Who Are Anonymous?

Anonymous' organization

Anonymous isn’t truly an organization; not in any traditional sense. They are a large, decentralized group of individuals who share common interests and web haunts. There are no official members, guidelines, leaders, representatives or unifying principles. Rather, Anonymous is a word that identifies the millions of people, groups, and individuals on and off of the internet who, without disclosing their identities, express diverse opinions on many topics.

Being "Anonymous" is much more a quality or a self-definition than a membership. Each project under the Anonymous banner may have a whole different set of instigators. Leadership, when it exists, is informal and carried out in chat channels, forums, IM and public calls to action online. No one's meeting in a board room.

The name Anonymous itself is inspired by the perceived anonymity under which users post images and comments on the Internet. Usage of the term Anonymous in the sense of a shared identity began on imageboards.

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History of Anonymous Hacktivism

We are Anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.

-Anonymous

Long before they became vigilantes in the Wikileaks cyberwars, Anonymous was conducting large-scale “raids” against their enemies.

The Habbo Hotel raids

Probably the first time 4chan users banded together under the moniker Anonymous was in order to harass the users of Habbo Hotel, a cartoonish social network designed as a virtual hotel.

As early as 2006, Anonymous would "raid" Habbo, blocking its usual users from moving around. The first major raid is known as the "Great Habbo Raid of '06," and a subsequent raid the following year is known as the "Great Habbo Raid of '07."There appears to be some connection to the news of an Alabama amusement park banning a two-year-old toddler affected by AIDS from entering the park's swimming pool.

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," flooding the site with internet sayings, and forming swastika-like formations. Then when all their black cartoon avatars got banned, they'd call Habbo racist. This was all done "for the lulz," or just for fun.

At this point, Anonymous’ actions had not taken on a political bent. Some members of Anon would argue it was better that way.

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