Members of Anonymous have claimed that their attacks are against those who threaten the free speech rights of Wikileaks, but recent actions by some members reveal the thinness of this claim: On Thursday, Anonymous members began attacking and subsequently disabling the Web site of Arbor Networks, after the latter posted a lengthy analysis showing that earlier Anonymous attacks were simple and paled in comparison to more directed and serious attacks.

"Despite the thousands of tweets, press articles and endless hype, most of the attacks over the last week were both relatively small and unsophisticated. In short, other than intense media scrutiny, the attacks were unremarkable," Arbor's Craig Labovitz .

True, most of the classified cables released by Wikileaks so far haven't exactly been bombshells, but even the more banal and obvious leaks appear to have already damaged U.S. relations with other nations. At the same time, the mass publication of classified documents by Wikileaks isn't helping the cause of individual free speech -- namely, proposed protections for journalists and for lone whistleblowers who speak out. For example, the U.S. Congress has all but closed up shop until January, without passing either a federal journalist shield law or a whistleblower protection law: In both cases, opponents cited Wikileaks as a major reason for withholding full support of the measures.

Largely unmentioned in the media coverage of this supposed "cyberwar" is the very valid criticism that Anonymous has latched onto the Wikileaks scandal mainly to elevate its own status, and for the sheer drama of it all. It is worth noting that while Wikipedia has become the go-to, open source Internet encyclopedia, Anonymous has developed its own Wikipedia: Encyclopedia Dramatica, which according to Wikipedia exists to satirize "both encyclopedic topics and current events, especially those related to or relevant to internet culture."

Military and security experts have been reluctant to use or encourage the use of cyberwar weapons -- and not simply because developed nations have the most to lose from such a skirmish. Part of the problem is that just as hi-tech guided missiles can sometimes miss their mark, even precision cyber attacks can cause collateral damage, disrupting neighboring networks and servers (lost in all of the speculative reportage on the Stuxnet worm as an agent of the U.S. or Israeli government bent on hobbling Iranian nuclear ambitions is the reality that this same threat spread to U.S. and allied critical systems).