When one thinks of internet counter culture, one cannot possibly avoid the mention of the word Anonymous. Anonymous is a collective entity that gathers for some pre-designated goal in a rather rabble-esque manner. These goals can range from fairly innocent jokes and trolls to truly life-ending purposes. While it must be noted that Anonymous can and will act on the level of an individual or a third grader at times, it is only when Anonymous collects itself together for a common goal that its true might can be seen and felt. The ambition of Anonymous is nothing and everything all at the same time.
Starting in the mid 1990s and continuing on to this day, Anonymous originally formed itself on several web sites, forums,image boards, bulletin boards, wikis, and mailing lists all during a long and drawn out process when millions of people discovered that they had common goals and a great interest in lulz and general messing around. During this process, individuals realized that through the power of the internet, their goals, ideas, and opinions were safe from outside influence and compromise, unlike voicing ones beliefs in the real world. Because of this relative safety and the broad new frontier that the internet offered, people from all walks of life were no longer frightened to make judgments or to cast scorn upon those they felt were wrong or inferior. Out of this new awareness, Anonymous was born.
Origin
The most accepted "face" of Anonymous.
Anonymous is the term used on several websites when a person posts but does not reveal anything of certainty about their person, personal information, or their history. It is virtually when a person makes a comment “out of thin air.” Sites like 4chan, 2chan, and other popular image boards allow for the posting of images and commentary without signing on, giving personal information, or attaching anything to a poster’s real life.
When a person does this sort of posting, the default username given is “Anonymous.” Because of that name, it was only a quick jump to calling the whole conglomerated mass “Anonymous” or “Anon” as well.
Hierarchy
Even Tron Guy knows there is no actual leadership in Anonymous.
Often, in human life, when a group gathers (be it for a common goal or interest), there is a natural desire for a leader (by individual or committee) to take charge of the situation and bring the common interests of the group to some sort of conclusion. Within Anonymous, there is no such leader. There is, at times, an overwhelming desire for a leader to be named, and several individuals will often come forward and claim to be a leader of some sort, but this is not what Anonymous is.
There is no leader of Anonymous. Anonymous is an absolute “black-and-white-no-gray” equality, and because of this, it is faceless. A recent article concerning how Anonymous deals with hierarchy is quoted below:
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Anonymous is made up of all the John and Jane Does in the world, and we'd like to keep it that way. With leaders come hierarchy, with hierarchy comes class, with class comes separation, and separation would destroy the equality we've worked so hard to build.
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—The Who We Are Article from above.
Collective Power
Anon's power is in its numbers.
Artist's rendition of how a typical image board is deployed.
Because Anonymous acts without leadership, it relies heavily on the acts perpetrated by motivated individuals. These individuals, working alone or with other “Anons” will carry out whatever actions they see fit, given the situation. If a scenario requires trolling, the individuals will troll. If a situation requires a photoshopped picture, then that picture will be created. For each circumstance that Anonymous encounters, there will be a recoil effect developed by Anonymous to voice its reaction. Because of this method, Anonymous might be considered weak due to the fact that individuals working by themselves often do not finish what they start. However, given the gargantuan size of Anonymous and its almost willing recklessness, there are always 10 more individuals waiting to take up where somebody else left off.
Often times, when Anonymous needs to form a place where they can gather together in order to discuss a collective end, they will form a social networking group on one of the popular networking sites. These networks are formed outside of Anonymous’ normal chatting grounds to overcome such limiting obstacles as privacy, secrecy, and the desire to maintain their level of mystery.
Anonymous and its Origins Concerning the Church of Scientology
Anonymous protests the Church of Scientology.
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RESOLUTION Declaring that a state of war exists between the "Church" of Scientology and the Internet and making provisions to prosecute the same.
