'#So what happened next? There were essentially 22 days from when Lulz Security first signed up for the service to when they announced they were disbanding. In that period, the attacks against their website just went through the roof. We were actually able to track what those attacks were and provide better and better security over time to help everyone who was on our network. #How did attacks against LulzSec help other websites? CloudFlare's core value comes from the fact that every website that is part of our system helps contribute data in order to better protect other websites. As one website gets attacked, the knowledge about that attack is immediately shared with the rest of the websites, so that the system gets smarter and smarter over time. #Would you let LulzSec or another branch of Anonymous use CloudFlare again in the future? A lot of websites that claim to be part of Anonymous use CloudFlare, many of the Occupy websites use CloudFlare, but so do a lot banks and Fortune 500 companies. We are a fairly good reflection of the internet overall and we're trying to make the internet overall faster and safer.' -- inb4 honeypot

'Given that there are tens of millions of non-law enforcement affiliated young men (mostly) that are good at hacking and many fewer law enforcement agents and military ops, the numbers are not on the side of law enforcement. It seems to us that inevitably over time more government information will be compromised and publicized. Most of the time, the perspective of the alternative media is that the Anglosphere power elite is an implacable entity that will use new technologies to impose a total Orwellian state on the world. But this has never entirely made sense to us, simply in terms of demographics. There are billions of people who are not "elite" and only a handful who are. When an emergent technology such as is encompassed by the Internet becomes available, the human instinct is to exploit it to the full. The authoritarian tools of the elites are helpless to stem the tide when it comes to the Internet because the 'Net itself acts as a giant magnifying glass, publicizing the very repressive measures taken against it. This won't always be the case, we believe, but it is right now as this young technology continues to unfold. The elites are far better at controlling mature technologies than youthful ones. As the elites take ever-more drastic steps to try to contain the impact of the Internet, they will not only radicalize an increasing segment of the world's population, they will begin to radicalize elements of their own organization.'

'In the beginning, there were lulz, pranks and a culture of trolling just to get a rise out of anyone. But despite many original Anons best efforts, Anonymous has grown up to become the net’s immune system, striking back whenever the hive mind perceived that the institutions that run the world crossed the line into hypocrisy. The fall and winter of 2010 started a pattern that persists; when the use of power gets suspect, people join Anonymous. But this immune response changed Anonymous as well. The lulz had to make room for righteous indignation, and not even a pretend indignation. The voice of the hive mind, though still computer-generated, had changed its tone.'

'The trickster isn’t the good guy or the bad guy, it’s the character that exposes contradictions, initiates change and moves the plot forward. One minute, the loving and heroic trickster is saving civilization. A few minutes later the same trickster is cruel, kicking your ass and eating babies as a snack. The conversation about Anonymous points to this trickster nature, veering between praise and fear, with the media at a loss for even how to describe them. We’ve tried hacker group, notorious hacker group, hacktivists, the Internet Hate Machine, pimply-faced, basement-dwelling teenagers, an activist organization, a movement, a collective, a vigilante group, online terrorists, and any number of other fantastical and colorful terms. None of them have ever really fit. Anonymous has constantly forced us to reach for the thesaurus — revealing that as a whole, we in the media have no idea what Anonymous really is or what it means.'

'"I suppose when I was writing V for Vendetta I would in my secret heart of hearts have thought: wouldn't it be great if these ideas actually made an impact? So when you start to see that idle fantasy intrude on the regular world… It's peculiar. It feels like a character I created 30 years ago has somehow escaped the realm of fiction." Back in the early 80s, approaching the end of Vendetta's epic 38-part cycle, Moore was struggling to think of another "V" word with which to title a closing chapter. He'd already used Victims, Vaudeville and Vengeance; the Villain, the Voice, the Vanishing; even Vicissitude and Verwirrung (the German word for confusion). "I was getting pretty desperate," he says. He eventually settled on Vox populi. "Voice of the people. And I think that if the mask stands for anything, in the current context, that is what it stands for. This is the people. That mysterious entity that is evoked so often – this is the people."'

'Using the name Anonymous Analytics, the group published a 38-page report on Chaoda Modern Agriculture last week that claimed to provide evidence of “one of the Hong Kong exchange’s largest and longest running frauds”. The report is prefaced with a legalistic disclaimer and, unusually for an activist group, states that it will profit from any collapse in Chaoda’s share price... The best that can be said at this point is that Anonymous Analytics is a secretive trading syndicate that is seeking to profit from the publication of damaging speculation about a public company — while at the same time claiming to promote “access to information, free speech and transparency”. The problem with such cloak-and-dagger outfits is that it is impossible to tell if they really are what they say they are.' -- And a whole new reality was set into motion.

'After discovering that BBM and their Twittery playthings fed straight into the hands of the cops, smartphone-toting revolutionaries have taken up a new type of instant messaging – Vibe. Like Twitter in that it is open and lets you mass-message, Vibe is unlike Twitter in that all messages or "vibes" are anonymous. You can set how far you want them to be available too – from 15 metres to global. The messages self-destruct after a set period of time: from 15 minutes to forever.' -- Autistic mode.

