The self-styled Anonymous (used as a mass noun) is a label and Internet meme adopted within Internet culture to represent the actions of many 4chan punks who chickened out taking on Scientology and are now reduced to hacking celebrity websites like the twenty-something basement dwellers they are. The term is used in phrases such as "We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget."[1]
In 2008, specific actions were undertaken by specific group, groups, or organizations, also self-named as "Anonymous", and often associated with websites and chat systems on the Internet. The general public's mass introduction to the group began with Project Chanology, a protest against the Church of Scientology. The most visible element of the protest was mass protests of many Church sites worldwide, the first being held on February 10 2008.[2] Anonymous, as a protest group, lacks a visible hierarchical structure or leaders, instead relying on individuals to contribute to the group.[3]ASeptember 2, 2008, Variety column reported that Anonymous is said to number about 9000 people.[4]
The name "Anonymous" itself is inspired by the perceived anonymity under which users post images and comments on the Internet, as well as from the default name "Anonymous" assigned by various internet forums to visitors who leave comments without self-identifying. It is generally considered as a blanket term – not tied to any monolithic group – for the vox populi or members of the Internet culture.[5]
As a mass noun and internet meme, Anonymous's origin began as a "running gag" when internet users proposed that the default tag, "Anonymous", used for unsigned posts on imageboards, could be a real person. Users began acting the part, at which point the concept became viral.[6]
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.
[Anonymous is] the first internet-based superconsciousness. Anonymous is a group, in the sense that a flock of birds is a group. How do you know they're a group? Because they're travelling in the same direction. At any given moment, more birds could join, leave, peel off in another direction entirely.
— Baltimore City Paper, April 2, 2008.[7], in Landers, Chris
"Anonymous", in the sense of the unnamed protestors and activists in various incidents, is composed of users of multiple imageboards, who maintain several wikis and Internet Relay Chat networks to overcome the limitations of imageboards.[8][9] A "loose coalition of Internet denizens",[10] the group is banded together by the internet, through sites such as Ebaumsworld, Something Awful, Encyclopedia Dramatica,[11] Slashdot, Wikipedia, and YouTube.[5] Social networking services, such as Facebook, are used for the creation of groups which reach out to people to mobilize in real-world protests.[12] Anonymous has no leader or controlling party, and relies on the collective power of its individual members acting in such a way that the net effect benefits the group.[10]
Anyone who wants to can be Anonymous and work toward a set of goals…We have this agenda that we all agree on and we all coordinate and act, but all act independently toward it, without any want for recognition. We just want to get something that we feel is important done…
— as quoted by Chris Landers in the Baltimore City Paper, April 2, 2008.[7], in Anonymous
It is important to note that the distinction between this section, and the above, is of necessity somewhat blurred. It is not always clear - nor perhaps always accurate or meaningful - to attempt to formally classify activities as being "anonymous Internet users generally" and "anonymous Internet users in a specific group or groups". The activities in this section were attributed to "Anonymous" by their perpetrators or in the media. The actions taken by Anonymous, other than those taken during a "raid", do not seem to follow any specific agenda; members often simply take action for amusement. This is known within sites affiliated with Anonymous as "doing it for the lulz".
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 during 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 and blocked entry to the pool, declaring that it was "closed due to AIDS",[13][14] and forming swastika-like formations.[14] When the raiders were banned, they complained of racism.[14] In response, the Habbo admins often ban users with avatars matching the profile of the raiders even months after the latest raid. Habbo admins also banned users with the ban reason supplied being a racial slur or racist terminology directed at the banned user in a derogatory way.[citation needed]
In 2008, Mary Alice Altorfer, a resident of Texas, found a sign of the "pool's closed" poster taped to her apartment complex's gated pool door. Alerting the local police and media, she asserted her belief that the sign was racist and intended to intimidate her two bi-racial grandchildren, both of whom she had brought to the pool the day prior. After initial news reports, she started receiving many phone calls. Several of the calls, which Altorfer saved to her answering machine, attempted to explain the meme and assure her that her grand children had not been threatened. Regardless, the vast majority of the phone calls were prank calls intended to harass. A second sign was anonymously placed on the pool door days later, displaying Altorfer in an afro haircut edited over the "pool's closed" caricature, with a new caption reading "pool's open".[13] [2][3]
OnJuly 26, 2007, KTTV Fox 11 News based in Los Angeles, California aired a report on Anonymous, calling them a group of "hackers 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". Ironically, the news report became a meme on most of the chan boards, inspiring mass mockery, notably the stock footage of an exploding van, the hyperbole and alarmist phrases used to describe the idea of anonymity, as a "Domestic terrorist" organization and group, the suggestion that buying a dog and curtains could protect victims from Anonymous, and Fox's previous history of criticism over Fox News Channel. This report also sparked "Anonymous" to be a more often used term for users of various imageboards "connected" to each other. Although previously, Anonymous came from imageboards like eBaumsworld and its spin-off 7chan wherein its default alias for a user posting a thread or post would be "Anonymous".[15]
The following day, Wired News blogger and journalist Ryan Singel derided the Fox 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".[16] 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."[17]
OnDecember 7, 2007, the Canada-based Toronto Sun newspaper published a report on the arrest of the alleged Internet predator Chris Forcand.[18] 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.[19] 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.[18]
AGlobal 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.[20]
The group gained worldwide press for Project Chanology, the protest against the Church of Scientology.[1]
