Anonymous

[Ace High]

To me, the Anonymous collective is one of the most amazing social movements in history. A decentralized group of hackers concerned with human rights and bringing an end to tyranny and censorship. They have done such actions such as supporting Arab spring movements and overthrows of oppressive Islamic governments. They hacked Westboro Baptist's site, they are supporters of Snowden, and they also actively target pedophiles as well. It is even theorized that they played a role in organizing the Occupy Wall Street movement.

So, how do you view them? This is a fortuitous occurrence that we have them because although they do not identify with leftists, their goals and ideals match what we want to achieve as well. Plus, we are very lucky that these people are on our side. What if they were a group of neo nazis attempting to further the white power structure? We would be in a ton of trouble.

Also, if anyone can offer more information on how they formed, that would be great. Of course they originated on the image board, 4chan, a website that I hardly see the appeal of. But it is still kind of difficult to trace their movements over time.

Thoughts?

[tuwix]

To my anarchist soul, their activities are certainly appealing. But form other side there is lack of class perspective there.

[hatzel]

What if they were a group of neo nazis attempting to further the white power structure? We would be in a ton of trouble.

Would we, though? Would we really?

[Ace High]

To my anarchist soul, their activities are certainly appealing. But form other side there is lack of class perspective there.

You're right they never mention class struggle as a problem. BUT their actions are doing nothing but helping us and their end goal it does seem is to bring about economic equality and the toppling of the current power structure.

[Ace High]

Would we, though? Would we really?

We would. These people would have disabled the Revleft forums in a second if they were against us. Instead, they are taking down pro fascist and right wing hate sites and stuff like that.

[Comrade #138672]

Not sure. Since they lack a real / unifying ideology, it's hard to tell. Some, or most of them, tend more towards liberalism and libertarianism than socialism. Sure, they tend to reject intellectual property, but that's as far as it seems to go.

This doesn't mean that there are no socialists among them, though. In fact, there are even Anonymous "members" on RevLeft. It's just that I doubt that it's their primary tendency.

[BIXX]

We would. These people would have disabled the Revleft forums in a second if they were against us. Instead, they are taking down pro fascist and right wing hate sites and stuff like that.

They haven't disabled stormfront.

Honestly, anonymous is nothing to me. I don't care about them. I mean, they've done good shit, but also a good amount of bad.

[hatzel]

We would. These people would have disabled the Revleft forums in a second if they were against us.

Interesting how you consider that 'a ton of trouble.' Personally I see it more as a minor inconvenience, compared to the kind of things actual neo-Nazis spend their time doing, stuff that can be a little more troublesome than fiddling about on the internet, you know?

[Zealot]

I've always thought of them as a motley crew of hackers who realised they could accomplish more by working together rather than trying to hack each others web forums. They've done some impressive stuff but are kind of overrated sometimes, in my opinion.

[d3crypt]

They haven't shut down the nsa programs :(

[PC LOAD LETTER]

The vast majority of them are ignorant kids who installed Low Orbit Ion Cannon and point it at whatever IRC channel is being used for C&C at the time, which makes them a voluntary botnet used for DDoS attacks. There's a handful of talented people that know their way around C, *nix, etc, and can actually find vulnerabilities and write their own exploits (ex, they are actual hackers). There's a slightly larger group outside of the legit hackers who can do basic stuff like SQL injections, use prewritten exploits to deface web sites, etc, the script kiddies as they're called in hacking circles. The rest, the vast majority, are just followers who latch on to the identity for internet fame.


It can take months to penetrate trusted networks. Most of the kids who latch on to the 'anonymous' identity don't have the attention span or the knowledge to do so. Some of the 'anonymous' people do, but they're the minority.

[piet11111]

I do not really care about anonymous but it does make me very happy when they take down those who deserve it.

The problem i have with them is that they seem to completely lack a clear program (that i may or may not support) and hacker x might have an issue with problem y and has his friends support him to take down the websites of problem y.

As much as they seem to dislike facists some parts of anonymous might be just as willing to take us down.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

Like most of the folk in this thread, I have mixed feelings. I find them interesting as an example of popular political consciousness - conspiracy theory, vague anarchic sentiment, contradictory distrust of bankers coupled with faith in free enterprise. I'm not saying all of anonymous hold all of those beliefs, but they're things I've noticed.
I think they speak to what the radical left ought to be speaking about, and that looking at them is revealing in terms of "where people are at".
Which reminds me: Plan for this week - Drop acid, take speed, and write in one sitting an epic tract called, "I Don't Care Who Knocked Down the Towers".

