No Facehow 'Anonymous' Creates Hate
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WHEN CRIME HASHOW ‘ANONYMOUS’ NO FACECREATES HATE Published as a public service by FREEDOM Magazine This publication aims to inform the public of the nature of the hate group known as “Anonymous” and the damage it has caused. The documents presented are only examples of the harassing tactics used by Anonymous, and by no means represent a complete collection of all such tactics. WHEN CRIME HAS NO FACE HOW ‘ANONYMOUS’ CREATES HATE Table of Contents Behind the Facade of the Anonymous Hate Group.______________________________ 1 Anonymous: In Their Own Words__________________________________________________________________ 5 Anonymous Racism & Religious Hatred_.____________________________________________________9 Anonymous Use of Violent Language and Imagery______________________________15 Murders & Suicides______________________________________________________________________________________________17 Cyber-Terrorism and Terrorist Threats________________________________________________________21 Anonymous Arrests & Convictions _______________________________________________________________31 What the Press Has Reported_________________________________________________________________________37 Anti-Gay Propaganda__________________________________________________________________________________________41 Anonymous Use of Pornography___________________________________________________________________43 Glossary_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________45 1. Behind the Facade of THE ‘ANONYMOUS’ HATE GROUP Introduction devoid of any type of soul or conscience” who live in a place “where taboos do not exist” and A grandmother in Texas, visited by her form “a nameless, faceless, unforgiving mafia.” two biracial grandchildren, is plagued by abusive phone calls, online harassment and a The hatred and violence generated by racist flyer posted in her neighborhood. Anonymous is not limited to the virtual world. Pekka-Eric Auvinen posted a threat on an A 14-year-old boy in Pasadena, California, Anonymous forum before going on a shooting who created a “no-cussing” club, is deluged rampage, stating he was going to “kill people with hate e-mails and death threats—nearly … in the name of anonymous.” He murdered 50,000 per day. nine people before taking his own life. A hip-hop website is hacked and defaced Melbourne resident Jarrad Willis, after with Nazi symbols, fake headlines and posting a threat on an Anonymous forum pictures saturated with racial slurs. to carry out a shopping mall massacre, The common denominator in these committed suicide the day before he was to incidents? “Script kiddies”* and cyber bullies face charges in court. calling themselves “Anonymous,” who get Certain high-profile members of their kicks from ruining other people’s lives. Anonymous have come forward with details In recent years, Anonymous has mounted of the group’s behind-the-scenes criminal hate campaigns against selected targets, activities. Included in this publication are ranging from massive attacks that render excerpts from the stories they have told. websites inaccessible to spreading obscenities Their motto could be summed up in these and degraded imagery on the Internet. words, taken from a video posted by an Anonymous members have infested the Anonymous member on YouTube in response Internet with postings encouraging suicide to a Fox News exposé in July 2007: and murder. They also have engaged in cyberterrorism and more conventional forms of harassment such as telephone bomb threats and vandalism. “We ruin the lives of other According to a YouTube posting from people simply because we can.” an Anonymous member, they are “people * Script kiddie: a derogatory term used to describe those who use malicious scripts and programs developed by others to attack computer systems and networks. 1 How Did Anonymous Begin? Anonymous was born on an online image board called 4chan.org, created in 2004. Anonymous congregated at an online forum known as “/b/”1 where nothing is off-limits, including mutilated bodies and bestiality. Later, some Anonymous members moved from 4chan to 7chan because 4chan had “deprived us of our jailbait” (referring to child pornography). While 7chan no longer Guy Fawkes mask exists, Anonymous has created several other Anonymous claims to have no leaders, but “chan” image boards where they post porn, there is clearly a hierarchy within the group. denigrating and obscene comments and racial slurs. One Anonymous organizer is Gregg Housh, convicted in 2005 for conspiracy In December 2004, Encyclopedia to violate copyright laws in a software Dramatica2 was created, and Anonymous piracy operation. In August 2008, Housh material began appearing there. According