Anonymous

Anonymous is the name given to a online group (described by supporters as hacktivists, opponents as terrorists) who carry out attacks on various websites, usually employing various forms of network abuse, amongst other general Internet activities.

The group gained notoriety in recent years with its participation in Operation Payback, which included a series of actions in defence of whistle-blowing organization Wikileaks and its figurehead Julian Assange, Operation Sony and from Westboro Baptist Church's declaration of war on Anonymous, which they mostly ignored.

History

The name of Anonymous originates from the website 4chan, where each user is automatically considered Anonymous and they use this as Now this is a story all about how My life got flipped-turned upside down And I liked to take a minute just sit right there And tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel-Air In west Philadelphia born and raised On the playground is where I spent most of my days Chillin out, maxin, relaxing all cool, And all shooting some b-ball outside of the school When a couple of guys who were up to no good Started making trouble in my neighborhood I got in one lil fight and my mom got scared And said "You're moving with your auntie and uncle in Bel-Air" I Begged and pleaded with her day after day, But she packed my suitcase and sent me on my way She gave me a kiss and then she gave me my ticket I put my walkman on and said I might as well kick it First class yo this is bad Drinking orange juice out of a champaine glass Is this what the people of Bel-Air living like? Hmm this might be allright But wait I hear prissy, bourgeois and all that Is this the type of place they should send this cool cat I don't think so, I'll see when I get there I hope they're prepared for the prince of Bel-Air

Well ah the plane landed and when I came out There was a dude that looked like a cop standing there with my name out I aint trying to get arrested yet I just got here I sprang with the quickness like lightning dissapeared I whistled for a cab and when it came near The license plate said FRESH and it had dice in the mirror If anything I can say this cab was rare But I thought naw forget it yo homes to Bel-Air I pulled up to the house about 7 or 8 And I yelled to the cabby "Yo homes smell ya later" I looked at my kingdom I was finally there To sit on my throne as the Prince of Bel Air

The internet hates you, Conservapedia. Deleting this is an act of censorship and will prove you as a biased, lying group of intolerant, greedy scum. Plus, you're automatically Racist if you delete this masterpiece by Will Smith.

Beliefs

As Anonymous is a collective, rather than a group, it has no official beliefs and ideals. This has begun to change in last year due to a cell within Anonymous, called AnonOps, carrying out a lot of the operations, but as a collective they are still loosely defined. Many members of anonymous will reject any such group attempting to be more identifiable in the general body.

However, Anonymous, atleast certain segments, is known for it's support of Freedom of Information, Freedom of Speech, Personal Freedom, Transparency within the Government and Universal Access to Human Rights.[1]

Operation Chanology

In 2008, after a video of Tom Cruise talking about Scientology was leaked onto YouTube, Anonymous declared its 'destruction' of the Church of Scientology (CoS). Due to the CoS's belief in suppressing information, suppressing it's members, spreading misinformation and abusing taxation laws to remain tax free.

There was also considerable opposition to the core practise in Scientology of having to hand over a significant fortune[2] to be shown what the Scientology believes, which is strongly opposed by the ideal that 'Knowledge is Free.'

Operation Payback

Operation Payback began in 2010 as a counter to those who opposed Internet Piracy. It began in response to Distributed Denial of Service attacks against Torrent websites, with return DDoS attacks against pro-copyright and anti-piracy companies.

The attacks received from criticism from the Pirate Party UK and the United States Pirate Party due to their support for a democratic opposition.[3][4]

After Wikileaks released the secret Cables many of those who opposed Wikileaks, or retracted their affiliation[5] due to government pressure, became the next targets. The concept of Freedom of Information was supported by Wikileaks so those who opposed the group became targets, but also those who were pressured into retracting by government forces (the US government was blamed significantly for this) opened up a knowledge of a corruption within these governments, due to their intervention in private business.

These Operation also spun Operation Avenge Assange[6], an operation against those who targeted and victimised Julian Assange after the cable leaks.

Westboro Baptist Church

On February 16, 2011, the Westboro Baptist Church issued a declaration of war against the group Anonymous. WBC claimed that Anonymous had threatened to start a war with their website and church. Despite this going against both Rule 14 of the Internet (Do not feed the trolls) and the principle belief of Freedom of Speech, a member of Anonymous called Topiary agreed to speak on the David Pakman Show on February 24[7].

On the show Anonymous explained that it initially had no interest in WBC because it considered them unimportant and trolls but after being harassed on the show the group replaced their sites with a message explaining their lack of interest.

Anonymous and the Arab Spring

Because of their belief in values as freedom and democracy, Anonymous members are generally on the side of the people opposing dictators. During the Arab Spring, they initiated 2 operations: Operation Egypt and Operation Tunisia which consisted in series of attacks on governmental websites. They also lead some actions against Lybia and recently against the Syrian Defense Ministry.

Symbols

In 2009, Anonymous adopted the motto "We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us". Contrary to what the bible teach, the Anonymous reject the concept of forgiveness.

In public, members of Anonymous usually wear the Guy Fawkes masks, made famous by the comic and movie V for Vendetta.