In this chapter, which I shall attempt to do in two parts, I will be exploring the hacking group known as 'anonymous', from there chaotic creation myth, to some of there more prolific, higher profile operations. I will however leave the moral judgements in the minds of the reader to decide, I will however endeavour to give a fair and true account of some of there deeds.
Now you can't begin to converse on Anon's conception, without the now infamous website knowns as '4chan', from the outside perspective it would appear as nothing more than an image board, to post amusing Gif's of cats and questionable anime ;) and although it is that to, it is oh so much more. Hard as it is to believe, this is where it all began; 4Chan was relatively unique at the time (early 2000) for it's complete anonymity. As it provided complete, uncensored freedom, to share any information with others anonymously, on almost any subject, linked only by a continuing thread. This melting pot of self-governance and meme creation, was the ideal environment for individuals that were formally ostracised socially in society for being 'abnormal' to be accepted, into a real community and gain that sense of belonging that we all crave.
It's worth articulating that at this preliminary stage, this was not a active movement in the sense that it is viewed today; as an aggressive political movement. They may have had the technological skill, but there was no unified agenda to speak of, just a collection of like minded individuals with adjoining interests.
'Habbo Hotel' is one of the most famous, early examples of anonymous coming together as an effective group, working collectively to complete a common objective. Habbo Hotel was pre-cursor to MMO's games like World of Warcraft and Skyrim, stylistically it resembled an early revision of The Sims. It proved extremely popular as a social networking site, as you could customise your avatar and socialise with others in fanciful imagined scenes, such as bars and restaurants. In late 2006 anonymous for reasons that are not entirely clear; probably racial in origin, as Habbo's avatars were critiqued widely for being completely monochromatic, they began a series of attacks on Habbo hotel, crashing the main forum and invading the game with thousands of identical black avatars. Forming themselves into swastikas and blocking entrances into the players pool, spawning numerous memes.
Then in January 2008 everything changed, code named 'Project Chanology' this campaign would come to define the movement. The conflict was sparked over a highly controversial and widely mocked interview with Tom Cruise, where he was attempting to promote the church of Scientology. When they ventured to recall the interview, causing several legal battles with any website that hosted the chastised footage, Anonymous reared into action as they were in consequence, from their perspective at least, attempting to censor the Internet. At this stage Anonymous made their first public statement, and set out in effect, their manifesto of operations e.g. "cover your face, do not use weapons".
What followed was one of their most sustained onslaughts against an organisation they have ever undertaken, and in numbers not before seen in previous campaigns. As well as receiving considerable media coverage, the movement itself began attracting sympathisers from various demographics, not just the nerdy/geeky archetype any longer.
Mass protests occurred outside Scientology centres in major cities around the world, all wearing Guy Fawkes masks, which are now become synonymous with anonymous (Sorry could not resist), this was the first time they were used in this political context. Anonymous flooded their official phone lines, ordered thousands of pizza's to there addresses; crippled there websites using a DOS ( denial of service) attack. More amusingly they had also managed to configure 'Scientology' as the main search result in goggle when users inputted 'dangerous cult'. The hacktivists also managed to obtain and release confidential Scientology documents that could be freely downloaded online.
Personally I believe that in this era of diminished personal freedom and expression, combined with our increasing dependence on all forms of technology. Anonymous were inevitable; an unavoidable response from a whole disfranchised generation, as all conventional forms of political process have little or no effect. Anonymous provides a real chance to have a measurable effect on something, on anything! That's not to say it's entirely positive, their methods are often contemptible can you deny there anarchistic tendencies. Stay tuned for the next episode.
Finally, I'll leave you with this little gem, hard to watch I know.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Chanology#Internet_activities
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