Whereas the "Church" of Scientology has committed unprovoked acts of war against the Internet and Society as a whole; and
Whereas, such acts continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the security and freedom of the Internet and its users; and
Whereas, such acts render it both necessary and appropriate that Anonymous exercise its rights to self-defense and to seek out lulz: Therefore be it Resolved by Anonymous in /i/ and /b/ assembled,
That the state of war between the Anonymous and the "Church" of Scientology which has thus been thrust upon the Internet is hereby formally declared; and
That Anonymous is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire force of Anonymous and the resources of the Internet to prosecute war against the "Church" of Scientology; and
To bring the conflict to a successful termination, all of the resources of Anonymous are hereby pledged.
„
—Anonymous declares war.
Anon dressed as Xenu.
A DC-8 flying in space.
Some time, during the early 21st century, Anonymous discovered that the Church of Scientology was an enemy, and also, much worse; it was an enemy of sharing free information. Since Anonymous itself is a collective that enjoys freedom and sharing of all forms of information and is willing to go to great extremes to protect this freedom, it was collectively resolved that the Church, along with its millions of members, was an entity that could not be allowed to stand. Just some of the things that Anonymous takes issue with:
Faith for a fee. Since Anonymous does not have a religion and while it also has all religions, the mass collective of Anonymous thinks that the information concerning the doctrines and practices of Scientology should be freely available to those who wish it. Scientology does not.
Superpowers. Through coursework and donation, a Scientologist can attain powers over matter, energy, space, and time. Anonymous views this as a total fairy tale and the only bridge you will be getting close to is the Brooklyn Bridge…which is for sale, if you want to buy it.
Auditing, Hypnosis, Medical miracles, and the state of “Clear.” Just more pixie dust for the fairy tale.
Sec Checks. Anonymous takes issue with Scientology’s seemingly racist, disturbing and invasive testing. The fact that these sorts of “Security Checks” are also leveled at children is also unsettling.
Xenu. Scientology’s version of the creation story. You may hear this tale, but only if you have shelled out hundreds of thousands of dollars and spent years of your life devoted to the church. This is a double edged sword as Anonymous takes issue with the money and time, but also it takes issue with gray space tyrants and flying to Earth in DC-8 airplanes.
Secrecy of all of the above. Since this information should only be gained by years and years of work and through the expenditure of thousands of dollars, Anonymous takes issue with this private information and its lack of availability.
Because Scientology is considered an enemy, Anonymous carries out raids and protests against them. these raids can be as simple as repeatedly faxing black documents to Scientology offices in an attempt at bleeding their fax machine ink dry, or they can take the more sinister (but funny) attack carried out by Matt Connor when he entered a Scientology office covered in Vaseline and hair.
Scientology doesn’t take these attacks lying down. They employ private investigators equipped with cameras. Once a protestor’s picture is taken, the church then searches out any information available on the hapless individual. This often leads to trouble and embarrassment in the protestor’s life. This is why Anonymous is often seen wearing masks (particularly the Guy Fawkes mask popularized in the 2005 film “V for Vendetta.”)
Views on Anonymous
The Internet Hate Machine.
Famous exploding van. This animation is often used when talking about old media.
Anonymous is a powerful entity if it s truly awakened. Because of this reputation, it is often feared, misunderstood, and slandered. These things do nothing to hinder, stop, or cause Anonymous to stop and question itself.
Description of Anonymous
Often cited as a Code or a Secret Code of Anonymous, this list (along with its commentary is just a brief snippet of a long line of ideas and phrases attached to Anonymous.
Anonymous is devoid of humanity, morality, pity, and mercy. While this is true, Anonymous is also incredibly warm, honest and caring. This part of the code depends on the set of circumstances met by Anonymous.
Anonymous works as one, because none of us are as cruel as all of us. Also, see above concerning circumstances.
Anonymous cannot be harmed, no matter how many Anonymous may fall in battle.
Anonymous doesn't fall in battle, anyway.
Anonymous is everyone.
Anonymous is everywhere.
Anonymous cannot be out-numbered.
Anonymous is a hydra, constantly moving, constantly changing. Remove one head, and nine replace it.
Anonymous reinforces its ranks exponentially at need.
