John Funk said:
However, that doesn't mean that a similar group - or a splinter branch of Anonymous - couldn't be doing the same in its absence.
Or Geohot and hes baby soul fueled death machine. /sarcasm
You know, Anonymous cant have splintered branches working without its knowledge, because then they are separeted from the mass and are therefore not part of the hivemind. Same thing with that I cant just burn houses by myself or with group of friends and say (the) anonymous did it because I visit 4chan daily.
What could happen thought, is that if they did agree with my cause and my claim of being anonymous, they might allow to put anonymous watermark on my actions and therefore make it part of anonymous history. Otherwise they would just make me an namefag, so whenever someone tries to argue that anon has burned houses, they could just point out that it wasnt anon but that "pyrofaggot" etc.
And before anyone starts, they cant keep secrets. So no secret anonymous branches either. The whole point of their power is that they spread every information among "themselfs" aka the whole fucking internet.