Anonymous (group)
Anonymous is a criminal organization and international network of vigilantes and cyber terrorists. The group became known for a series of well-publicized publicity stunts and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on government, religious, and corporate websites.
Anonymous originated in 2003 on the pornography website imageboard 4chan, representing the concept of many online and offline community users simultaneously existing as an anarchic, digitized global brain.[1][2] Anonymous members (known as "Anons") can be distinguished in public by the wearing of stylised Guy Fawkes masks.[3]
In its early form, the concept was adopted by a decentralized online community acting anonymously in a coordinated manner, usually toward a loosely self-agreed goal, and primarily focused on entertainment, or "lulz". Beginning with 2008's Project Chanology—a series of protests, pranks, and hacks targeting the Church of Scientology —the Anonymous collective became increasingly associated with collaborative, hacktivism on a number of issues internationally. Individuals claiming to align themselves with Anonymous undertook protests and other actions (including direct action) in retaliation against anti-digital piracy campaigns by motion picture and recording industry trade associations. Later targets of Anonymous hacktivism included government agencies of the US, Israel, Tunisia, Uganda, and others; child pornography sites; copyright protection agencies; the Westboro Baptist Church; and corporations such as PayPal, MasterCard, Visa, and Sony. Anons have publicly supported WikiLeaks and the Occupy movement. Related groups LulzSec and Operation AntiSec carried out cyberattacks on US government agencies, media, video game companies, military contractors, military personnel, and police officers, resulting in the attention of law enforcement to the groups activities. Anonymous has also been criticized as racist and antisemitic [4] It has also been criticized for attacking Israel on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) by cyber-attacking their websites. [5]
Dozens of people have been arrested for involvement in Anonymous cyberattacks, in countries including the US, UK, Australia, the Netherlands, Spain, and Turkey. Evaluations of the group's actions and effectiveness vary widely. The Anonymous began as a group of politically motivated "freedom fighters"[6] and digital Robin Hoods[7] but has devolved into "a cyber lynch-mob"[8] or "cyber terrorist organization".[9]
The Anonymous and the boylove community
In January 2015, a group of Script kiddies, lead by a 16-year-old lesbian girl from North Carolina who called herself IncursioSubter, DDoS attacked the Free Spirits servers causing minor short term disruptions in service.
References
- ↑ Landers, Chris (April 2, 2008). Serious Business: Anonymous Takes On Scientology (and Doesn't Afraid of Anything). Baltimore City Paper. Archived from the original on June 8, 2008. Retrieved on July 3, 2008.
- ↑ Oltsik, Jon. "Edward Snowden Beyond Data Security", Network World, December 3, 2013. Retrieved on December 4, 2013.
- ↑ Waites, Rosie. "V for Vendetta masks: Who", BBC News, October 20, 2011. Retrieved on October 20, 2011.
- ↑ http://www.religiousfreedomwatch.org/intolerance-hate/anonymous/
- ↑ http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelpeck/2013/04/08/why-did-anonymous-have-to-attack-israel-on-holocaust-memorial-day/
- ↑ Krupnick, Matt (August 15, 2011). Freedom fighters or vandals? No consensus on Anonymous. Oakland Tribune. MercuryNews.com. Retrieved on July 10, 2013.
- ↑ Carter, Adam. "From Anonymous to shuttered websites, the evolution of online protest", CBC News, March 15, 2013. Retrieved on May 6, 2013.
- ↑ Coleman, Gabriella (April 6, 2011). Anonymous: From the Lulz to Collective Action. Archived from the original on May 5, 2013. Retrieved on May 5, 2013.
- ↑ Rawlinson, Kevin; Peachey, Paul (April 13, 2012). Hackers step up war on security services. The Independent. Retrieved on May 5, 2013.