Anonymous has no weakness or flaw.
Anonymous exploits all weaknesses and flaws.
Anonymous doesn't have a family or friends.
Anonymous is your family and friends.
Anonymous is not your friend.
Anonymous is not your personal army.
Scientology thinks that Anonymous is a single entity that can be attacked or subdued.
Anonymous is in control at all times.
Anonymous does not accept failure, Anonymous delivers.
Anonymous has no identity.
Anonymous cannot be betrayed.
Anonymous is humanity.
Shutting down Co$ sites.
Anonymous are created as equals.
Anonymous is a choice.
Anonymous can, will, and has already done everything you can think of.
Anonymous is an unstoppable force.
Anonymous is Legion.
Anonymous does not forgive.
Anonymous does not forget.
These last three entries in the Code of Anonymous are often considered Anonymous’ credo or slogan and are posted variously along with the Anonymous logo detailing an empty black suit.
Anonymous is Dangerous
Humor is often confused with racism by knee-jerking "experts."
Another look at the Habbo Hotel phenomena.
If it weren't for Anonymous, you would never have seen this video.
At times, Anons feel the need to take things upon themselves and go public.
More Anons making themselves public.
Anonymous' calling card for the Project Chanology phenomena.
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It's so very important to me personally, and to Anonymous as a whole, that I make it exceedingly clear that Anonymous is in no way a violent organization - we do not advocate violence, we do not encourage violence of any kind, and furthermore, we strictly and vehemently oppose violence. To be misunderstood on this point is heart-breaking.
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—Anon, who strikes near the truth of the matter. While he or she cannot speak for the whole of Anonymous, this is the generally accepted belief.
While the internet is full of Anonymous, not all things perpetrated on the internet are done by Anonymous. Often, people are confused by the true intentions of Anonymous and attempt to label Anons with such designations as “hacker,” “vigilante,” “internet hate machine,” and “criminal.” While some members of Anonymous are these things, the whole cannot be given such attributes. Does your older brother know how to hack a website? Is your grandmother currently in jail? Do you put on a cape and tights, then go outside at night, and beat up would-be criminals? If the answer is no to any of these questions, Anonymous is none of those things. Individuals do that sort of thing, a collective does not. Even still, Anonymous is considered dangerous because if it’s sheer size and the power it wields when it is truly roused.
Some Things Anonymous Has Done
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Nevar Forget!
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—If Anonymous has done it, they do not forget about it.
Because Anonymous is considered dangerous, a brief listing of how it got that reputation is in order. Below, you will find several items listed that were either Anonymous raids, coordinated attacks, or just plain trolling that have given Anonymous its reputation:
The AFI incident – A raid on an American band’s MySpace page.
/b/Space Day – An event where a list of 40,000 MySpace accounts were uploaded to 4chan’s /b/ board. Several pages were vandalized and a large amount of users information was leaked to the public.
An exploit is found in Deviantart’s comments system. Deviantart is a noted target on Anonymous’ list. Because they are a high profile target, several other exploits have been found and policy changes on Deviantart have also been made to keep the site from exploding.
The Great Chan Death of January 2007. Anonymous serves up a huge DDoS attack on several Chan style sites.
The Habbo Raid of 2006. An online protest and raid designed to expose racism on the popular children’s site “Habbo.” This large-scale raid was followed up by a 2007 raid which was considered not as successful as the original raid.
Anonymous exposes Chris Forcand an internet sexual predator and then contacts the police.
Rickrolling MTV
In a similar fashion: Hacking a vote on Time magazine's website.
The Old /b/ Day incident where those who claimed to be Anons were outed and humiliated as morons in a Boston park. This troll is also called “The Boston Fail Party.”
Operation Lioncash – Where Anonymous encouraged Anonymous to deface dollar bills by adding a small “lion-like face” over the picture of George Washington.
Operation YouTube – Where several thousand seemingly innocent videos were uploaded to Youtube. These videos, often labeled as “marblecake” were really pornographic films.