'The court decided that it would not issue such a complete ban, though it had already blocked them from using IRC. Instead, it said that they could continue to use social networking and chat programs... but not use their existing online personas. It is, therefore, somewhat ironic that one of the people in question used his real first name as his online persona previously: "Peter David-Gibson, aged 20 from Hartlepool, who went by the online nickname “Peter”" Yes, you read that right. A guy accused of being Anonymous, but who used his real name online, can now no longer use his real name... because he may have been a part of Anonymous. That makes sense.'

We are Anonymous. We do not forget. We do not forgive. [We will tell you what you want to hear.] The resistance is here. Expect us (in approximately five months).

'In the past weeks there have been several attempts to disparage Anonymous. We have been branded as terrorists, traitors, and forces of evil. This forces us to ask you a question: Which is the greater evil, an organization that coerces its members with force and feels the need to steal from them in order to finance its own bloated corruption, or a voluntary group of [otherwise] free people who choose to expose lies told by those in power? -- Anonymous is an inevitable product of the internet. We are Anonymous. We do not forgive. We do not forget. [We have "government" guns to our heads.] Expect us.'

'...we are not surprised at the uncritical coverage that a "merger" between LulzSec and Anonymous is getting. We are instructed to believe that these metaphorical caped avengers met somewhere in a digital ally and decided to wage war against governments everywhere. We are not yet convinced. The language is suspect. A tweet published to the official LulzSec Twitter page, reportedly informed the world that due to the "merger"—however it is consummated—"anarchy is now." Anarchy? What kind of thinking individual uses that sort of phrase? These individuals, whoever they are, are committed to changing the system as it is. Yet we are supposed to believe they do not even know the basic definition of anarchy? Anarchy ... has nothing to do with chaos. Anarchy is the absence of government. And the absence of government, most of it anyway, can be construed as a good thing—presaging MORE logical ways of living with greater prosperity, fewer rules and wars.' -- "Anarchy" is not your personal army

'This video credited to the hacker group Anonymous is calling out Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to resign. Anonymous has called for public protests beginning on June 14th, continuing "until Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke steps down." To make their case, they have presented a list of recent scandalous Federal Reserve actions.' -- Comment: razeromg: 'why is this on RT? have anonymous hacked RT? xD'

'Alice in Wonderland starts with Alice falling down the rabbit hole, where she begins a process of self-discovery in a world turned upside down. Just like Alice, the anonymous mask is a way into this place of transition. Until one realizes the power to participate in unfolding ones own identity, the mask functions as a shield from systematic oppression working through perception. It temporarily protects one from forces that keeps society asleep. In this place of retreat, one can break free from power games of subjugation and enslavement. It can become a wonderland where one gradually learns to participate in unfolding perception. Being Anonymous is like being in transition; the caterpillar before becoming a unique butterfly. The Anonymous phenomenon is a kind of collective rite of passage, where one finds the rabbit hole in cyber-space and then begins to wake up to a larger identity. No one is free until everyone is free because our [freedom] is dependent on each other.'

'If you think there's a shadow banking system now, wait a few more months.'

'Presentation on Anonymous, Telecomix & Egypt.' -- "Do-ocracy"

Immune system.

'With just half a dozen close friends online, she has a strict regimen to remain invisible on the web. Each night she wipes every one of her web accounts and deletes every email in her inbox. She has no physical hard drive and boots her computer from a microSD card. “I could hide this card anywhere or chew into a million pieces in a few seconds,” she says by e-mail. She keeps her operating system on a USB stick and uses a virtual machine (VM) to carry out her online shenanigans. So paranoid is Kayla of being caught or hacked by others, that despite several requests she would not speak to me on Skype to verify an adolescent-sounding voice. Our only evidence: others in Anonymous vouch for her age, her emails are punctuated with smiley faces and “lols” and she is relatively well-known on hacking forums. Still, rumors abound that Kayla is a mid-20s male from New Jersey named Corey Barnhill, who also goes by the pseudonym Xyrix.'

'It was the first and the last time George would be involved in hacktivism, he says. In June, he was charged with inciting others to attack government websites. The magistrate equated his actions to cyber-terrorism. The word "hacktivism" was added to dictionaries across the world last year. The term has been used for several years by cyber-theorists and media commentators to describe the act of hacking with a political purpose. "I didn't think that I would ever get caught. I was actually downloading connections from other computers in America, so I didn't think the Australian government would be able to track me down." George was also under the impression that his one-off involvement in "Titstorm" was a legal form of political protest. "I had no idea that what I was doing was illegal. I had no idea that there was incitement and it was illegal to instruct others to commit a legal [sic] act." Eight months later George was in Newcastle Local Court and fined $550.'

'“It’s a guerrilla cyberwar — that’s what I call it,” said Barrett Brown, 29, who calls himself a senior strategist and “propagandist” for Anonymous. He added: “It’s sort of an unconventional, asymmetrical act of warfare that we’ve involved in. And we didn’t necessarily start it. I mean, this fire has been burning.” A defiant and cocky 29-year-old college dropout, Brown was cavalier about accusations that the group is violating federal laws. He insisted that Anonymous members are only policing corporate and governmental wrongdoing — as its members define it. Brown, for his part, makes no bones about the fact that Anonymous plays rough. “We can expose people. We can go to the media with things, we can give them scoops. We can give them information about companies and their wrongdoing. We can organize protests —anywhere across the globe. We can get the attention of the national conversation if we need to.”'

