Anonymous (used as a mass noun) is a label and Internet meme adopted within Internet culture to represent the actions of many online community users acting anonymously, usually toward a loosely agreed-upon goal. It is generally considered to be a blanket term for members of certain Internet subcultures.

Actions attributed to Anonymous are undertaken by unidentified individuals who apply the Anonymous label to themselves. After a series of controversial, widely-publicized protests and reprisal DDoS attacks by Anonymous in 2008, incidents linked to its cadre members are said to be increasingly common.

Although not necessarily tied to a single online entity, many websites are strongly associated with Anonymous. This includes notable imageboards such as 4chan and Futaba, their associated wikis, Encyclopedia Dramatica, and a number of forums.

Origins as a concept and a meme

The name Anonymous itself is inspired by the perceived anonymity under which users post images and comments on the Internet. Usage of the term Anonymous in the sense of a shared identity began on imageboards. A tag of Anonymous is assigned to visitors who leave comments without identifying the originator of the posted content. Users of imageboards sometimes jokingly acted as if Anonymous were a real person. As the popularity of imageboards increased, the idea of Anonymous as a collective of unnamed individuals became an internet meme.

Anonymous broadly represents the concept of any and all people as an unnamed collective. Definitions tend to emphasize the fact that the term cannot be readily encompassed by a simple definition, and instead it is often defined by aphorisms describing perceived qualities.

Composition

Anonymous consists largely of users from multiple imageboards and internet forums. In addition, several wikis and Internet Relay Chat networks are maintained to overcome the limitations of traditional imageboards. These modes of communication are the means by which Anonymous protesters participating in Project Chanology communicate and organize upcoming protests.

A "loose coalition of Internet denizens", the group is banded together by the internet, through sites such as 4chan, 711chan, Something Awful, Fark, Encyclopedia Dramatica, Slashdot, IRC channels, and YouTube.

Social networking services, such as Facebook, are used for the creation of groups which reach out to people to mobilize in real-world protests.

Anonymous has no leader or controlling party, and relies on the collective power of its individual participants acting in such a way that the net effect benefits the group.

A common tactic of Anonymous is to claim during "raids" that they are the work of eBaum's World, a site highly detested by Anonymous for theft of content from other sites.

Raids and invasions

The activities in this section were attributed to Anonymous either by their perpetrators or in the media. The actions taken by Anonymous do not seem to follow any single shared agenda. Those identifying with the term often take action simply for amusement. This is known within sites affiliated with Anonymous as "doing it for the lulz".

Habbo raids

A popular target for organized raids by Anonymous is Habbo, a popular social networking site designed as a virtual hotel. The first major raid, known as the "Great Habbo Raid of '06", occurred on June 12, 2006. In the raid (and most others that occur), users signed up to the Habbo site dressed in avatars of a black man wearing a grey suit and an Afro hairstyle (in style of Samuel L. Jackson in the movie Pulp Fiction) and blocked entry to the pool, declaring that it was "closed due to AIDS", flooding the site with internet sayings, and forming swastika-like formations. When the raiders were banned, they complained of racism. In response, the Habbo admins often ban users with avatars matching the profile of the raiders even months after the latest raid.

Hal Turner raid

According to Turner, in December 2006 and January 2007, individuals who identified themselves as Anonymous took Turner's website offline, and cost him thousands of dollars in bandwidth bills. He retaliated by sending a "formal legal notice of criminal activity in violation of several federal laws" by email to 7chan, multacom, and multicom, as well as redirecting his domain to 420chan.org, causing that site to take a bandwidth hit as well. He also sued 4chan, 7chan, and other websites in court over copyright infringement. However, he lost his plea for an injunction and failed to receive letters from the court.

Project Chanology

The group gained worldwide press for Project Chanology, the protest against the Church of Scientology.

On January 14, 2008, a video produced by the Church featuring an interview with Tom Cruise was leaked to the Internet and uploaded to YouTube.

The Church of Scientology issued a copyright violation claim against YouTube requesting the removal of the video.In response to this, Anonymous formulated Project Chanology.Calling the action by the Church of Scientology a form of Internet censorship, members of Project Chanology organized a series of denial-of-service attacks against Scientology websites, prank calls, and black faxes to Scientology centers.

On January 21, 2008, individuals claiming to speak for Anonymous announced their goals and intentions via a video posted to YouTube entitled "Message to Scientology", and a press release declaring a "War on Scientology" against both the Church of Scientology and the Religious Technology Center. In the press release, the group states that the attacks against the Church of Scientology will continue in order to protect the right to freedom of speech, and end what they believe to be the financial exploitation of church members. A new video "Call to Action" appeared on YouTube on January 28, 2008, calling for protests outside Church of Scientology centers on February 10, 2008. On February 2, 2008, 150 people gathered outside of a Church of Scientology center in Orlando, Florida to protest the organization's practices. Small protests were also held in Santa Barbara, California, and Manchester, England.On February 10, 2008, about 7,000 people . Many protesters wore masks based on the character V from V for Vendetta (who in turn was influenced by Guy Fawkes), or otherwise disguised their identities, in part to protect themselves from reprisals from the Church.

