Anonymous

Anonymous.

Hackers?

Activists?

People just like you and I?

Who are these guys?

Anonymous    is a loosely associated international network of activists and  hacktivists. A website associated with the group describes it as "an internet gathering" with "a very loose and decentralized command structure that operates on ideas rather than directives". The group became known for a series of well-publicized hacks and  distributed denial-of-service  (DDoS) attacks on government, religious, and corporate websites.

Origin
Anonymous originated in 2003 on the imageboard 4chan, representing the concept of many online and offline community users simultaneously existing as an anarchic, digitized global brain. Anonymous members (known as "Anons") can be distinguished in public by the wearing of stylised Guy Fawkes masks.

Controversy
In its early form, the concept was adopted by a decentralized online community acting ano nymously in a  coordinated manner, usually toward a loosely  self-agreed goal, and primarily focused on entertainment, or " lu lz ". Beginning with 2008's  Project Chanology —a series of protests, pranks, and hacks targeting the  Church of  Scientol ogy —the Anonymous collective became increasingly associated with collaborative, international hacktivism. Anons undertook protests and other actions in retaliation against anti- digital pir acy  campaigns by motion picture and recording industry trade associations. Later targets of Anonymous hacktivism included  government agencies of the US, Israel, Tunisia, Uganda, and others; child pornography si tes; copyright protection agencies; the  Westbor o Baptist Church ; and corporations such as  PayP al ,  Mas terCard ,  Vi sa, and  Son y. Anons have publicly supported  WikiLeaks  and the  Occupy movement. Related groups  Lulz Sec  and  Opera tion AntiSec  carried out cyberattacks on US government agencies, media, video game companies, military contractors, military personnel, and police officers.

Projects
Anonymous' current project is Project Mayhem, initiated in December 2012, which invites people from everywhere in the world to share information about what is happening in their communities.