Is Anonymous A Good Thing?

Getty Images More Anonymous pics

Why is He famous

Anonymous is what happens when the same people who lurk around internet forums are as effective with tech wizardry as they are at creating internet drama. With both of those skills being at their disposal, along with massive strength in numbers, Anonymous has -- at least temporarily -- nudged out WikiLeaks as the new trailblazer in the era of information leaking and troublemaking on the interwebs. Strong in its principles and dedicated to preserving the anonymity of its members, the collective worldwide faction known as Anonymous is bold in its declarations and intentions to cause internet infractions and equally fearless in following through on them. While a good number of their operations aren't fully visible, high-scale past attacks against the Church of Scientology, Sony and HBGary Federal are among those that have commanded media attention and a wave of global discussion. Famous or not, we need to ask ourselves whether Anonymous is helpful in exposing corruption and unfair practices or dangerous in its willingness to rock the boat.

Anonymous Quote

" We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us."

81 Magnetism

Since Anonymous represents a top-secret collection of hackers and activists worldwide, they don't make themselves available for public appearances unless there's a Guy Fawkes mask completely covering their faces. While some people -- like the noted nonjudgmental folks at The Westboro Baptist Church -- have branded them as "a puddle of pimple-faced nerds," the little that we do know about the people that make up Anonymous suggests that their ages and professions vary. Their rare media interviews hint that they have mortgages to pay and bar shots to do like most of us and aren't strictly computer geeks who bond over DDoS attacks. All of this means that they might have a chance to get past the second date with a woman rather than being turned away at the door.

If there's one adjective to describe each member of Anonymous that would make them attractive to women, it would be "ballsy." These are dudes who do as they please and don't care what anyone thinks about it, especially if their naysayers happen to be people of authority. There's something refreshing about living a life online without rules and in applying that logic to the real world, we'd have to say that there are more than a few women who would find it appealing.

83 Success

Never before has the term "Anonymous" been used in such a bold and expressive way. Hatched on message boards and image forums like 4chan, Encyclopaedia Dramatica and 888chan, Anonymous has taken on a life of its own as an organization that takes its beliefs about the freedom of information and turns them into denial-of-service attacks against recognizable foes who offend, in some way, their vision of freedom of information. These attacks are costly and embarrassing -- just ask the Church of Scientology for a sample testimonial on the abilities of Anonymous during Project Chanology. To date, Anonymous has often pitted itself against adversaries in finance, the anti-piracy movement, politics, and the religious sector -- relishing results when their intended web target is shut down. The group has also lent its support to ongoing protests such as Occupy Wall Street. Not all of the official attacks "credited" to Anonymous by the media are legit, but the philosophy of the group is usually recognizable in its graphic iconography and in-your-face attitude. Now that we know what they do, can anyone be part of the club, so to speak? Yes, if your best talents are online invisibility and appropriate technical knowledge.

Anonymous Biography

The group we now know as Anonymous began to take shape in 2003 on popular imageboards across the internet. As a result of board members already using "Anonymous" as a consistent user handle, the name itself began to develop its own personality and reputation as a unified and very liberated entity. IRC networks and wikis provided more interaction between these members and in time, they realized that social networking platforms could allow their group to grow further and influence the online environment if anonymity were preserved and the necessary technical know-how was firmly in place.

Beginning in 2006, Anonymous embarked on a visible early operation by taking aim at the social network destination Habbo. The website was hit with shock imagery and access to the Habbo "pool" was blocked by an avatar explaining that an HIV contamination necessitated its closure. This scheme was repeated a year later, but it paled in comparison to the work of Anonymous against media personality Hal Turner, who had a reputation as a racist. Turner was suddenly forced to pay excessive bandwidth charges after Anonymous completely shut down his website. At the end of 2007, the group struck again by turning its attention to suspected child predator, Chris Forcand, who was busted when police were notified after members of Anonymous received a string of lewd photos from Forcand.

Anonymous oversees Project Chanology and Operation Digerideie

In 2008, Anonymous took exception with the religious juggernaut known as the Church of Scientology. Following the leaked release of a Church-produced video that included Tom Cruise, the Church moved quickly to block it on YouTube, prompting cries of censorship from the members of Anonymous. As a result, the group devised Project Chanology, a campaign comprised of several denial-of-service attacks followed by prank faxes and irritating phone calls. The electronic attacks were subsequently followed up by two protests of in-person participants in over 90 international cities ranging from Orlando, Florida, to Manchester England, and Vancouver, Canada. During the following year, Anonymous took a more politically active approach to its projects, starting with the 2009 election in Iran. Amid the surprising word that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been re-elected, protesters flooded the streets to demonstrate their disapproval. Based on these protests, Anonymous created a website called Anonymous Iran to offer guidance to protesters and allow for the international trade of information. Iranian government officials later tried to censor their own media coverage of the protests, which only encouraged Anonymous to keep the site going.

In the fall of 2009, a similar attempt by the Australian government to censor the internet access prompted Anonymous to take down the websites of the Prime Minister and the Australian Parliament House – an attack that continued into 2010 as Operation Titstorm.

Anonymous launches Operation Payback and supports Occupy Wall Street

The forces of Anonymous came out swinging in 2010 in protest of planned anti-piracy measures and the treatment of WikiLeaks. Following news that a software company had been hired to attack piracy websites that weren't complying with takedown orders, Anonymous systematically attacked organizations with ties to copyright and law through Operation Payback -- an action that expanded further to include a shutdown of the Recording Industry Association of America's website as well as that of Gene Simmons and later, Sony's Playstation Network. The operation took on a political purpose as well when Julian Assange and WikiLeaks were cut off from funding by online payment merchants. Subsequently, the websites of VISA, MasterCard, Amazon, and PayPal were hit with bold attacks by Anonymous.

In 2011, Anonymous faced a potential disaster when HBGary Federal proclaimed that it was ready to break the mysterious organization apart with information that it had collected. Before the security company could release the information, however, its e-mail server and phone department was intercepted by Anonymous, who went on to release damning information against HBGary that showed that they were in the business of creating malicious software themselves and also plotting to eliminate WikiLeaks. In keeping with the international scope of its activities, Anonymous followed up its operation against HB Gary by supporting the various groundbreaking international protests of 2011 in Tunisia, Egypt, and Tunisia and strategically hacking related government sites to expose corruption and censorship. This work culminated in the summer and fall of 2011 as Anonymous lent its support to Adbusters and the Occupy Wall Street movement, which expanded internationally and allowed Anonymous to participate on a larger playing field.