And criminals, too. I admire those who accept and expose government documents that show how our "leaders" mislead us & screw us. I have no sympathy for those who break into computer systems and steal things, esp. credit cards. Their operation is funded by identity theft. In due time most of them will end up in jail.
I agree. Pure vandalism and theft is in entirely a different category than what these folks are up to. They are exposing how governments really work, and how private companies work with them, and those entities hate that light of day worse than they hate real crime or real terrorists. Thus the sadistic treatment of Manning and the unparalleled effort to reel in Assange. Fifteen year sentence for a visual protest at a county website. Political prisoners are once again being locked up in the US.
You're missing the point. Anonymous is involved in BOTH. They have a good side, but it is funded by the evil side, and in the end the evil side will catch up with them.
I'm fully aware of the concept of Robin Hood, but that won't get Anonymous off the hook. Identity theft hurts the little guys who lives and credit are disrupted by the crooks. Their hacks might ostensibly be directed against a bank or some other big, bad (in their view) corporation, but the credit card information that is stolen & used or resold belongs to their peers. In the end people like you & I get screwed to support Anonymous.