Drug War: Anonymous acts are a key feature of Mexico's drug wars

A thought provoking column on the two-edged use of anonymity in the digital--and the real--world in Mexico.

guardian.co.uk: "It's fitting that the threat to the Zetas cartel should come from the Anonymous hackers – but lack of accountability is a problem. Anonymity in Mexico is the only form of defence in the increasingly violent conflict involving the country's drug cartels, government, media and public. It provides defence from reprisals, but also hands impunity to those acting with no identity, creating a vicious cycle of ambiguous, unreliable information and fear. And it is pursued by many of the actors in the drug war, mostly via the use of digital social networks – the newest front for the conflict.

The ability to distribute information that is unvetted, unverified and often from unnamed sources across a plethora of platforms is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because information is harder to suppress and control, but a curse because of the opportunity it creates for propaganda and misinformation that is then reported by the media and acted upon by the public as fact." read more