ties to the Ku Klux Klan. The release of the list coincides with Guy Fawkes day, who’s

face has been used to symbolically represent the group, in the form of a stylized mask.

Not unlike Guy Fawkes himself, Anonymous has been called dangerous, disruptive, and infamous.

So what exactly do we know about Anonymous, and just how powerful are they?

Well, Anonymous is an interesting phenomenon. While many media outlets refer to them as

a concentrated group, they can be more accurately described as a loose movement. Anybody can

join, and there is no central, singular representation of the group. There are certain themes more

common to Anonymous members, such as internet activism and obviously, anonymity. But there

is no way to ascribe broad qualities to the group, or even know how many members there

are. The problem with quantifying Anonymous, is that there is no criteria for being a member.

What we do know, is that Anonymous began in the early 2000s on the image and message board

4chan. It naturally represented the internet’s inherent ability to promote anonymous discussion.

Within this framework, popular ideas gained more traction, regardless of their origin.

And without the negative consequences associated with being identified, the group became increasingly

provocative and chaotic, touting anti-establishment values, and a disruption of the status quo.

They first gained attention in 2008 for organizing an online attack on Scientology. Although

the attack consisted of mostly juvenile pranks, like faxing black paper to the organization,

or making crank calls, the sheer number of contributors was overwhelming. The ability

to collectively overpower a common target led to their most consistent tool: DDOS attacks.

In a nutshell, DDOS, or “distributed denial of service” is when a website receives more

requests than it can handle, causing it to crash. Through this method, Anonymous has

been able to take down websites belonging to any groups they disagree with. But of course,

taking down a website is relatively inconsequential, so is Anonymous really all that powerful?

Well, as the group has evolved, it has attracted members with the ability to do more than simply

annoy, or disrupt. A spin-off organization, known as “LulzSec”, has been implicated

in hacking and releasing personal information, leading to considerably more real-world effects.

E-mail accounts and passwords belonging to people connected to Sony Pictures, and the

US Senate were made public; even the CIA’s website was briefly shut down. This resulted

in the arrests of several leading members of LulzSec.

However, those tactics, alongside existing “internet activism”, have led to global

events like the Arab Spring, which was only possible through coordinated and anonymous

planning amongst a huge number of like-minded people. It might be misleading to ask “How

Powerful is Anonymous”, when what Anonymous really represents is the changing nature of

collective action, vigilante justice, and communication fostered by the internet.

One of Anonymous’ most powerful symbols is the peculiar mask their members wear known

as the Guy Fawkes mask. To learn more about the real-life man who inspired it, check out

Seeker Daily’s video at the top. Some might argue that Anonymous’ tactics are borderline

online trolling. Is that protected speech? Find out in our video down below. Thanks for

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