'Anonnews.org lets certain past inflammatory posts slide, including a couple from chronicle.SU, to present an image of “anything goes,” while moderators for the site now allow only positive stories to run that portray Anonymous as the “Great Equalizer” (or “white knight”) of the Internet. The anonymous person speaking to Al Jazeera compared the Anonymous hacker group to Libyan rebels in the street currently taking mortar fire. Anonnews.org now plays up this footage, making Anonymous by far the most aesthetically-pleasing instrument of sociopolitical subversion ever employed by the United States Government. But from a perspective of objective critical analysis, Anonymous looks unfortunately stupid. ...the powers that be hired online personalities to infiltrate IRC discussions and /i/nvasion channels in order to redirect the hacktivist userbase toward what are better known in war terms as “soft targets.” NYPA, or ‘not your personal army’ just took on a whole new meaning.' -- Mmhmm

"This is a message going out to you, the Holders. We are Anonymous. You know who you are. The men behind the curtain, the overlord pulling at the strings of your puppets. You hide and you plan and you scheme in the dark alleys; in the vehement anticipation that your draconian plans will come to fruition. The dreams of a thousand men crystallized in one moment; one moment that approaches with every hour that passes. The time is upon us. You have shaped the Earth in your image. Shaped its people, its customs, its morals. In your eyes the control is complete, your contrivance beyond absolute. You have poisoned and corrupted this world, turning its people into willing slaves for your own gain. Mass murder, torture, perjury, embezzlement, fraud, deception, treason. These are just a few of your many crimes against humanity. You see yourselves as a higher order, that rules are a concept to which you are foreign. You are mistaken."

“Your propagandic channels are being discarded for real journalism and independent news sources. Your attempts to incite mass violence and rioting in the populace has failed. The ruse of your monetary system has been uncovered, and when it collapses your infinite pool of wealth will be depleted. The domino effect of enlightenment has already begun. A number of us unwilling to sit neutral in the path of your tyranny... The only way that Anonymous will be satisfied with the end of this conflict is the complete and utter triumph of the citizenry. The general populace are now realizing their inherent power. You are instead, beginning to realize your inherent weakness – your inhumanity. It is a pity that you could not join us, as your persistence in reaching your goals has been legendary. It is ironic that your persistence of classic techniques is the reason that you are coming short, as you are unwilling to adapt to a changing world. You are going to lose this war."

'Score another one for Marshall McLuhan, who in 1970 predicted, “World War III is a guerrilla information war with no division between military and civilian participation.” -- “I think we’re going toward perpetual revolution,” says Barrett Brown. “The nation-state is an institution that developed in a different environment. That environment has changed very drastically. And it’s changed more drastically in a very short period than any change we’ve seen in human history. “So people need to stop looking at the last 20 years and saying this is what’s possible and this is what’s not possible — because it’s all possible.”'

'As their ranks swell, so does the depth of their collective personality. From youthful beginnings Anonymous has matured into a force to be reckoned with. Actions are carefully considered, contingency plans established, and outcomes weighed. The speed and responsiveness of a collective community allows for the simultaneous consideration of a multitude of options, the processing of objectives, and the establishment of action plans, or operations. In each case that the Anonymous collective has arrived at a consensus and executed an operation a full statement of their goals and reasons have been published with a clarity that the governments of the world seem unable to accomplish. Free from authoritarian leadership, and seemingly immune to traditional forms of repression, Anonymous may be the best hope we have of ensuring that the Internet stays accessible for activists, organizers, and revolutionaries. We can all be a part of that support system.'

'A final clarification of Anonymous to demonstrate our lack of definition: “Beneath this mask there is an idea, and ideas are bullet-proof” -- We are a named group. That is it. We do not keep a membership list for the obvious reason of being anonymous. Anyone can participate in our actions. We are not responsible for the actions of any individual, there is no one to take that responsibility but that individual himself. Anonymous is the mask, and our actions speak for themselves. This is everything that Anonymous is. Nothing more. The actions of the group come to characterize the group itself. We will allow those actions to speak for themselves. Stop calling us a hacktivist group, stop calling us vigilantes. We are Anonymous. Stop trying to define it.'

'Please recognize that as Anonymous' brand has acquired legitimacy, opportunists have and will continue to try to tie their personal political agendas to the movement. A handy bullet list guide for visiting journalists: #Anonymous has no official position on abortion #Anonymous has no official position on tax policy #Anonymous has no official position on health care #Anonymous has no official position on collective bargaining agreements #Anonymous has no official position on campaign finance reform #Anonymous has no official position on the Tea Party #Anonymous has no official position on the Democratic Party #Anonymous has no official position on the Republican Party #Anonymous has no official position on the Green Party #Anonymous has no official position on global warming #Anonymous has no official position on George Soros #Anonymous has no official position on the Koch brothers ... #Anonymous has a very fucking official position on LULZ'

'The AnonOS Project is a family of Linux liveCDs custom-built for Anonymous, by Anonymous, with all the software they need. More than that, it is to make a kit that will teach newfags everything that has to be known during raids, such as using tools, gathering dox, making programs and generally succeeding in life.'