OnJanuary 14, 2008, a video produced by the Church featuring an interview with Tom Cruise was leaked to the Internet and uploaded to YouTube. [21][22][23] The Church of Scientology issued a copyright violation claim against YouTube requesting the removal of the video.[24] In response to this, Anonymous formulated Project Chanology.[8][25][26][27] 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.[28]
OnJanuary 21, 2008, Anonymous announced its 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.[27][29][30] 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.[31] 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.[32][33]OnFebruary 2, 2008, 150 people gathered outside of a Church of Scientology center in Orlando, Florida to protest the organization's practices.[34][35][36][37] Small protests were also held in Santa Barbara, California,[38] and Manchester, England.[39][35]OnFebruary 10, 2008, about 7,000 people protested in more than 93 cities worldwide.[40][41] 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.[3][42]
Anonymous held a second wave of protestsonMarch 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 over 9,000.[43] The third wave of the protests took place on April 12, 2008.[44][45] Named "Operation Reconnect", it aimed to increase awareness of the Church of Scientology's disconnection policy.[21]
OnMarch 28, 2008, Wired News reported that "Internet griefers" – a makeshift term for people who cause grief[46] – assaulted an epilepsy support forum run by the Epilepsy Foundation of America.[47] JavaScript code and flashing computer animations were posted with the intention of triggering migraine headaches and seizuresinphotosensitive and pattern-sensitive epileptics.[47] According to Wired News, circumstantial evidence suggested that the attack was perpetrated by members of Anonymous, 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 an Anonymous "stronghold". The thread has since been deleted.[47]
RealTechNews[unreliable source?] 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.[48] 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.[46] The Tech Herald[unreliable source?] 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", who claim to be part of Anonymous, but are not the same faction that are involved in the campaign against Scientology.[49]
Some members of Anonymous have suggested that the perpetrators were merely internet users who remained literally anonymous, and thus had no affiliation with the web group known as Anonymous.[49] 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".[50] The response was that the matter was on the hands of local law enforcement and that there were ongoing investigations.[50]
In late June of 2008, members of Anonymous claimed responsibility for a series of attacks against the SOHH (Support Online Hip Hop) website.[51] The attack was reported to have begun in retaliation for insults made by members of SOHH's "Just Bugging Out" forum against ebaumsworld users. The attack against the website took place in stages, as members of Anonymous flooded the SOHH forums, which were then shut down. On June 23, 2008, Anonymous organized DDOS attacks against the website, successfully eliminating 60% of the website's service capacity. On June 27, 2008, the hackers utilized cross-site scripting to deface the website's main page with satirical images and headlines referencing numerous racial stereotypes and slurs, and also successfully stole information from SOHH employees.[52]
Following the defacement, the website was shut down by its administration. AllHipHop, an unrelated website, also had its forum raided. By the evening of June 27, 2008 AllHipHop.com was back online and released an official statement in which it referred to the perpetrators as "cyber terrorists" and announced that it would cooperate with SOHH "...to ensure the capture of these criminals and prevention of repeat offenses." On June 30, 2008 SOHH placed an official statement regarding the attack on its main page. The statement alleged that the attackers were "specifically targeting Black, Hispanic, Asian and Jewish youth who ascribe to hip-hop culture," and listed several hip hop oriented websites which it claimed were also attacked by the hackers. It concluded with a notice that it would be cooperating with the FBI.[51]
When interviewed, Felicia Palmer, co-founder of SOHH, confirmed that an FBI probe was ongoing, and that each time the website was attacked, data on the suspects was retrieved. Palmer indicated that some of the attackers were "located within the United States, between the ages of 16-21" and that a few of them were based in Waco, Texas. Initially under the impression that the hackers were pranksters, she came to believe they were "beyond pranksters" and the attack was racist in nature.[52]
On September 17, 2008, 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal Yahoo! Mail email account, which critics allege that she used for official business in order to get around public record laws,[53] was compromised, and screenshots of photos and messages were posted over the internet.[53] News of a Yahoo! mail account owned by Palin appeared on ebaumsworld's board, and several readers of the board tried unsuccessfully to hack into the account.[54] The account was finally compromised by an individual who successfully guessed the answers to the security questions that allow one to reset the password. The individual then published the login and password information on the ebaumsworld board so that Anonymous members could exploit the opportunity by means such as downloading all emails and uploading porn into the account.[54]
One of the readers of the board decided to change the password to stop people from logging into the account, and then warn Palin of the hacking through a mail to one of her friends.[54] However, this person then accidentally posted the new password on the board, and several readers of the board tried at the same time to use it to set a new password.[54] The Yahoo! software had security measures in place that triggered an automatic "freeze" which prevented anyone from logging in even with the correct password, and the account was later deleted by Yahoo!.[54] The freeze happened before all emails accessible on the account could be downloaded.[54] Members of Anonymous later passed all the information that could be retrieved before the freeze to Wikileaks, which published it.[54][55][53]
The FBI and Secret Service began investigating the incident shortly after its occurrence. On September 20 it was revealed they were questioning the son of Mike Kernell a Democrat State Representative.[56] The son, David Kernell (20) is a self described "Obamacrat"[57] and a student at the University of Tennessee. His university residence was raided while he was "having a party", by FBI agents who served him with a search warrant. [58] Agents spent 1.5 to 2 hours taking pictures of everything inside his apartment. Kennel's three roommates were also subpoenaed and expected to testify the next week in Chattanooga. [59] A grand jury is set to convene regardging the case on the 23th of September. Kernell Sr. told Wired that he was aware that his son was a suspect, but he did not ask him anything about it over concerns that he may have to testify in court.[60]
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