Greetings world, We are Anonymous.
Originating in 2003, what began as a relatively small vigilante
cyber group has expanded and transformed into a continuation
of the Civil-Rights movement. Today, thanks to our current
technology, the Civil-Rights movement has spread to the internet
and across the globe. As well as addressing longstanding
issues, the challenges faced have now grown to encompass the
people of all nations. Here are 10 Anonymous Triumphs.
#10: The Hal Turner Raid.
Beginning in late 2006, Anonymous focused on American
white nationalist and Holocaust rejecter, Hal Turner. Between
December 2006 and January 2007, individuals associating
themselves with the Anonymous movement took Turner’s website
offline, costing him thousands of dollars in bandwidth bills.
Turner later tried to sue various websites, including 4-Chan,
eBaum’s World, and 7-Chan, however his plea for an
injunction fell upon unsympathetic ears. After failing to receive
letters from the court, Turner’s lawsuit lapsed.
As well as shutting Turner’s website down, Anonymous was
able to gain access to his private servers where it was found
he was an informant for the FBI. Turner lost all credibility
within the white nationalist movement once he was exposed,
and he has since been convicted of threatening to kill Chicago
judges.
#9: The Chris Forcand Arrest.
In December of 2007, 53-year-old internet predator, Chris
Forcand, was arrested and charged with luring two children
under the age of 14 into sexual acts. Forcand was caught by
individuals associated with Anonymous who were posing as
children in an effort to collect evidence against child molesters.
After being propositioned by Force and with revealing photos,
the individuals contacted authorities. This was the first time an
internet predator was arrested by the police as a result of
internet vigilantism.
#8: Project Chanology.
The 2008 protests against Scientology, known as Project
Chanology, gave the newly formulating Anonymous movement
worldwide recognition. The situation began when a church-
produced interview with Tom Cruise was leaked to YouTube.
The church tried issuing a copyright violation claim against
YouTube, and their attempts to censor the internet incited a
swift response.
In January of 2008, Anonymous released its “Message to
Scientology”:
Protests around the world soon followed, and due to its
association with a stick figure known as Epic Fail Guy, which
was commonly used as an identifier among 4-Chan members,
the Guy Fawkes mask made its first debut in the Anonymous
movement. Guy Fawkes, as many know, failed at his
endeavours. The mask was originally intended to brand
Scientology a failure as well, however almost immediately, the
mask became associated instead with the character ‘V’ from the
movie, V for Vendetta. The Church of Scientology has since
been in the spotlight for its cult-like practices, which allegedly
includes imprisoning and financially exploiting its members.
#7: The Iranian Election Protests.
In 2009, allegations arose of vote rigging after the Iranian
presidential election. Thousands of Iranians took to the streets
in what has been described as the “biggest anti government
protests since the 1979 Islamic revolution.” Anonymous, in
collaboration with The Pirate Bay and various Iranian hackers,
launched a support site called Anonymous Iran. The site
currently has a little over 86,000 members, and allows for
information exchange between Iran and the world.
#6: Operation DarkNet.
Operation DarkNet targeted child pornography sites, beginning
with the hack of a prominent site called Lolita City. Beginning
in October of 2011, Anonymous hackers began the operation by
removing links to pornographic images and videos on Hidden
Wiki, which was located on Tor’s Hidden Service Protocol.
After a series of D-DoS attacks, 1,589 names of Lolita City
users were eventually released to the public, including their
username, volume of images uploaded, and age of account.
Interpol and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were invited
to investigate further records and conduct followups.
#5: Operation Russia.
In 2012, Anonymous hackers successfully infiltrated emails
belonging to prominent pro-Kremlin activists and officials.
Among those hacked were the head of the Federal Agency for
Youth Affairs, Vasily Yakemenko, Kristina Potupchik, the press
secretary for the Nashi Youth Movement, and the deputy head
of the Department for Internal Affairs at the Presidential
Administration, Oleg Khorokhordin. The information within the
emails provided evidence which enabled many to accuse
Yakemenko and his colleagues of paying bloggers to publish
stories and commentary in favor of Vladimir Putin on negative
press reports published on the internet.
#4: The Judge Rotenberg Center.
Those with the Anonymous movement focused on the Judge
Rotenberg Center for children and young adults with special
needs in March of 2012 after reports surfaced of abuse and
torture. Hundreds seeking medical attention at this facility were
subjected to cruel and inhumane forms of punishment, including
painful electric shock treatments, prolonged restraints, and food
denial. Five more patients died there.
Anonymous announced in a YouTube video that the center and
those affiliated were all targets. After hacking the website,
names and addresses of the center’s sponsors, lobbyists,
lawyers and supporters, as well as the founder, were all
publicly posted on Paste-bin.
#3: The Steubenville Rape Case.
On the night of August 11, 2012, an intoxicated high school
girl was sexually assaulted in public by her peers, several of
which documented the act and posted it online. Many adults
within the school tried to cover the incident and were later
indicted for obstructing and hindering the investigation.
Anonymous released an incriminating video on January 1st of
2013 that showed the self-proclaimed “rape crew” the night of
the attack, all of which appeared to find the incident amusing.
One of the football program boosters who allegedly tried to
help cover the case was targeted by Anonymous hackers as
well, and a number of emails and photos were released to the
public.
#2: Operation Charlie Hebdo.
On the morning of January 7th 2015, two armed gunmen
stormed the offices of the Paris-based satirical newspaper,
Charlie Hebdo, killing 11 people, and injuring 11 others.The
gunmen have identified themselves as Islamist terrorists
belonging to a Yemen-based branch of Al-Qaeda. Additional
attacks followed the Charlie Hebdo shooting, claiming another
five lives, and injuring another 11. Anonymous has since offered
condolences to family members of the victims, and has declared
war on Islamic extremists. The attack has been condemned by
Anonymous as an assault on freedom of expression, and
Jihadist websites and social media accounts that support Islamic
terrorism have been targeted with the aim of disrupting, and
shutting them down.
#1: Operation Ice Isis.
Anonymous began an attack on February 9th 2015 against the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s social media accounts, as
well as internet-based recruitment drives. As a result, those in
the movement have successfully destroyed months of recruiting
work. By February 10th, at least 800 ISIS-affiliated Twitter
accounts were closed, and within the first three days of the
operation, 1,000 ISIS websites were shut down.
We are anonymous.
We are legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us.