ANONYMOUSANONYMOUS

A CONTINUOUSLY FLUCTUATING GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS, BOUND BY COMMUNICATION THROUGH INTERNET CHATROOMS, THAT PURSUES PROTESTS AND MOVEMENTS THROUGH

WEB-BASED ATTACKS

who are they?who are they?

no set demographicno set demographic

large percentagelarge percentageassumed to be late teens or assumed to be late teens or early 20’searly 20’s

varied technical skill varied technical skill levelslevels

located globallylocated globally

no leaders

no authority

no required participation in events

open membership

But what do they do?But what do they do?

the collective known as anonymous initiates international hacktivism and the collective known as anonymous initiates international hacktivism and other forms of protest in defense of issues ranging from:other forms of protest in defense of issues ranging from:

• information freedominformation freedom

• censorshipcensorship

• human rightshuman rights

• retaliatory support for peers being persecutedretaliatory support for peers being persecuted

hacktivism...?hacktivism...?

the use of computers and their programming to express political the use of computers and their programming to express political statements in the form of protest, includes:statements in the form of protest, includes:

defacing web pagesdefacing web pages

email/fax bombingemail/fax bombing

website mirroringwebsite mirroring

distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacksdistributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks

ddos attacks...?ddos attacks...?the use of multiple computer systems to flood the server of a target, the use of multiple computer systems to flood the server of a target,

resulting in the denial of service for intended users of the siteresulting in the denial of service for intended users of the site

under the federal computer fraud and abuse act penalties for these acts under the federal computer fraud and abuse act penalties for these acts can include years of imprisonmentcan include years of imprisonment

DDoS resultsDDoS results

many systems all many systems all focus on one targetfocus on one target

results in an results in an unaccessible siteunaccessible site

why the name anonymous is why the name anonymous is familiarfamiliar

2008:2008:

As the Church of Scientology scrambles to hide an internal video of actor As the Church of Scientology scrambles to hide an internal video of actor Tom Cruise openly speaking about the Church, members of anonymous Tom Cruise openly speaking about the Church, members of anonymous become outraged and called to incite a war on Scientology in their own become outraged and called to incite a war on Scientology in their own videovideo

Denial of service attacks on the Church’s website in protest of their Denial of service attacks on the Church’s website in protest of their alleged crime, fraud & abuse ensuesalleged crime, fraud & abuse ensues

unpluggingunplugging

anonymous movedanonymous movedout into the out into the

streetsstreets

with no leadershipwith no leadershipor long-term goalsor long-term goals

the protests hadthe protests hadlittle lasting effectlittle lasting effect

other protestsother protestsAnonymous is open to suggestions, an issue only needs to gain enough interest Anonymous is open to suggestions, an issue only needs to gain enough interest

in the internet relay chats to move forwardin the internet relay chats to move forward

with theatrical effectwith theatrical effectanonymous took toanonymous took to

the streets in support of the streets in support of events such as companies events such as companies pulling their services from pulling their services from

wikileaks & wiki owner julian wikileaks & wiki owner julian assange being arrestedassange being arrested

limewirelimewire illegally allowed people to share copyrighted content - illegally allowed people to share copyrighted content -

litigation was brought against them -litigation was brought against them - anonymous anonymous responded:responded:

weaknessesweaknesses

despite calls for members never to attack the media or involve violent despite calls for members never to attack the media or involve violent acts, with the lack of authority, intentions are easily skewedacts, with the lack of authority, intentions are easily skewed

much of what the group does is hypocritical: assaulting expression of much of what the group does is hypocritical: assaulting expression of opinion in the name of free speechopinion in the name of free speech

anonymous is disorganized, sporadic & distractedanonymous is disorganized, sporadic & distracted

what the future holdswhat the future holds

the power that anonymous has access to lies the power that anonymous has access to lies within the ability to call upon an infinite number of within the ability to call upon an infinite number of participants with global accessparticipants with global access

if they could accept leadership and form unified if they could accept leadership and form unified goals there should be no doubt they would be goals there should be no doubt they would be effective social change contributorseffective social change contributors