Publication Name: PESA News
Publication Issue: 121
Date Published: December 2012
Number of Pages: 1
Abstract:
Anonymous is a loosely associated hacktivist group. Hacktivism being the use of computers and computer networks as a means of protest to promote political ends. Anonymous originated in 2003 on the imageboard 4chan, representing the concept of many online and offline community users simultaneously existing as an anarchic, digitised global brain. It is also generally considered to be a blanket term for members of certain internet subcultures, a way to refer to the actions of people in an environment where their actual identities are not known. It strongly opposes internet censorship and surveillance, and has hacked various government websites. It has also targeted major security corporations. In public, its members are distinguished at various protests by wearing Guy Fawkes masks.