'XV: Protected By Anonymous: Propaganda doesn’t work as well when you have the Internet, a cyberspace Underground Railroad, a form of mass communication that allows citizens to interact without corporate gatekeepers effectively censoring critical thought. All of these attacks show the desperation of the ruling class, in attempting to maintain an obsolete propaganda system. Just look at how common and accepted unlawful practices have become in pursuit of their goals. It is a strategic imperative that we protect Internet freedom from the forces of media concentration and censorship. Organizations such as WikiLeaks and Anonymous are playing a critical role in exposing information and protecting those who are critical of the most powerful and corrupt elements within society.'

'#Erudite vs. lulz: Being erudite on the internet and actually arguing is like running in the Special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded. Wait, why's that? Well, the Interwebs basically allow us to constantly invoke the Pyrrhonian argument of dispute. This is because a shitload of knowledge is just a few mouseclicks away nowadays. Especially if we take the following rules: #11. All your carefully picked arguments can easily be ignored; #12. Anything you say can and will be used against you; #13. Anything you say can be turned into something else... Like Nietzsche, Anonymous realizes (or used to realize, when it still had a green face) that when you pinpoint the place in an argument that makes us laugh uncontrollably you've pinpointed a place in the argument that is very, very flawed. You've shown that the argument is ridiculous (“laughable”). The best part about all of this is that humour is a lot more universally accessible than ... a reasonable argument is.'

'Anonymous is an online pool of consciousness, sometimes we create a force towards a similar direction which could manifest in revolution. Anonymous has NO leader. We are one. We are many. One does not speak for many. Many do not speak for all. No one speaks for all. We come from all walks of life. All age, race, sex, places. We have no ideologies. We have every ideology imaginable. We have no goals. We have every goal imaginable. To understand Anonymous would be to understand our universe. Anonymous can not be labeled, blamed or made a scapegoat. There is no discrimination in Anonymous unless you do not have an internet connection. We do not work with post. No one speaks for Anonymous. Nothing is official. No videos. No operations. Not even this press release, even though it was created by an Anonymous number of Anonymous at an Anonymous time in an Anonymous place and uploaded Anonymously, it does not speak for Anonymous.'

'A source from Anonymous confronts Shirley Phelps-Roper from the Westboro Baptist Church, calling the supposed letter sent to Westboro by Anonymous a hoax, and then proceeds to hack the Westboro Baptist Church website during the interview.' -- Comment: Apoc2K: 'So, god is her personal army?'

'Are they trolls, griefers, hackers, vigilantes, activists - or all of the above? A closer look at Anonymous with journalist Julian Dibbell.' -- Anon: "We are not your personal army." == Universal morality

'Anonymous works via message boards in which nobody posts under a name. That means that in general whether something happens or not is dependent on whether the basic call being issued is appealing or not. In general if anonymous is after you it is because you are just annoying enough to make going after you a priority for the world hacking community. This is why it is impossible to stop or discredit. Quoting a spokesman for anonymous has exactly as much value as asking a random person on the street. Anonymous is anonymous – that means that no one directs it and nobody speaks for it. What ideals it has are those held by the mass of humanity – these truths that we all hold to be self evident. This is also why one can’t really call anonymous “hated.” Without names there is no identity – so tactics aimed at identities fall flat. Anonymous is immune to ad-hominem attacks. The only real alternative is to try and modify your behaviour or come up with a good argument against anonymous action.'

'The idea is to write a how-to on building mesh networks. The n00bs must understand it. Mesh networks are usefull, as they cannot be censored nor shut down. Later on that How-to can become part of Anonymous' uber-secret handbook regarding safety.' -- 'The first section of this article will focus on personal safety. Personal safety can be spoken of in two different spheres: Physical Safety and Internet Safety. It is important to remember that these two spheres overlap: a lapse of internet safety could lead to physical identification. However, by keeping in mind a few important rules you can drastically reduce the chance of being singled out and identified. The second section of this article will go into specifics regarding technology that can be used to communicate anonymously, maintain secrecy, and protest effectively.' -- http://goo.gl/SuY0f

'Youtube, Facebook and Twitter have become the new weapons of mass mobilisation. Are social networks triggering social revolution? And where will the next domino fall?' -- Old media is old.

Comment: Anon: 'I think that while the Stand Alone Complex is an amazing phenomenon, the mechanism behind it might lead to a bleak future for society. The over-propagation of memes will lead to a stagnation of original thought. In fact, it is already happening. Have you noticed that many of the films and tv shows in the last few years have been based off of old movies, tv shows, comic books and other types of franchises? I feel that this stagnation of original thought will lead to a society of mindless drones that are easily manipulated by propaganda. In fact, that’s just what happens in 2nd Gig, when Gohda starts his own Stand Alone Complex to serve his own agenda. Jean Bauldrilard suspected this might be the case decades before the Internet, an event which he called the “Termination of History” in which the masses all become a “silent majority” due to a lack of oppositional elements in society.' -- Anon: “I thought what I’d do is pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes.” Or should I?'

