, the Anonymous spokesman reached out to all hacktivists around the world:

“We need you to shut down his campaign and sabotage his brand.”

The group claims to have already released Trump’s social security number and they plan on shutting down a variety of pro-Trump websites, including TrumpChicago.com, donaldjtrump.com, trump.com, trumphotelcollection.com, donaldtrump2016online.com and citizensfortrump.com.

Invoking the hashtag #OpTrump, Anonymous called for all citizens to take action, declaring that one doesn’t need to be a hacker to help.

An interesting facet to Anonymous is that there are multiple splinter groups and it seems to have no centralized leadership. Members of Anonymous are spread throughout the world, which reinforces their slogan: We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.

One prospective trajectory that could result from a successful hacking operation on Donald Trump is that should Trump become president, he may target hacktivist groups in a new kind of war on terror. With the Internet likely to be the next major frontier of civic action, a Patriot Act-style legislative reaction to cyber terror could not only endanger hacktivist collectives, but net neutrality itself.

Anonymous has announced many targets over the years, including the Church of Scientology, Sony, ISIS, and a wide variety of government groups, individuals, and corporations. Their newest enemy happens to be someone who has openly expressed a desire to prosecute a legal war on journalists.

Could a hacktivist group like Anonymous or WikiLeaks finally humble Trump? Conversely, with their newest campaign, is Anonymous playing with fire? If elected, Trump may very well be the patsy who takes the War on Terror to its logical next phase — a comprehensive war on Internet activism and information whistleblowers.

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