[Rational Radical]

Mehh I follow them on Twitter for news but they mean nothing really, they're on our side though.

[Ace High]

Mehh I follow them on Twitter for news but they mean nothing really, they're on our side though.

That is exactly how I get my news, lol. You must admit YourAnonNews is on the spot with their reports.

[Whale]

We would. These people would have disabled the Revleft forums in a second if they were against us. Instead, they are taking down pro fascist and right wing hate sites and stuff like that.

I wish that were so, but Storefront is still up unfortunately...

[Ace High]

I wish that were so, but Storefront is still up unfortunately...

Yeah I'm actually very surprised they haven't targeted them. Well, not to my knowledge at least, but I don't think they have.

[MarxSchmarx]

they're on our side though.

I must admit I don't get that impression. Their targets are real lowballs like Scientology, EDLs and financial criminals. Hardly the capitalist system itself. I doubt any upper middle class liberals feel threatened by them.

[Ace High]

I must admit I don't get that impression. Their targets are real lowballs like Scientology, EDLs and financial criminals. Hardly the capitalist system itself. I doubt any upper middle class liberals feel threatened by them.

Yes but they are anarchists. Generally, their goals do align with ours even if they don't exactly call out capitalism as a whole. But the little steps they are taking will end up destroying capitalism. It's just another movement that will help our ideals. They have alot of enlightened views like we do. They seek to end racism inherent in the white power structure even if they may not see the big picture or think of it like that.

[Agathor]

I used to hang around in the irc channels when I was young and dumb enough to think that we were being very clever and funny by ruining the lives of people who had done very little wrong. Hacking was never a big part of it until the last few years, and anyone who knows the basics of hacking knows that it's pretty much impossible for anonymous to be a hacking organization because all of their communications are public IRC networks. How do you keep 0day exploits secret on that medium?

It's funny that people have forgotten that the term "Anonymous" is just a reference to 4chan and 7chan - it's not an organization.

[Agathor]

Yes but they are anarchists. Generally, their goals do align with ours even if they don't exactly call out capitalism as a whole. But the little steps they are taking will end up destroying capitalism. It's just another movement that will help our ideals. They have alot of enlightened views like we do. They seek to end racism inherent in the white power structure even if they may not see the big picture or think of it like that.

Embarrassing to read.

[adipocere]

Anonymous seems to be made up of forum trolls, web news/blogs and intelligence assets. It's all very contrived and it strikes me as artificial. Beyond that, I can't imagine anything really useful coming from Anonymous, especially in the current surveillance climate.
I wouldn't be surprised if Anonymous is just an FBI tool to herd angry young libertarians toward political inertia.

[adipocere]

Embarrassing to read.

Sounds like something out of a PR firm.

[Agathor]

Sounds like something out of a PR firm.

Or somethings Rik Mayall would have said on an episode of The Young Ones.

[Ace High]

Hey fair enough, lol. But I do stand by my statement, as...uhh....not eloquent as it may be. The way I worded it might have sounded stupid, but what's stupid about the point I was making? Mainly that Anonymous' goals are very similar to ours because they generally target right wing sites and government tyranny?

[RedCloud]

Hey guys. Usually I just lurk and stay logged out but I was skimming through topics and I wanted to give my input here.

Sorry, I can't help but to disagree with you, OP... You keep mentioning a "they" and a "group" but I don't see who/which. There is no they, there isn't some manifesto to be anonymous, you don't have to be a hacker or even tech savvy. It requires just that you just... Be anonymous. They are not a "social group". It just happens that people, for obvious reasons, use that to attribute the work to. In other words, no group did any computer hacking, for example. Just someone who identified as anonymous.

I have seen anons on Stormfront as well. Some have hacked ARA sites or blogs. When you see people out in public wearing V masks, you are not seeing "Anonymous" itself. The media just eats it up and that's why people believe it is an "underground hacker group" when it's really not.

What I'm getting at, is that literally anyone can be anonymous, or "a part of" anonymous, simply by being anonymous, regardless off social, political or other affiliations. There is no group or social movement. If they were all anons would have a unified goal or something. They don't, many disagree with each other and don't support what other anons do.