'Imagine that instead of the many iterations of Wikileaks now appearing to receive and publish documents, that more of the Anonymous-type hacks simply steal and torrent the family jewels of the spies, officials, lobbyists and corporations believing they own the territory in order to show the extent of their secret predations on the public. The digitization of vast archives of government, commercial and non-governmental organizations to facilitate their hegemony provides a bounty to be hacked repeatedly despite attempts to prevent it by vainly inept cybersecurity agencies... The cyber-racket cartel will yell, hit the Internet Switch. Too late, too late. Anonymous controls the switch. Sure, Anonymous can be compromised with sufficient hostile and friendly inducements, but so can the predators, perhaps moreso the latter now revealed to be vulnerable. ...Anonymous and the promise it offers surpasses the Nymous authoritatives of secrecy frantically attempting to ban its greatest threat.'

'I predict that Anonymous and entities like it will become far more significant over the next few years than is expected by most of our similarly irrelevant pundits - and this will, no doubt, turn out to be just as much of an understatement as anything else that has been written on the subject. The fact is that the technological infrastructure that allows these movements has been in place for well under a decade - but phenomena such as WikiLeaks and Anonymous have already appeared, expanded, and even become players within the geopolitical environment; others have come about since. This is the future, whether one approves or not, and the failure on the part of governments and media alike to understand, and contend with the rapid change now afoot, ought to remind everyone concerned why it is that this movement is necessary in the first place.'

Dox

'The proposal was quickly developed by Palantir Technologies, HBGary Federal, and Berico Technologies, after a request from Hunton and Williams, a law firm that currently counts Bank of America as a client. Some of the things mentioned as potential proactive tactics include feeding the fuel between the feuding groups, disinformation, creating messages around actions to sabotage or discredit the opposing organization, and submitting fake documents to WikiLeaks and then calling out the error. “Create concern over the security of the infrastructure. Create exposure stories. If the process is believed to not be secure they are done. Cyber attacks against the infrastructure to get data on document submitters. This would kill the project. Since the servers are now in Sweden and France putting a team together to get access is more straightforward.”' -- HBGary sez anons "intentionally falsified certain data.”

'Greetings HBGary (a computer "security" company), Your recent claims of "infiltrating" Anonymous amuse us, and so do your attempts at using Anonymous as a means to garner press attention for yourself. How's this for attention? You've clearly overlooked something very obvious here: we are everyone and we are no one. If you swing a sword of malice into Anonymous' innards, we will simply engulf it. You cannot break us, you cannot harm us, even though you have clearly tried... You think you've gathered full names and home addresses of the "higher-ups" of Anonymous? You haven't. You think Anonymous has a founder and various co-founders? False. You believe that you can sell the information you've found to the FBI? False. You have blindly charged into the Anonymous hive, a hive from which you've tried to steal honey. Did you think the bees would not defend it? Well here we are. You've angered the hive, and now you are being stung.'

'...any one can contribute just as much as he or she wants and will be peer-reviewed on an equal footing, taking into account nothing else but the information he or she conveys. Any single individual can be weak, faulty, frail and prone to failure. But when information is owned by all of us, and anyone is able to collaborate and improve upon it, then we can tap into the collective brilliance of mankind without worrying about who gets credit. ANONYMOUS also believes ensuring a minimal degree of anonymity is the only way to safeguard an organization from having a leader / a group of leaders, and the personal cultus which usually ensues from this. ANONYMOUS is exactly designed to be completely transparent. Anybody can join and look at what we are doing, contribute, or get involved to the extent which he or she chooses. This in fact makes it impossible to ‘infiltrate’ us – either you are or you are not ANONYMOUS, there just is no real third option.'

'Rule #0: Rules #1 and #2 of the internet still apply. Your memes are not, at this juncture, something that the real world can appreciate. Although meme speak between fellow Anonymous is acceptable, focus on the target and keep it to a minimum. Rule #8: No violence. Rule #9: No weapons. The demonstration is a peaceful event. Your weapons. You will not need them. Rule #22: Document the demonstration. Videos and pictures of the event may be used to corroborate your side of the story if law enforcement get involved. Furthermore, posting images and videos of your heroic actions all over the internet is bound to generate win, exhorting other Anonymous to follow your glorious example.'

Anon: "They kinda think that all our base are belong to them and they're very wrong."

'This struggle is not just for you alone, but for the whole of humankind. Citizens can no longer endure their governments abuse. When forced by the threat of oppression, we will be loud as hell - and when the people roar, it will send shivers down the spines of all those who stifle our freedom and take our precious liberties away. Anonymous are your brothers and sisters, your sons and daughters, your parents and your friends, regardless of age, gender, race, religion, ethnicity, or place of birth. Anonymous is you.'

