The Anonymous Have A Global Protest November 5th What Is It For

Does the Anonymous group actually exist?

I'll start by saying the Anonymous group does not exist. When you hear Anonymous, you think of swarms of Guy Fawkes masks, yes? It's easy to conjure up some sort of "group" or club, but that is not what they are. They do not have ranks, official titles, or any structure. There are no set standards of communication, nor any set standards of procedure. Some Anons are hacktivists. Some take to the streets in protest. Some just scare people with their masks. Now you may ask yourself "but the person who just scares people isn't truly Anonymous, right?", and it's a valid question. That person doesn't seem to have the same values as hacktivists or protesters, but he is indeed a part of Anonymous. And that is Anonymous at its finest. Anyone can claim to be Anonymous and get away with it, because Anonymous is not a group. Anonymous is an idea, and ideas are bulletproof*. *unless, of course, another Anon thinks that they are better than a different Anon, in which case they gather all their buddies and torture the poor guy. Similar QuestionsTristan Johns' answer to Are the Anonymous "Hacktivist" group still active? Tristan Johns' answer to How good are the Anonymous hackers? Why are they too hard to trace?

What did Anonymous do on the 5th of November?

Anonymous did initially seem to suggest an attack on Facebook a long time ago. But their recent attention has been on the Indignado movement in the Iberian region, and the Occupy movement that has started at Wall Street and spread to all parts of the world, including the Hong Kong! So Anonymous, by backing Adbusters' plan, have given an incredible thrust to this movement, and it has grown considerably. The Fifth of November finally became Bank Transfer Day. It was an idea started by a woman in L.A. called Kirsten Christian, not affiliated to either the Occupy movement or Anonymous, who was fed up with big corporate banks and moved her money to a smaller credit union and urged others to do the same via a Facebook Event page. This idea grew to be immensely popular and the page got about 70,000 'attending' hits. People, meanwhile, kept shutting down their bank accounts in the month leading up to the day as well. Anonymous and the Occupy groups also backed it strongly and that just made the movement that much more popular. Kirsten called for this on the 7th of October and the month leading up to Bank Transfer Day saw loads of new money going into credit unions. Estimates on 5th Nov suggest credit unions gained $49m on that day thanks to this move. The bank transfers are still going on. I hope this helps. You can actually find out more about Bank Transfer Day on Wikipedia, and it seems accurate. I know this because I'm trying to cover the OWS movement as well as possible while I'm based in Paris!

What is or who are Anonymous?

THEY are the secretive group of online hackers who seemed to have no greater purpose than having some mischievous fun.But recently, hacking group Anonymous has gotten serious by targeting big organisations and disrupting their communications. Here’s what you need to know about the notorious hacker-activist group.A man wearing a mask associated with Anonymous makes a statement in a videoWho are Anonymous?Anonymous started in 2003 as a collective of web jokers hitting sites for fun – but their activities have taken a more sinister turn.It is now known as an anti-establishment group whose targets have ranged from big business and government departments around the world to child sex abuse sites.Anonymous swamps sites, tricks targets into revealing details with “phishing” emails and uses computers to crack passwords.The shadowy group vowed to destroy the online recruitment service of IS, crippling its ability to brainwash would-be members.It has already taken down more than 1,000 terrorist websites as retaliation for the jihadis’ waron free speech.Members come from all over the world and all walks of life, discussing ops in secret online chatrooms.What is the Guy Fawkes mask and why is it associated with Anonymous?PA:PRESS ASSOCIATIONProtestors demonstrate in Parliament Square, London, during the Million Mask March bonfire night protest organised by activist group AnonymousThe Guy Fawkes mask has become a symbol for Anonymous – the same style of mask used in the V for Vendetta movie of 2006.The strangely stylised mask of Guy Fawkes with a moustache and pointy beard in the 2006 movie uses Fawkes as a role model in his quest to end the rule of a fictional fascist party in the UK.It was first used by Anonymous in 2008 at the Project Chanology protest – a march against the Church of Scientology.The group protested in response to the Church forcing YouTube to pull a video of Tom Cruise discussing Scientology that was meant for internal use within the Church.The Guy Fawkes mask has since become popular method of hiding faces during anti-establishment protests around the world.Source: The lowdown on the Anonymous hacker group and their iconic Guy Fawkes masks

What is it like to participate in the "Kiss of Love" protest?

Unlike other guys here, I was lucky enough to get a stranger ready to kiss me (How I convinced her, makes another story itself). The problem was she was present there with a genuine idea of protest and I, for my first ever kiss.After an unofficial start up call, we kissed, for around 60 seconds (Until she was sure that we are being noticed) and parted.Frankly, the kiss turned me on and out of the involuntary impulse, I tried another take on her.She slapped me.Fortunately, there were no media camera persons.

Is there a chance that Anonymous will strike Wall Street as a result of the recent Occupy Wall Street protests?

I really hope Anonymous stays out of this. Disrupting the financial markets doesn't just harm rich people, it harms the normal people whose pension funds and college savings are involved. Also, internet violence is still violence. Once the protest turns violent, it's easy for the mainstream to dismiss it, or turn against it. Martin Luther King and Gandhi had it right -- nonviolent resistance ensures moral legitimacy and gets your movement taken seriously.

How does the "Anonymous" group set up and decide on websites to DDOS?

Jeffrey's answer below pretty much sums it up, although he makes it sound as though Anonymous Operations are in some way hampered simply because he was lucky enough to defend against DDoS in a smaller-scale attack.The open-sourced nature of Anonymous actually makes it infinitely more powerful than Mr. Lyon's propaganda implies. First, to clear up the misinformation in his post:1) Anonymous does not have factions, because Anonymous is not a group. Anonymous is an ideal, and many groups and individuals support and unite under the symbology associated with this ideal.2) Wikipedia is thus far doing a great job documenting the list of successful Anonymous Operations: Timeline of events associated with Anonymous. While some operations may not hit full power, it does not mean that the Anonymous brand as a whole is ineffective; it simply means not enough people have been outraged yet to contribute.3) My firsthand experience with working with #Anonymous symbols was in blowing the whistle on force-placed insurance, a fraudulent product that was invented by the banks to hide their financial fraud: Another Ploy to Rip Off Homeowners.You can also find more info about how Anonymous helped me expose Bank of America and QBE's force-placed insurance fraud on my blog: The Boy Who Cried Force Placed Insurance Chapter 2: Changing Tides... The Anon ideal successfully protected me from the bank's retaliation machines while helping spread my inside whistleblower information to both the public and government regulators. If not for the assistance of fellow #Anon supporters, I never could have been a successful whistleblower. I'm happy (scratch that, I'm proud) to credit all of my past, present, and future accomplishments to the idealogy of Anonymous...Now that you understand a little bit more about what #Anonymous truly is, understand that everyone contributes to it. Any individual or small group that needs the power to stand up against a large machine can hide under the Anonymous flag and are free to contribute in any way they choose...Learn more about online privacy on my Huffington Post blog: You Should Be Anonymous...Or you can attend a local cryptoparty: index [CryptoParty.] Otherwise, simply search for Anonymous on any social media platform to get up to speed on current events buzzing in the hivemind...