Anonymous

Anonymous. Who are they? You, me, him, her, us, them? The point is to not know. This allows for freedom to say whatever you want, without retribution (and hey, I named this blog because I'm going to talk about free speech, so here you go). Some abuse it. Others use it wisely.

And then there is the so-called "Internet Hate Machine." The old wave was just a green man, but now they have a face: The Guy Fawkes mask, best known for V's face in V for Vendetta.

Just as V stood up for his rights in the graphic novel and the movie, so is Anonymous, or, as they are known among themselves, Anon, so called for being able to post in certain forums anonymously.

Anon's main target in the fight for free speech is the Church of Scientology (CoS). On January 14, 2008, a video of Tom Cruise talking about how wonderful the CoS is was leaked onto YouTube, whereupon the CoS demanded it be taken down under threats of litagation.

Anon was displeased at the censorship, and so what is known as Project Chanology began. Name after such sites as 4chan.org, popular anonymous-posting forums, the operation began 2 days later, on the 18th.

It began with less than legal means, as Anon is a collective everyday people, including many hackers (or, as the CoS labeled them, "internet terrorists"), although, contrary to popular belief, is not made soley of hackers. Denial of service attacks, which crippled the CoS's local and global websites, were followed by black faxes and prank calls. A video was released to YouTube declaring the mental war on the CoS by Anon. Anon "Google bombed" the search terms "dangerous cult" to have Google display the CoS's main website as the first item shown.

Phase 2 of Project Chanology began on February 2nd, with about 150 protestors standing outside the Orlando, Florida branch of the CoS. This was only the beginning.

On February 10th, starting in Sydney, Austraila (due to the Internation Date Line), more than 7,000 people protested in over 100 cities worldwide, many disguising their faces, in an effort to keep themselves Anonymous. Many wore the aforementioned Guy Fawkes masks. More protests would follow in the coming months.

Finally, Anonymous launched a campaign to stop the CoS from being exempt through taxes, claiming that the "Church" is nothing more than a "cult" and thus is not exempt. During the protest in Sydney, the chant of "Church on the left, cult on the right" rang down the streets, in reference to the CoS's building being next to the Catholic Church.

So, what was Anon fighting for? According to Anon themselves, they fight for religious freedom and against internet censorship, in an attempt to preserve their right to Free Speech.

For more information, go here. Or, here. Ok, maybe not that last one, but it sure was funny, wasn't it?

As Anon says: We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.


Can't stop the signal.