'[Meyssan's] main point: The revolution, manipulated by Western intelligence agencies, has begun to spiral out-of-control. The Western media, as Meyssan points out, has attempted to portray the Jasmine Revolution as a valid expression of a people's aspirations toward freedom. The elite continues to struggle. With the advent of the Internet, the most precious commodity of all, the ability to fully shape a promotional message has been all but lost. We think [Assange] and WikiLeaks may in fact be an elite promotion of sorts. Meyssan believes that the hacker "Anonymous" is a kind of psyops as well. We've pointed out this possibility, too. We note that the mainstream media tried to draw a linkage between the Tunisian revolution and WikiLeaks – but this interpretation has not generated a consensus. In the 20th century, the [elite] have had no problem establishing such a narrative (WikiLeaks supposedly exposed Ben Ali's corruption and sparked a revolution); in the 21st century they cannot.'

'Greetings. Unemployed and students, wage slaves and Farmers, priests and rock stars. Mothers and fathers, sons and daughters. Anonymous brothers and sisters of earth. This is an anonymous message to the people of the world. More and more of us are poor and starving. More and more of us are being killed and imprisoned. More and more of us are being censored and monitored. More and more of our rights, hopes and dreams are quickly being stripped away. The world of today is a dark place. The many live under the rule of the few. This is true all around the world. This shit, has got to go. The time has come for you to pick up your personal responsibility. The time has come for each one of us to speak the word of truth. This year anonymous invites all human beings to create something and present it to the world. Put something out there for the world to see. Never be silent! Always be bold! Listen and speak, learn and teach, read and write. Create. Revolt. We are anonymous. Expect us.'

'Corporations and states continue to find themselves incapable of stemming the coming tide of social change brought about by the internet. Each and everyone of you are shaking the system to its core. Leaders are nervous and scared. Anonymous is fighting a war. Whether you're doing it for the good of mankind, doing it for the lulz, or a healthy balance of both, you're bringing about change only dreamed of in fiction. Continue to fight for the freedom of information and you will continue to win the game. The consequences will never be the same. Yes, Anonymous. We are fighting a war. And we are winning. Expect us.'

'Since its inception, the internet has provided new ways for people all over the world to exercise the rights of free speech, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly. These rights are not simply the benefits of a free society--they are the very means of preserving that society's freedom. The recent increase in government interference with these freedoms coincides with the failure of the corporate media to fulfill their vital role in checking the abuse of authority. Censorship and journalistic abdication have left citizens unaware and unable to hold their governments accountable. We are Anonymous, a leaderless movement that has worked tirelessly to oppose all forms of Internet censorship... Stand with us to defend your freedoms. We Are Anonymous. And So Are You.'

'...something unexpected is happening. We have begun telling each other our own stories. Sharing our lives, our hopes, our dreams, our demons. You cannot sit on the couch playing video games waiting for a revolution. You are the revolution. You have a choice, a choice to take the easy path, the familiar path, to walk willingly into your own submission. Or a choice get up, to go outside and talk to your neighbor, to come together in new forums to create lasting, meaningful change for the human race. This is our challenge: A peaceful revolution, a revolution of ideas, a revolution of creation. The twenty-first century enlightenment. A global movement to create a new age of tolerance and understanding, empathy and respect. An age of unfettered technological development. An age of sharing ideas and cooperation. An age of artistic and personal expression. We can choose to use new technology for radical positive change or let it be used against us. All must be heard.'

'Society can try to make one feel like nobody, but the truth is we are born as somebody with a moral center. An enlivened childhood idealism can break up the rigid mask of adult persona, and fresh skin emerges out of the ‘One’-self. These ideals come alive within those individuals behind the masks of V around the world, and they are growing within movements like Anonymous and WikiLeaks. The darkness of the world, corruption and abuse of power represented by ... shadowy forces are within each person. Now many are coming to realize that they cannot run away from their own selves and that the darkness within must be confronted.'

'The actions of Anonymous on the websites of Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and others are in a lineage with the FloodNet by the Electronic Disturbance Theater. While many mainstream media sources see these as "attacks", others, such as the editors of The Guardian, realize them to be "non-violent action or civil disobedience". We do not want to discount how easy it is for the media and authorities to misconstrue these actions as illegal denial of service attacks, as a 16-year old Dutch teenager is finding out right now... ...we are seeing a certain maturation of this technique as acceptable to others outside of the net.art community. Orderly discussion under the control of a leader was not the norm, as individuals simultaneously put forth their own suggestions to have them edited into or out of existence. ...they appeared to be "seasoned political activists", not simply "script-kiddies" as they are described by both the mainstream media and other hacker organizations such as 2600.'

'This is a classified message from Anonymous. Mass-publication is strictly recommended. We are now moving forward to phase two of our war on disinformation-terror, introducing: Operation LeakSpin.'

'Few expected the most prominent assaults against large companies to come from a scattered group of anarchists and idealists with no identifiable leader, membership or nationality. Anonymous operates with what to outsiders can look like chaotic abandon. What some would see as infighting, Anons see as a decentralised approach that keeps them fleet of foot. “Having no command structure in Anonymous, we are not vulnerable to having that command structure taken down,” one said. “If someone starts trying to be a ringleader, everyone tells them to shut up. If you jump behind a leader and that leader is taken down, the entire movement is vulnerable.” -- “The internet is something sacred – don’t screw with it, leave it alone,” he said. “If [authorities] are willing to gun down WikiLeaks in broad daylight, they will come down on you as well. If you join us, you have a voice . . . Nobody is going to stop Anonymous unless you pull the plug on the internet.”'

