Poll: So where do you stand on Anonymous and why?

jawakiller

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Jan 14, 2011
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I don't support what they're doing but I do think they're a couple of badasses. I guess its just the rebel in me. Anything that gets you arrested in England makes you awesome. XD Nah, now that I think about it, I'd prolly go to jail the moment I got there.
 

creager91

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Mar 3, 2011
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I will say that I think it would greatly benefit them if they had some form of structure, their anonymity protects them but it also leaves them to be extremely vulnerable as any freelance hacker with some skill could pretend to be one of them, also with the skills that they seem to have if they had some sort of hub they could become like cyber mercenaries and I'll let you all ponder as to how that could be a good thing and how it could go horribly horribly wrong.
 

Trivun

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Dec 13, 2008
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When they're doing good, like tracking down child molesters or that woman who threw the cat in the bin a while ago, then I agree with them. And I agree with their work against Scientology. However, I hate them on a lot of other campaigns, and I especially loathe their support of Wikileaks. I don't trust the government a lot, and I certainly don't support the government implicitly, but nevertheless I realises that there are a lot of things that the government should know that it is, quite frankly, dangerous and irresponsible for the public to know. Hence my support for the arrest of Julian Assange, my disgust and hatred of the site and its contributors, and my hatred of Anonymous supporting it even now.

So overall, it's kind of a case-by-case basis for me... :p
 

Aeshi

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Dec 22, 2009
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I personally think somebody should grab a Shotgun/Flamethrower and find out whether those white masks can stop bullets/fire.

Let's see if they can hack their way out of that.
 

zehydra

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Oct 25, 2009
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Psycho-Toaster said:
Anonymous are not an organisation and they are not united, whatever they might want you to think. They're just anonymous individuals. One group of anonymous people might stand against against something while other support it. You can't form an opinion on their actions because whatever the news might try to scare you with, it's not a "hacker organisation." It is a group that happens to have hackers in it, but they don't all resort to such methods.

People need to stop looking at Anonymous the same way they look at traditional organisations.
Agreed. Anybody can join anonymous, and anybody can leave.

OP, did you know I'm a member? There's nothing cowardly about it.
 

creager91

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Mar 3, 2011
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Psycho-Toaster said:
creager91 said:
I will say that I think it would greatly benefit them if they had some form of structure, their anonymity protects them but it also leaves them to be extremely vulnerable as any freelance hacker with some skill could pretend to be one of them, also with the skills that they seem to have if they had some sort of hub they could become like cyber mercenaries and I'll let you all ponder as to how that could be a good thing and how it could go horribly horribly wrong.
How can you "pretend to be" anonymous? You're either anonymous or you're not.
Well as I understand it and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. But if the government really has trouble or issues with Anon then they could just employ some of their own hackers to just go around and claim to be affiliated with Anon.

Seeing as how Anon has recently been gaining some support for the WBC thing and Wikileaks it would be easy to demonize them more than they have been and cause gerneral hatred of the group and pretty much all around distrust
 

creager91

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Mar 3, 2011
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zehydra said:
Psycho-Toaster said:
Anonymous are not an organisation and they are not united, whatever they might want you to think. They're just anonymous individuals. One group of anonymous people might stand against against something while other support it. You can't form an opinion on their actions because whatever the news might try to scare you with, it's not a "hacker organisation." It is a group that happens to have hackers in it, but they don't all resort to such methods.

People need to stop looking at Anonymous the same way they look at traditional organisations.
Agreed. Anybody can join anonymous, and anybody can leave.

OP, did you know I'm a member? There's nothing cowardly about it.
Oh? i did not know that, sorry if I offended you in anyway but If you could clear some stuff up or maybe correct some stuff I've said that would be appreciated, I only said cowardly because theres no responsibility being taken for the actions just some entity that takes the blame. but feel free to straighten me up if im off a little

EDIT: sorry for the double post guys
 

creager91

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Mar 3, 2011
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Maddyfiren said:
What kind of anonymous are we talking about here, guys? I don't think I have the same one in mind as you people do.
Well which one are you thinking of?
 

katsumoto03

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Feb 24, 2010
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Space Spoons said:
It's difficult for me to form a solid opinion on Anonymous because it's an amorphous entity. One minute you'll see them leading a grass-roots movement against corporations in the interest of protecting average, every day citizens, the next minute you'll see them demanding a 5th grade girl strip off her clothes on webcam, terrorizing her by posting her personal information all over the Internet when she refuses. It's almost literally the best things about the Internet and the worst things about the Internet together under one umbrella term.
This, basically. They're the best and the worst of what the internet has to offer.