Anonymous held a on March 15, 2008 in cities all over the world, including Boston, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Vancouver, Toronto, Berlin, and Dublin. The global turnout was estimated to be "between 7000 and 8000", a number similar to that of the first wave. The third wave of the protests took place on April 12, 2008. Named "Operation Reconnect", it aimed to increase awareness of the Church of Scientology's disconnection policy.

On October 17, 2008, an 18-year-old from New Jersey described himself as a member of Anonymous, and he stated that he would plead guilty to involvement in the January 2008 DDoS attacks against Church of Scientology websites.

Protests continued, and took advantage of media events such as the premiere of the Tom Cruise movie Valkyrie, where the venue was chosen in part to reduce exposure to the protests.

Epilepsy Foundation forum invasion

On March 28, 2008, Wired News reported that "Internet griefers"—a makeshift term for people who cause grief—assaulted an epilepsy support forum run by the Epilepsy Foundation of America.JavaScript code and flashing computer animations were posted with the intention of triggering migraine headaches and seizures in photosensitive and pattern-sensitive epileptics.According to Wired News, circumstantial evidence suggested that the attack was perpetrated by Anonymous users, with the initial attack posts on the epilepsy forum blaming eBaum's World. Members of the epilepsy forum claimed they had found a thread in which the attack was being planned at 7chan.org, an imageboard that has been described as a stronghold for Anonymous. The thread, like all old threads eventually do on these types of imageboards, has since cycled to deletion.

RealTechNews reported that the forum at the United Kingdom–based National Society for Epilepsy was also subjected to an identical attack. It stated that "apparent members of Anonymous" had denied responsibility for both attacks and posted that it had been the Church of Scientology who carried them out.News.com.au reported that the administrators of 7chan.org had posted an open letter claiming that the attacks had been carried out by the Church of Scientology "to ruin the public opinion of Anonymous, to lessen the effect of the lawful protests against their virulent organization" under the Church's fair game policy. The Tech Herald reported that when the attack began, posts referenced multiple groups, including Anonymous. The report attributes the attack to a group named "The Internet Hate Machine" (a reference to the KTTV Fox 11 news report), who claim to be part of Anonymous, but are not the same faction that are involved in the campaign against Scientology.

Some Anonymous participants of Project Chanology suggest that the perpetrators are internet users who merely remained anonymous in the literal sense, and thus had no affiliation with the larger anti-Scientology efforts attributed to Anonymous. During an interview with CNN, Scientologist Tommy Davis accused Anonymous of hacking into the Epilepsy Foundation website to make it display imagery intended to cause epileptic seizures. Interviewer John Roberts contended the FBI said that it "found nothing to connect this group Anonymous (with these actions)", and that it also has "no reason to believe that these charges will be leveled against this group". The response was that the matter was on the hands of local law enforcement and that there were ongoing investigations.

Defacement of SOHH and AllHipHop websites

In late June 2008, users who identified themselves as Anonymous claimed responsibility for a series of attacks against the SOHH (Support Online Hip Hop) website. The attack was reported to have begun in retaliation for insults made by members of SOHH's "Just Bugging Out" forum against 4chan's users. The attack against the website took place in stages, as Anonymous users flooded the SOHH forums, which were then shut down. On June 23, 2008, the group which identified themselves as Anonymous organized DDOS attacks against the website, successfully eliminating over 60% of the website's service capacity. On June 27, 2008, the hackers utilized cross-site scripting to alter the website's main page with satirical images and headlines referencing numerous racial stereotypes and slurs, and also successfully stole information from SOHH employees.

No Cussing Club

In January 2009 members of Anonymous targeted California teen McKay Hatch who runs the No Cussing Club, a website against profanity. As Hatch's home address phone number, and other personal information were leaked online, his family has received much hate mail, obscene phone calls, and bogus pizza and porn deliveries.

YouTube Porn Day

On May 20, 2009, members of Anonymous uploaded numerous pornographic videos onto YouTube. Many of these videos were disguised as children's videos or family friendly videos with tags such as "jonas brothers". YouTube has since removed all videos uploaded. The BBC contacted one of the uploaders who stated that it was a '4chan raid' organised due to the removal of music videos from YouTube. BBC News reported that one victim posted a comment saying: "I'm 12 years old and what is this?" which went on to become an internet meme.