[BIXX]

Hey fair enough, lol. But I do stand by my statement, as...uhh....not eloquent as it may be. The way I worded it might have sounded stupid, but what's stupid about the point I was making? Mainly that Anonymous' goals are very similar to ours because they generally target right wing sites and government tyranny?

But... But... They don't. Most of them are lolbertarians, from the people who claim to be anonymous I've spoke to.

[RedCloud]

But... But... They don't. Most of them are lolbertarians, from the people who claim to be anonymous I've spoke to.
I can attest to that. Many do. I think the majority identify themselves as libertarian. Many also identify with the typical Democrat / Republican, Soviets, Nazis, white nationalists, etc. Some are RevLeftists and anarchists. I consider myself Anonymous as well. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I would not say they're on our side as a whole too.

[Agathor]

Hey guys. Usually I just lurk and stay logged out but I was skimming through topics and I wanted to give my input here.

Sorry, I can't help but to disagree with you, OP... You keep mentioning a "they" and a "group" but I don't see who/which. There is no they, there isn't some manifesto to be anonymous, you don't have to be a hacker or even tech savvy. It requires just that you just... Be anonymous. They are not a "social group". It just happens that people, for obvious reasons, use that to attribute the work to. In other words, no group did any computer hacking, for example. Just someone who identified as anonymous.

I have seen anons on Stormfront as well. Some have hacked ARA sites or blogs. When you see people out in public wearing V masks, you are not seeing "Anonymous" itself. The media just eats it up and that's why people believe it is an "underground hacker group" when it's really not.

What I'm getting at, is that literally anyone can be anonymous, or "a part of" anonymous, simply by being anonymous, regardless off social, political or other affiliations. There is no group or social movement. If they were all anons would have a unified goal or something. They don't, many disagree with each other and don't support what other anons do.

This pompous bullshit drives me fucking mad. Anonymous used to be a jokey name people from 4chan /b/ used when they raided websites like Habbo Hotel and Stickam, because on that site all of the user's names defaulted to 'anonymous'.

One day a few hundred super edgy kids from 711chan.org decided to raid Scientology with prank phone calls, ddos attacks, pizza spam and all the usual stuff. There was a genuine hacker group (g00ns) hanging around at the time who collaborated with a couple of the raids, and joined in with this one. The Guardian got confused and started to report that Scientology was being attacked by a group of internet hacker vigilantes called 'Anonymous'. Because the super edgy kids from 711chan led pretty sad uneventful lives they decided to play along with this new identity and do what they could to remain in the media (stupid videos, press releases, meaningless ddos attacks). This has continued to the present day, with every major protest accompanied by a pompous youtube video and a bunch of meaningless ddos attacks. 'Anonymous' is still just a bunch of kids on an irc network trying to figure out how they're going to get in the papers.

[BIXX]

Those damn V for Vendetta masks... Why? Why'd they do that?

[Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant']

Those damn V for Vendetta masks... Why? Why'd they do that?

...and the money goes to Time Warner

[BIXX]

...and the money goes to Time Warner

Yeah, exactly.

Funnily enough, none of the people from 4Chan or anything really take "anonymous" seriously, even though most people seem to think it is the home of the "anonymous group".

[MarxSchmarx]

I'm not sure there's anything really much more productive to be had in this thread, so I'm moving it to chit chat.

[cyu]

This is a fortuitous occurrence that we have them because although they do not identify with leftists, their goals and ideals match what we want to achieve as well. Plus, we are very lucky that these people are on our side. What if they were a group of neo nazis attempting to further the white power structure? We would be in a ton of trouble.




Anonymous is possible (maybe even inevitable) because of the anarchic nature of the internet. The internet has basically freed them to do what they do without requiring permission. For hacker-types that support more pro-fascist ideologies, they already have other avenues for their behavior - for example, those hackers may have already signed up to work for the NSA.




They haven't disabled stormfront.



Stormfront probably means as little to them as revleft - in other words, websites that most mainstream people probably never even heard of. On the other hand, if Facebook or Google were to do something scummy, taking them down might be something they'd like the bragging rights to.


Being known for taking down Stormfront would be like me getting the autograph of my neighbor. I could try to show it off to other people, but nobody would care.