I agree with their goals (well, the good stuff they do) and even some of their methods. It's just when they pull a U-turn and become total dicks that I stop supporting them.
 

TeeBs

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Oct 9, 2010
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Anonymous I support, though I think people confuse Anonymous with anyone who can hack. I feel Anonymous the group is founded on good intentions while the "Anonymous" who does the other more questionable stuff are ether a member of Anonymous acting alone or someone who isn't even a part of Anonymous.
 

Zaik

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Jul 20, 2009
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I thought it was hilarious when they wrecked Hal Turner's shit, I thought it was hilarious when they were convincing emos to off themselves and conning women into stripping online then putting the pictures on ED, I thought it was hilarious when they organized worldwide trolling of scientology, and I think it's hilarious that they're wrecking shit all over the place now.

Moralfags or not, it's always been funny that a bunch of random internet nerds get together and ruin stuff for their own amusement.
 

zehydra

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Oct 25, 2009
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creager91 said:
zehydra said:
Psycho-Toaster said:
Anonymous are not an organisation and they are not united, whatever they might want you to think. They're just anonymous individuals. One group of anonymous people might stand against against something while other support it. You can't form an opinion on their actions because whatever the news might try to scare you with, it's not a "hacker organisation." It is a group that happens to have hackers in it, but they don't all resort to such methods.

People need to stop looking at Anonymous the same way they look at traditional organisations.
Agreed. Anybody can join anonymous, and anybody can leave.

OP, did you know I'm a member? There's nothing cowardly about it.
Oh? i did not know that, sorry if I offended you in anyway but If you could clear some stuff up or maybe correct some stuff I've said that would be appreciated, I only said cowardly because theres no responsibility being taken for the actions just some entity that takes the blame. but feel free to straighten me up if im off a little

EDIT: sorry for the double post guys
basically the news paints this picture of Anonymous as this secret, underground society of hackers that mess with stuff they don't like. Anonymous has no goals. It's just the elimination of names to create an internet community where everyone is equal. Since it is very easy to rally large portions of anonymous, and given its underground nature, hackers use this to their advantage.
 

Levi93

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Oct 26, 2009
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I kind of respect what they do(Or at least attempt to do), I've seen a message from them saying :

"We may not agree with what you say, but we will fight to the death for you to say it."

And that is one of the best quotes I've ever read.
 

creager91

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Mar 3, 2011
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Were getting some really good stuff here with predominantly well versed opinions.

To the people that claim they are members is there anything you wanted to clear up? have any of us said something that wasnt true and could be clarified?
 
Aug 25, 2009
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If we're talking about the primarily 4chan based internet troll group that routinely gets into fights with people online, then I have a very negative stance.

Several reasons, mainly that I don't believe in their one single policy. 'I do not agree with what you have to say, but I defend to the death your right to say it.' I don't believe in freedom of speech. My personal views on this are very long and convuluted so I won't get into them but this is basically it. And since this is the only tenet Anonymous hold themselves to it means that we are basically incompatible at the base level.

On a more identifiable level I don't think that Anonymous is a force for much good in this world. For every time they manage to find a paedophile or a cat molestor there are dozens of times when they've harassed children into getting naked, or stalked people in real life and left them threatening messages. Anonymous finds out where people live and attacks them both in the digital plane and the real world. In my mind, this makes them bullies, who laughably think themselves noble defenders of freedom etc.

Anyone remember the 'You Done Goofed' girl? It was an image meme featuring a crying girl and a father yelling incompetently at the internet through her webcam. It was set up to look like the stereotypical redneck father vainly shaking his fist at 'them durned kids.' A story of Anonymous, the proud upstanding geeks being able to laugh at the stupid hillbilly who can't beat them up over a wireless connection. Except that it all started when Anonymous make lewd sexual suggestions to an elementary school girl, including asking her to strip, and then started to send her death threats. The girl ended up under police protection while her father made his ultimately useless rant to try desperately to get them to leave his little girl alone.

And that's the thing. Even when they're doing good it's morally questionable, stalking and cyber terrorism that leaves people frightened and confused, and when they'd not doing good, Anonymous is a collection of the biggest jerks and bullies that you could ever meet, and they have more power than you. Basically it's the easiest way to see how human beings really are. Anonymous were bullied in high school (probably) for being geeks and being weak etc, now they have the power and computer know-how to track people down and attack them, and do they use it responsibly? Do they decide that the cycle of torment has to end somewhere, so they'll do the truly noble thing and stand up for those who need it?

No, they attack the weak and the innocent. SO that's why I don't like them.