KTTV Fox 11 news report

On July 26, 2007, KTTV Fox 11 News based in Los Angeles, California aired a report on Anonymous, calling them a group of "hacker on steroids", "domestic terrorists", and collectively an "Internet hate machine". The report covered an attack on a MySpace user, who claimed to have had his MySpace account "hacked" into seven times by Anonymous, and plastered with images of gay pornography. The MySpace user also claimed a virus written by Anonymous hackers was sent to him and to ninety friends on his MySpace contact list, crashing thirty-two of his friends' computers. The report featured an unnamed former "hacker" who had fallen out with Anonymous and explained his view of the Anonymous culture. In addition, the report also mentioned "raids" on Habbo, a "national campaign to spoil the new Harry Potter book ending", and threats to "bomb sports stadiums".

The day following the Fox report, Wired News blogger and journalist Ryan Singel derided the report, stating that the "hacker group" in fact consisted of "supremely bored 15-year olds", and that the news report was "by far the funniest prank anyone on the board has ever pulled off".In February 2008, an Australia-based Today Tonight broadcast included a segment of the Fox report, preceded by the statement: "The Church of Scientology has ramped up the offensive against Anonymous, accusing the group of religious bigotry and claiming they are sick, twisted souls."

Internet vigilantism reports

Chris Forcand arrest

On December 7, 2007, the Canada-based Toronto Sun newspaper published a report on the arrest of the alleged Internet predator Chris Forcand. Forcand, 53, was charged with two counts of luring a child under the age of 14, attempt to invite sexual touching, attempt exposure, possessing a dangerous weapon, and carrying a concealed weapon.The report stated that Forcand was already being tracked by "cyber-vigilantes who seek to out anyone who presents with a sexual interest in children" before police investigations commenced.

A Global Television Network report identified the group responsible for Forcand's arrest as a "self-described Internet vigilant group called Anonymous" who contacted the police after some members were "propositioned" by Forcand with "disgusting photos of himself". The report also stated that this is the first time a suspected Internet predator was arrested by the police as a result of Internet vigilantism.

Dusty the cat

In mid-February 2009, two videos featuring the physical abuse of a domestic cat named Dusty by a person calling himself "Timmy" were posted on Youtube. The 4chan community, most specifically Anonymous, were outraged by the abuse. A thread created to allow members of Anonymous to volunteer to track down the creator of this video was posted on both 4Chan and 7Chan to find "Timmy" and turn his identity over to law enforcement, if he declined to do it himself. Anonymous and the Internet Vigilante Group collaborated with one another to track down the originator of the videos. They identified him as K.G., a fourteen-year-old from Oklahoma, and they passed his details to his local police department. As a result of this the teen was arrested and eventually forced to pay a $500 fine. Dusty and a second cat, who was later found to have been abused in a second video, were treated by a vet, removed from the home permanently and later adopted by new families. In addition, Dusty the cat became an instant online celebrity as internet meme.

Hacktivism

2009 Iranian election protests

Following allegations of vote rigging after the results of the June 2009 Iranian Presidential Elections were announced, declaring Iranian's Incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the winner, thousands of Iranians participated in demonstrations. Anonymous, together with the The Pirate Bay, launched an Iranian Green Party Support site Anonymous Iran. The site has drawn over 22,000 supporters world wide and allows for information exchange between the world and Iran, despite attempts by the Iranian government to censor news about the riots on the internet. The site provides resources and support to Iranians who are protesting.

Operation Didgeridie

In September 2009 the group reawakened "in order to protect civil rights" after several governments began to block access to its imageboards. The blacklisting of Krautchan.net in Germany infuriated many, but the tipping point was the Australian government's posturing as it planned to go ahead with ISP-level censorship of the internet. The policy was spearheaded by Stephen Conroy and had been driven aggressively by the Rudd Government since its election in 2007.

Early in the evening of September 9, Anonymous took down the prime minister's website with a distributed denial-of-service attack. The site was taken offline for approximately one hour.

See also

Beck v. Eiland-Hall Electronic civil disobedience Crowd psychology John Doe Libertine Multiple-use name My name is Legion Online disinhibition effect

Composition Emergence Spontaneous order Self-organization

Project Chanology Flash mob Hacktivism Streisand effect

References

1. (Radio broadcast)
2. Pornographic videos flood YouTube Siobhan Courtney, BBC News dated 21 May 2009. Retrieved on 21 May 2009.
3. Danny O'Brien, "Online users stick claws into torturer", Irish Times, 20 February 2009. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2009/0220/1224241467858.html
4. UPDATE: Lawton teen films himself abusing cat, posts on YouTube, News channel, from 7 News, Lawton, Oklahoma, February 16, 2009
5. http://www.inquisitr.com/18170/4chan-b-goes-after-cat-abusers-wins/
6. http://www.hplusmagazine.com/articles/politics/search-and-destroy-engines
7. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/827036/internet-underground-takes-on-iran
8. Iranian Support Site http://iran.whyweprotest.net
9. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEe7qhlFNs4
10. http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/conroy-named-internet-villain-of-the-year-20090713-di8q.html

External links

Department of Justice Anonymous Member Arrest Press Release,

MediaShift Idea Lab, PBS

Audio/video media

• (Video broadcast.)
• (Radio broadcast)