Project Chanology – Where Anonymous takes on the Church of Scientology. See Above.
The Great Em/b/assy Security Leak of 2007 – Where an individual named Dan Egerstad finds and posts a large list of screen names and passwords from diplomatic embassies all over the world.
Through social engineering, Anonymous uses Google and Wikipedia to gain access to Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s email account.
Operation Awesome – Another operation similar to Operation Lioncash where Anons were encouraged to use an “Awesome face smiley” stencil to tag places and things with graffiti.
Dusty the Cat - Where Anonymous tracked down the identity of a person who was committing acts of animal cruelty. The perpetrator was then exposed to the police.
While this list is by no means complete, it will give the average reader a working knowledge of how Anonymous works and why Anonymous is considered dangerous. It must be emphasized that the list above is only a collection of some of the larger trolling and raid attempts made by Anonymous, however there are millions of smaller events occurring right now.
Future of Anonymous
People actually believe this picture.
While the future intentions and actions of Anonymous cannot be guessed at, there are several things that can be predicted with near flawless accuracy. Anonymous will always be at war with the Church of Scientology. Anonymous will always be perpetrating some new form of trolling or raid. And finally, Anonymous will be covered on WhatPort80. The only thing that remains to be seen is how Anonymous will react to the next "Thing" that comes along and sparks its collective interest.
Quotes
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The first and foremost reason Anonymous has taken up this fight is because we have witnessed countless individuals who have been the victims of violence, both mentally and emotionally.
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—Anonymous on the Church of Scientology.
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As individuals, they can be intelligent, rational, emotional and empathetic. As a mass, a group, they are devoid of humanity and mercy. Never before in the history of humanity has there once been such a morass, a terrible network of the peer-pressure that forces people to become one, become evil. Welcome to the soulless mass of blunt immorality known only as the Internet.
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—Anonymous on Anonymous
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Anonymous has no specific agenda, save doing it for the lulz. This is an agenda that those who are not Anonymous fail to find the sense in; and thus the enemies of Anonymous are numerous and diverse.
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—Anonymous on Anonymous
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Anonymous is one of our generations greatest men, do not insult his benevolence. Whenever one of us strays to the 4chan, it is Anonymous that cleanses our ranks of cancer. We should be worshiping him...in fact, cult time!
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—A Protester
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So Anonymous are on the case? Then I will sleep peaceably in my bed knowing rough men stand ready to do violence on my behalf.
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—George Orwell
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Recent research has proven that Anonymous is in fact, a single twelve year-old boy named Tom who has over 9,000 fake AIM accounts and single-handedly makes every single post on the anonymous' website. No one knows why he does it.
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—Funny take on just who Anon really is.
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I've been fax DDoSing with black pieces of paper taped together creating an infinite loop but they've recently blocked them from coming through.
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—Anon describing his attack.
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Scientology's forces have been flanked, we have won the battle, but the war- has just begun....
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—Spoken soon after a successful shutdown of a Scientology website.
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ANONYMOUS: FINAL BOSS OF THE INTERNETZ.Respect our authoritah
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—Anon on Anon.
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Gallery
Artist's concept of Anonymous.
Rendering Scientology sites unusable.
Motivator/Demotivator
Anonymous uses Photoshop quite effectively in a lot of cases.
There ARE females on the internet!
Dolls are not what Anonymous is about.
Calling out Anonymous is just as futile.
Another Shutdown.
A typical tactic is to blame Ebaum's.
You cannot use the internet against Anonymous. They just hack you and come back for more.
Another use of the Ebaum's tactic.
Anonymous cannot be drawn out by name calling.
The truth...with links.
Damage control.
What's on your "too buy" list?
How do you sue "John Doe?"
Video
The original message to the Church of Scientology delivered from Anonymous.
A response from Mark Bunker known also as "Wise Beard Man" from his YouTube channel: XenuTv
Pool's Closed: The Movie
Protesters dancing and singing along to their favorite song.
