Anonymous Overview
“We are Anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.” Anonymous is a leaderless group of hackers and anarchists who are well known for their attacks against government, religious, and corporate websites, according to Wiki-Anonymous. Key ideas of Anonymous include their hate for computer and network surveillance. Their support of Creative Commons, online activism, and trolling.
“Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice. If you are a man, you take it.”-Malcolm X
“Anonymous shows that our society is having a crisis of trust and communication, leaving the group to do the talking for us when that is society’s job.”-PolicyMic
“The irony of the situation is that Anonymous is not a group that can be traced to a building or to a country. They are dispersed around the world — they have no offices, no leaders, they do not follow a strategy.”-Coast Report Online
In December of 2010, 13 Anonymous members plead guilty to an attack on the online site PayPal. Eleven of the “Anons” were men, and two were women, they were taken to federal court. The groups focus was to make the site unavailable to users because PayPal denied Wikileaks from making any online donations. PayPal was against Wikileaks after they presented a great amount of classified material to the public, according to the Time article, Anonymous Hackers Plead Guilty to PayPal Cyber Attack.
In Information Week’s article, “Who is Anonymous: 10 Key Facts” they make it clear of who they are and what they stand for. They’re more than a group of pedi hackers, their goal is to “expose government and establishment hypocrisy.”
Ashley Fantz’s, CNN reporter, describes Anonymous as being “Everyone and No One.” In her article, “Who is Anonymous? Everyone and No One,” she provides the opinions of others on Anonymous, and gives us a very simple way of how to join the group. She informs us that Anonymous members can be on a laptop anywhere around the world causing havoc. She even says that during their chat room talks, anyone could participate for a little, and then never return to the room again.
Many times people think the objectives of Anonymous are detrimental to our society, but in Dylan Love’s [reporter for SFgate] article “8 Things That Anonymous, The Hacker ‘Terrorist’ Group, Has Done For Good,” he disregards those allegations. Two for example are in 2006, the group hacked into and shut down Hal Turner’s white supremacy website. In 2007 they began their protests against the Church of Scientology, a “cult-like religion which allegedly imprisons its dissident members.”
PolicyMic describes itself as “our generation’s platform to make our voices heard.” In their article “What is Anonymous? Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Shadowy Internet Group,” They describe Anonymous as being somewhere between villains and heroes, which I think is a great way of putting it. It says that since our society lacks communication and trust amongst each other, Anonymous is there to speak up for us. But in actuality, that’s each of our job.
Why We Protest is a site that Anonymous members can go and create an account to find out information on new projects, ideas, and even chat with one another.
Tired of the fawkes mask you always see Anons wearing, and want to know who some of its members are? Betsy Isaacson, Huffington Post reporter, reveals some of its members in her article, “7 Anonymous Hackers Who Have Been Unmasked”
Harnessed Energy 