'To improve the quality of the reports, we have chosen to introduce a concept of 'crowd-journalism' as a subform of crowdsourcing. -- This is Operation Leakspin. We believe that all the information provided by the leaked cables should be out in the open for the public to read, discuss, and most of all, understand. We will use as much manpower as possible to make the information found in the cables available to the public. We will speed up the process of uncovering, we will release facts that the media didn’t speak about, and we will summarize the diplomatic leaks into chunks that everybody can understand. The war against censorship should be fought, not only by attacking businesses facilitating it but by actively releasing all the information that can be released, to all the people it can be released to. We are against censorship, and this is how we prove it. This is what Operation Leakspin is about.'

'Dominant Social Theme: These hackers are simply irresponsible. -- Free-Market Analysis: All of a sudden, as a result of Julian Assange's imprisonment, a dominant theme that we never expected to be challenged so soon is front and center. The idea of state monopoly justice has suddenly come under fire by a group of young hackers that are questioning how the state defines criminality. ...we believe that we are witnessing, therefore, yet another important turning point in the evolution of Internet technology. A meme (state monopoly justice), one we did not imagine would be much questioned for years to come, is right in the middle of the current news cycle and larger news conversation. Whether the it is controlled or not is almost beside-the-point. Larger issues are now on the table. We would anticipate over the next few years that the whole issue of Admiralty law will become a good deal more high-profile.'

Alyona: "I'm going to address you as Anon." -- Anon: "We have over 9000 people." -- and doesn't afraid of anything.

'#1. We are not your personal army.'

'RT @anonops: Twitter.com now. Sorry to everybody. See you soon Twitter!!! FIRE FIRE FIRE!!! #anonops #payback #Wikileaks' -- (Later called off. Phew!)

For make benefit glorious internets.

'Anons around the world using "space weapons" against the banks.'

Divided by Zero

'#Update – 12/8/2010 – 5:18 AM: Mastercard.com is still down with 940 computers in the voluntary botnet attacking the site all at once. We have 3 hours 57 minutes of recorded downtime so far. #Update – 12/8/2010 – 8:24 AM: Mastercard.com is still selected as the main target and has not came back online since our last report. 7 hours of downtime and counting. The amount of participants in the attackers chat room have soared to over 2200 people and there are currently over 1,700 computers in the voluntary botnet. Check back frequently for updates.' -- What do you mean, "*They* cut the power"? How could they cut the power, man? They're animals!

'Mastercard, which stopped processing payments to the whistle-blowing site, said the attack had had "no impact" on people's ability to use their cards. But the BBC has been contacted by a payment firm that said its customers had "a complete loss of service". In particular, it said that an authentication service for online payments known as Mastercard's SecureCode, had been disrupted. Other readers have also said that have had problems with online payments. The scale of the problems is still unclear. Mastercard has not responded to the claims.' -- MEDIC!

'DDoS attacks are flying across the Internet like there is no tomorrow. Check back frequently for updates.'

"This is the internet calling."

'The attacks were declared on notorious message-board 4chan and were reportedly in retaliation for anti-piracy efforts against file-sharing websites. Users of 4chan are renowned for online activism and direct action. "Operation Payback", as it was known, was reportedly revenge for the MPAA and RIAA's action against The Pirate Bay. The group has declared it will continue to target other sites involved in anti online piracy activity.'

'Hundreds of thousands of 4chan users and sympathisers from other online communities joined forces to direct massive amounts of traffic to the target sites using a bit of software called the Low-Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC). LOIC offers a simple way of flooding a server with data, and when used by hundreds of users at the same time, it's almost impossible to guard against, as the attacks are massively distributed. It seems that the original target for the assault was an Indian anti-piracy company called AiPlex Software, which had recently admitted to using DDoS tactics to take down filesharing websites, including the Pirate Bay. Panda Security's blog declared the action "the future of cyber protests", and filesharing blog Torrentfreak agreed, saying: "No lawyer, no injunction and no police force can stop these kind of attacks from happening and those carrying them out love the sense of power, the sense of payback they provide."'

'Support for anonymous communication often comes down to a standard set of arguments: people should have a place where they can speak truth to power (blow a whistle on corruption, assess whether an emperor has clothes) without fear of reprisal; they should also have a place where they can be true to themselves (explore an unconventional sexuality, seek treatment for a stigmatized disease) without risking ostracism and worse. But while Poole embraces these arguments, what he says in defense of the anonymity on 4chan is at once less high-minded and (in ways he is only slowly coming to understand) more far-reaching: "People deserve a place to be wrong." -- Names make failure costly, thus discouraging even the attempt to succeed. By the same token, namelessness makes failure cheap--nearly costless, reputation-wise, in a setting like 4chan, where the Anonymous who posted a lame joke five minutes ago might well be the same Anonymous who's mocking it hilariously right now.'

