Investigating the Hacktivists of Anonymous: Journalist Parmy Olson on the Challenges of Investigating a Network Cloaked in Secrecy

EVER WONDER who is behind the hacktivists known as Anonymous? Are they heroes or villains? What is their agenda, really?

In a lecture at Brandeis, Forbes journalist Parmy Olson, author of “We Are Anonymous: Inside the Hacker World of LulzSec, Anonymous, and the Global Cyber Insurgency,” will speak about the challenges and methods she used to investigate and report on the hidden and secret activities of Anonymous, notorious in some circles and acclaimed in others for their cyber attacks against the websites of major financial corporations, governments, law enforcement, purveyors of child pornography, and others. 

Read a New York Times review of Olson’s book and watch her on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  

Olson is linked to Brandeis through the work of instrumental and electroacoustic composer Peter Van Zandt Lane, a Ph.D. graduate of Brandeis University and now an adjunct lecturer at the Department of Music.

Van Zandt Lane's musical composition for the ballet HackPolitik, premiering on November 15 and 16 at the Boston University Dance Theater, was inspired by Olson's book "We Are Anonymous." The ballet sets the politics and drama of cyberspace to the stage. The piece is described as “a surrealist exploration, through music and dance, of how the internet has affected discourse in the 21st century, blurring the lines between activism and anarchy.” 

Get tickets here for the world premiere event, November 15 & 16 at the Boston University Dance Theater.