to was charged with willfully disturbing and Wired magazine, Encyclopedia Dramatica is a interrupting religious worship services at the “wikified lexicon of all things /b/.”3 Church of Scientology in Boston. He was “The Sekrit Code of Anonymous” was ordered by the court to stay away from the published on Encyclopedia Dramatica, Church and placed on criminal probation. stating: “Anonymous is devoid of humanity, The Anonymous ringleader in Melbourne, morality, pity, and mercy.” Benjamin Waghorn, was arrested in October When Anonymous members engage in 2010 after assaulting a Church member. He their so-called real-life “raids,” they hide was charged in December 2010. behind masks, such as the image of 17th- Sydney Anonymous leader Hudson century anarchist Guy Fawkes, to conceal Carrad was dragged off by police and read their identities while infringing upon the his rights when he attempted to provoke rights of others. violence in front of a Church of Scientology in September 2010. 1. /b/ is a “random” category on 4chan.org, where users can post images of any kind. It can also refer to a state of mind typified by /b/. 2. Encyclopedia Dramatica is a collection of obscenities, racist images and anti-Semitic, irreverent postings, sometimes referred to as a “spoof” of Wikipedia. 3. “Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: Put the Blame on Griefers, the Sociopaths of the Virtual World,” Julian Dibbell, Wired, Issue 16.02, Jan. 18, 2008. 2 Stated Goal of Anonymous from outside and in, we have all the time in the world.” The following words are taken from online postings by Anonymous members. The “Anonymous Manifesto of While some members may claim other goals Philosophic Condition” states: and intentions, or claim these are merely a “Right or wrong? No. We destroy for “joke,” they cannot divorce themselves from destruction’s sake. the hate that Anonymous threatens and “Welcome to nihilism made manifest in promotes. Western Civilization. “We will stop at nothing until we’ve “Strong were the Nazis, who worshiped achieved our goal. Permanent destruction of might and power to destroy. the identification role.” “Strong nihilism has emerged in “Anything standing in our way, resentment of a superfluous society. doesn’t deserve to live. We are void of “Anonymous has achieved a persona. human restraints, taught to never forgive. Anthropologists would call it a ‘death cult.’ Answering the question of who we are We have subjugated our individuality for is a must. We are Anonymous, indeed. our thirst for hatred. ... We have shattered Therefore, Expect us.” lives.” Anonymous Doctrine In short, Anonymous is poisoning the In a “Message to New Anon from Old Internet with their subversive writings. Anon,” Anonymous members state: Racism and Religious Hatred “Some maladjusted Asian shoots up his Anonymous has targeted blacks, Jews and university, we laugh. Fifty-thousand die Muslims with their hate propaganda. They in North Korea, we laugh. AIDS ravages a have denigrated people of all faiths for their continent, we laugh. religious beliefs with a barrage of demeaning “We are human nature unencumbered images and obscenities. by pointless ethics, foolish moralities or arbitrary laws and restrictions. “We have no culture, we have no “Anonymous is devoid of laws, written or otherwise. We are an autonomous collective, each an humanity, morality, pity and insignificant part of a whole. … We do mercy.” not feel remorse. We will tear you apart 3 In one instance, Anonymous launched Even a brief visit to their online forums an online attack on two popular hip-hop and websites reveals that Anonymous is in websites, defacing them with swastikas and fact a “death cult” as stated in the Anonymous racial slurs against blacks. The hackers also Manifesto. stole personal information on employees of Who can say how many deaths may have one of the sites. resulted from Anonymous postings? Racist, anti-Semitic and other anti-religious Cyberterrorism and Terrorist Threats images and postings abound on Anonymous Fox News aired a special report on sites. Some examples are included herein; Anonymous in July 2007, after Anonymous others were so offensive they could not be hacked a MySpace account and plastered it included. with images of gay pornography. Calls for Violent Action, Murder and In response, Anonymous assaulted Fox Suicide News computers with massive attacks Anonymous members have directed from multiple computers designed to debased and perverse postings to young overload Fox’s computers and make them people, often emotionally vulnerable, goading inaccessible—known as a Distributed Denial them to take their own lives. They have of Service, or “DDoS” attack. posted photographs and instructions online In early 2008, Anonymous launched 141 encouraging suicide—and