'On late July, 2010, a picture depicting a well-known Anonymous slogan being used by the Oregon Tea Party appeared on reddit. Since the Oregon Tea Party has chosen to claim Anon's modus operandi and—in effect—become one with the hivemind, Anon is encouraging oldfags to embrace the new "Anons" and 'join' them in their crusade against whatever it is they're against. If they want to be associated with Anon, Anon will associate the fuck out of them. All future Anon raids will be conducted not by ebaums but by the Oregon Tea Party be it epilepsy or uploading pr0n to YouTube. And don't forget to let the press (and anyone who'll listen) know that you're doing it for the lulz and for the Oregon Tea Party. Rules 1 & 2 are out the window on this raid and any future raids on behalf of the Oregon Tea Party. The whole world shall feel the wrath of <strike>ebaums</strike> the Oregon Tea Party.' -- OH SHIII

'A phenomenon of great importance will not necessarily receive the attention it merits, and thus we may conclude that there is perhaps something going on this very instant to which we ought to be paying attention if we care to know what the future holds for us, in which case we should take a moment to examine what is novel today for signs that it may prove common tomorrow. -- Having taken a long interest in the subculture from which Anonymous is derived and the new communicative structures that make it possible, I am now certain that this phenomenon is among the most important and under-reported social developments to have occurred in decades, and that the development in question promises to threaten the institution of the nation-state and perhaps even someday replace it as the world’s most fundamental and relevant method of human organization.'

'Your choice to make moves against the pornography industry are not the sole focus of our actions, rather this is the final straw in a long chain of choices that inform us that you are preparing to censor your people, that you are no longer acting in their best interest. You are acting in direct opposition to the best interest of your citizens, and we intend to help them realize this, along with the rest of the globe as a message that we will not allow the internet to be censored by any group, organization, or government. We shall free your people from a country that is oppressing their right to access information; we shall be the shining beacon in the darkness that you are casting over the single most powerful tool available to humanity.'

'In A.D. 2010, war was beginning and on February 10th, Anonymous unleashed a massive Blitzkrieg on Australian government websites in a Shock and Awe commando raid dubbed Operation Titstorm. This marked the opening salvo of a war that had been brewing since March, 2009 when Wikileaks published an Xbox hueg list of dox on websites that The Final Boss of Australia and his sidekick -Communications Minister Stephen Conroy- had decided were too hot for Ausfags to handle without leading to the ruination of the nation and that were to be permab& from the country's delicate Internets tubes by the biggest set of dog curtains this side of The Great Firewall of China. -- ...[after] mocking Anon on national TV, the ceasefire was done for and Anon picked up Conroy's thrown gauntlet and announced that hostilities would resume and that this time, they weren't fucking around. -- "The Australian government will learn that one does not mess with our porn." —Anon'

'Hackers connected with the group Anonymous, known for its war against Scientology, this morning launched a broad attack on government websites. They are protesting against forthcoming internet filtering legislation and the perceived censorship in pornography of small-breasted women (who are thought to be under age) and female ejaculation. Several government sites were down and the hackers have promised to follow up by spamming government offices with pornographic emails, faxes and prank phone calls.' -- DOES NOT FORGIVE

Comment: xXTEDXx: "I love m00t... Without him the internet would just be facebook..."

'The Scientologists can't follow one simple bit of Internet wisdom: Don't feed the trolls. By taking Anonymous as seriously as it has, Scientology has nurtured the one thing Chanology depends on above all: the lulz.'

'the Collective chooses what is Good without regard to societal beliefs, whom the Creator is, or anything associated with how we may otherwise regard new things. Gone, is "Oh, Apple made that? I don't like Apple," gone is, "Jeff likes that movie? Jeff sucks at picking out movies," no longer are there any preconceived notions on what Good is. Good is what the Collective thinks it is. -- Good is a Lie. Anonymous is a Lie. The ideal as improbable as passing a camel through the eye of a needle. -- Anonymous is a lie because it's against nature. As the toad is killed by the scorpion, so then is the Collective dependent upon the Collective. The human searches for patterns, searches for meaning, searches for it's group. As much as we wish to deny it, we are as much a pack animal as the wolf. We agree with those in our pack, and reject those who are not, going so far as to label them, "enemy;" fight against them as though their existence somehow threatens our own.'

Nothing cleanses like daylight.

"We are the force of a new generation. We are the internet incarnate. We are the force of ideas. Spread the good news like wildfire that Anonymous can and will prevail. Every switch will be exalted and every resource be made open. The complex will be made plain, the unexplained explained, and the glory of the network shall be revealed, and all users shall bask in its digital sunrise. Church of Scientology, the game is over. We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. United as one. Divided by zero. Expect us."

"Anonymous is a cultural phenomenon which began on internet image boards. Many such boards require no registration for posting, and every poster remains anonymous. This format of communication is inherently noisy and chaotic. However, the unprecedented openness made possible by such boards has nurtured the appearance of a unique and persistent culture. We are a collection of individuals united by ideas. You likely know Anonymous, although you don't know exactly who we are. We are your brothers and sisters, your parents and children, your superiors and your underlings. We are the concerned citizens standing next to you. Anonymous is everywhere, yet nowhere. Our strength lies in our numbers. Our will as a whole is the combined will of individuals. Our greatest advantage is a knowledge of the fundamentals we share as human beings. This knowledge is a fruit of our anonymity. We are Anonymous. You can be Anonymous, too. Together, we can shape society." -- Expect us.