Anonymous

[Bad Aim]

Anonymous is a decentralized international activist and hacktivist collective and movement primarily known for its various cyber-attacks against several governments, government institutions and government agencies, corporations and the Church of Scientology.

Anonymous originated in 2003 on the image-board 4chan representing the concept of many online and offline community users simultaneously existing as an "anarchic", digitized "global brain" or "hive-mind". Anonymous members can sometimes be distinguished in public by the wearing of Guy Fawkes masks in the style portrayed in the graphic novel and film V for Vendetta.Some anons also opt to mask their voices through voice changers or text-to-speech programs.

Dozens of people have been arrested for involvement in Anonymous cyber-attacks in countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, India, and Turkey. Evaluations of the group's actions and effectiveness vary widely. Supporters have called the group "freedom fighters" and digital Robin Hoods, while critics have described them as "a cyber lynch-mob" or "cyber terrorists". In 2012, Time called Anonymous one of the "100 most influential people" in the world. Anonymous' media profile diminished by 2018, but the group re-emerged in 2020 to support the George Floyd protests and other causes.
- Wikipedia

I have been following this group for several years now, not knowing if they were good or bad. If you follow most (not all) main stream news outlets, they will often talk about them in the context of being "cyber-terrorists".

I have recently come to the conclusion that labeling them a terrorist organization is not correct. I think the majority of people who identify themselves as members of Anonymous are good people who want to do the right thing. Yes, there have been some bad apples in the group. But no organization can claim to be free from the few who are in it for themselves. The Catholic church is a very good example. I really do think that most people who are in the catholic church want to do what is right and just. But there are the few people within the catholic church who have done serious things wrong, both morally, ethically, and legally. Does that make all catholic's evil? Of course not.

I think the same can be said for Anonymous.

Recently I have been reading conflicting stories on Anonymous. I have read statements by people who claim to be a member of Anonymous state that they are going after Putin and his government. I have read that the U.S. Government says that they are actively tracking down and arresting anyone who is associated with Anonymous. And I have read from various sources that Anonymous hackers are actively working with the U.S. government to try to disrupt the Russian government.

Because Anonymous is a world-wide organization with no formal or even informal leadership, I don't really believe that the U.S. government can do anything about them. They defiantly can not do anything with the ones that operate outside of the U.S.

I know in the past, the U.S. government has made, lets call them "alliances", with people they claim they are trying to arrest. During the height of WW2, the U.S. government worked with the Italian mobsters of New York to gain a foothold into fascist Italy. (As an aside, it came as a surprise to me that most of the Italian mob of the 30's were VERY MUCH against fascism and Mussolini) Keeping the past in mind, I would not be surprised if the U.S. government did actually recruit some of the better hackers, or at the very least turned a blind eye to what they were doing.

I have never seen the topic of Anonymous in OT. Did you ever support them? Do you think they are "dead" as some members of the press are stating? Have you ever gone to one of their protest events? (Such as the scientology protest)

Had I known about the scientology protest, I would have gone.

[Sidakte]

Cernunnos eredeti hozzászólása:

I have never seen the topic of Anonymous in OT. Did you ever support them? Do you think they are "dead" as some members of the press are stating? Have you ever gone to one of their protest events? (Such as the scientology protest)

Yep they're cool in my book. Although we must keep in mind that the 2023 Anonymous are not the same with the 2003 Anonymous. Much have changed in these 20 years.

[Kenneth Adams]

Cernunnos eredeti hozzászólása:

I have never seen the topic of Anonymous in OT. Did you ever support them?

No. I didn't, I don't. But they have no leader, and I don't know them well, so I am not sure.

Cernunnos eredeti hozzászólása:

Do you think they are "dead" as some members of the press are stating?

"Dead"? I don't know.

Cernunnos eredeti hozzászólása:

Have you ever gone to one of their protest events?

I didn't have a chance, I don't think any was done around here.