Now famed internet group Anonymous has been no stranger to the media spotlight over the past few years. Originating on 4chan where users post images and comments under the common moniker “anonymous”, the idea of a group called Anonymous quickly took shape and soon grew to become something more than just a common reference for people choosing to interact online without assuming a consistent identity.
The idea behind Anonymous now is that it is a structureless organisation of individuals with no set leadership. According to the inherent principles of Anonymous, anyone can join or claim to be part of anonymous. Over the past few years Anonymous, often referred to as a “hive mind” has developed a reputation for being a “hacktivist” group, and has acted out against numerous organisations including Habbo Hotel, Hal Turner, Youtube, The Church of Scientology and most recently, Sony.
Operation Sony has garnered the group the most attention so far, with Anonymous even being implicated in the theft of over 100 million users’ personal information from the PlayStation Network. Supposed Anonymous “leaders” denied the allegations that the group is involved with the recent attacks on the PSN, however, as Kotaku’s Luke Plunkett points out: “the fact they’re seen as “leaders” at all may have become a bit of a problem.”
According to Thinq_, a splinter group has emerged as a result of core Anonymous principles not being adhered to by certain members. According to splinter group members, certain respected members have “crossed the barrier, involving themselves in a leadership role”, which is “not how things were set up”.
One well known user going by the name Ryan is accused of intimidating other Anonymous users with the threat of a botnet of “hijacked” computers, of which he is rumoured to have control of around 800,000 machines. “We all knew Ryan was dangerous,” the Anon said. “Just how dangerous nobody was quite sure. He has always had little outbursts. We knew one day there would be a massive one, but we were never sure when.”
A member of the splinter group have told Thinq_ that he “was never a fan of OpSony”, going on to say “they just like seeing things destroyed.” The split is recent, and according to Anonymous members, “until last week we were all on the same side.”
One thing the splinter group and Anonymous do agree on, is that they were not involved in the recent security breach which saw millions of individuals’ personal information stolen from the PSN. However, given that Anonymous users are encouraged to work independently towards a unified goal, there is really no way to know if the recent breach was the action of an Anonymous user doing just that. Indeed, the fact remains that the famous Anonymous calling card which was left behind in the hacked server – “We are legion” – suggests that this may be the case.
Anonymous turns on itself, breakaway faction forms << Comments and views
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