A Podcast Talk on 'Anonymous'

My favorite podcast, and one that I listen to regularly, is Stuff You Should Know.  I really enjoy how they can talk about anything and everything and make it into an interesting podcast.  If you are naturally curious and love learning new things, this is the podcast for you!  Recently I listened to an episode on "Anonymous", the famous hacktivist group.  It's a topic that is shrouded in mystery, so I was eager to learn more about the organization from the always-entertaining Josh and Chuck.

I really didn't know much about Anonymous prior to listening to the podcast (I actually assumed it was one person).  The only things I knew about them was what I received from major news outlets, so I was mostly looking forward to learning more about what they were and how they operated.  The podcast helped to unveil some of the mystery, but by their very nature they will likely always remain an enigma.

Anonymous is a group of "hacktivists" that are banded together into a fluid, loose organization.  They often use Guy Fawkes masks to disguise their identities in photos and videos, and it has become a symbol of their organization.  Members of the organization often work together to carry out "operations" against people or organizations who have carried out what Anonymous believes to be immoral or illegal activities.  When talking about an organization as loosely based as Anonymous, it's impossible to exactly detail their beliefs, but opposing internet censorship and control seems to be near the top of their list.  Other beliefs may include: exposing illegal activities by established organizations, corruption, child pornography, and groups such as the Westboro Baptist Church.

Members of Anonymous who band together for a cause will work together to figure out who to attack, plan out how to attack them, and carry out the attack.  Attacks often involve bringing down an organization's website, disrupting their normal flow of business.  They may also work to collect protected data and expose it to the public in an effort to expose immoral or illegal behavior.  The activities of Anonymous members themselves are generally illegal, and dozens of members have been arrested for their part in various cyber attacks.

It's really difficult to take a clear position on the activities of Anonymous.  For the most part, they are doing something that would be considered "morally right" and are putting an end to someone or something's wrongdoing.  On the other hand, the cyber attacks they partake in are illegal (even though some of the same tactics are used by the federal government).  Many of the operations they partake in hover in the gray area between right and wrong, and it's unlikely that you either completely agree or completely disagree with all of their activities.  More than likely you would agree with some of their activities, but may think they are overstepping their moral obligations with others.  One operation that most people would support is with their recent declaration to hunt down members if ISIS as shown in this video.

One interesting takeaway I got from learning about Anonymous is that, when looked at from a macro level, they are acting as a form of checks and balances against the powers that be.  I believe that as long as Anonymous is active, they can work effectively to keep governments in check and expose corruption and abuse of power not only in developed nations, but in developing countries as well.  Overall they are working to make the world a better place, but whether or not you agree with their tactics most likely lies in how much you believe that the ends justify the means.

If you'd like to learn more about Anonymous, you can check out the podcast on the Stuff You Should Know website.  You can also follow them on Twitter, but perhaps the best place to get first hand knowledge is from their official Youtube channel.

Technology Throwback: A Look at Bubble Memory

Have you ever heard of bubble memory?  If you’re under the age of 40 my guess is you probably haven’t.  But this style of computer memory was all the rage in the late 70’s and early 80’s.  What is bubble memory and what lead to its downfall?  Read on for a little tech history lesson.

Removable bubble memory cartridge

I first heard about bubble memory about 10 years ago while reading Tom Clancy’s “Patriot Games”.  At the time I just assumed it was an outdated term for RAM (or something similar) and that the technology was still around in some form or fashion.  I never took the time to look into what it was, but I never forgot the term.  The information was locked away in my head, waiting for the day I came across the term “bubble memory” again.

This year I started a campaign of re-reading all of Tom Clancy’s books, starting with "Patriot Games".  I was eager to get to the section where they discuss Jack Ryan’s portable computer specs.  The computer used was a “Cambridge Datamaster Model-C Field Computer” with “an MC-68000 microprocessor, and two megabytes of bubble memory”.  He mentions that the bubble memory stores information after the unit is turned off.  Not much information to go off, time to do some research!

It turns out that bubble memory was a type of non-volatile (meaning it doesn’t lose its data when turned off) computer memory that used little magnetized areas (known as bubbles) to hold one bit of data each.  At the time it offered memory density similar to that of hard drives, but had the advantage of having no moving parts.  Even by today’s standards, bubble memory is rather rugged, being able to withstand high temperatures, shock, dust, humidity, and high radiation. There were high hopes for bubble memory, with some even thinking it would take over hard drives as the storage medium of choice.  By the mid 70’s most major electronics companies were working on the technology.  The future looked bright.

Internal bubble memory

Advancements in the early 80’s, however, put an end to bubble memory’s promising future.  New hard disk technology allowed them to be faster, cheaper, and more memory-dense than bubble memory.  The usage of bubble memory came to a screeching halt, and almost all companies discontinued using the technology around 1981.  Its ruggedness and durability allowed it to continue in some niche markets such as military applications, but almost all commercial usage ceased.

References to technology in pop culture almost always end up dating the material years down the road, but sometimes that reference can give you a little lesson on how things were “back in the day”.  I’m glad I took the time to learn something new, and I hope you feel the same way.