Anonymous is a decentralised virtual community. They are commonly referred to as an internet-based collective of hacktivists whose goals, like its organization, are decentralized. Anonymous seeks mass awareness and revolution against what the group perceives as corrupt entities, while attempting to maintain anonymity. Anonymous has had a hacktivist impact. This is a timeline of activities reported to have been carried out by the group.
2007 January: Radio host Hal Turner sued several online groups, alleging Anonymous "posted unauthorized copies of his radio shows online, attacked [his] server so as to make it unavailable, and placed unauthorised orders for goods, services and merchandise from third parties in [his] name." The case was dismissed in December for lack of response. December: A man was arrested in Toronto on charges of luring a child under the age of 14, attempting to invite sexual touching, attempted exposure, and other charges. Police stated that Anonymous, a cyber-vigilante group which trolls for pedophiles and then "outs" them, had targeted the suspect before law enforcement was involved, and cautioned that such interference could impede official investigations.
2008 January 14: Anonymous declared war on the Church of Scientology and bombarded them with DDoS attacks, harassing phone calls, black faxes, and Google bombing. February–December: Known as Project Chanology, Anonymous organized multiple in-person pickets in front of Churches of Scientology world-wide, starting February 10 and running throughout the year, achieving coordinated pickets in over 100 cities, thousands of protestors, and wearing Guy Fawkes masks. March 28: The Epilepsy Foundation's forum was salted with posts displaying flashing computer animations with the intention of triggering seizures in photosensitive and pattern-sensitive epileptics. There was some evidence pointing to Anonymous, but Anonymous named other likely culprits including the Church of Scientology seeking to discredit Anonymous. (See also Epilepsy Foundation § 2008 forum invasion) June: Anonymous claimed responsibility for attacking and defacing websites and forums of SOHH (Support Online Hip Hop) and AllHipHop, causing the sites to temporarily shut down. They also stole personal information about SOHH employees. (See also SOHH § Defacement.) September 16: Anonymous declared they hacked the private email account of Sarah Palin. An individual was convicted and sentenced to a year in federal prison. (See also Sarah Palin email hack.)
2009 January: Anonymous targeted California teen McKay Hatch who runs the No Cussing Club, a website against profanity. Hatch's home address, phone number, and other personal information were leaked on the internet, and his family received hate mail, obscene phone calls, bogus pizza deliveries, and pornography through the mail. June: Anonymous and Pirate Bay set up a website for Iranians to communicate and coordinate online for the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests and the Iranian Green Movement by bypassing the government's internet censorship in Iran. September 9: Anonymous temporarily shut down the website of the Prime Minister of Australia with a denial-of-service attack as a warning in protest against the government's plan to filter the internet.
2010 January: Anonymous attacked websites of the governments of Tunisia and Zimbabwe over censorship issues related to WikiLeaks. February 10: Anonymous conducted DDoS attacks against a wide range of Australian government servers in protest of proposed internet filtering legislation which would block some pornography. Australian anti-censorship groups complained that the attack only hurt their cause, and Australian government members dismissed the attack and said that they would just restore the service when the attack finished. (See also February 2010 Australian cyberattacks.) July: Anonymous flooded the Oregon Tea Party's Facebook page when they found out that OTP had been using part of Anonymous' slogan, "We Are Legion". OTP surrendered, apologized and recanted. July: In response to Chelsea Manning's imprisonment and treatment after leaking classified information to WikiLeaks, Anonymous threatened to disrupt activities at Marine Corps Brig, Quantico by cyber-attacking communications, exposing private information of personnel, and other harassment methods. Military spokespersons responded that the threat has been referred to law enforcement and counterterrorism officials and requested an investigation. September: Anonymous targeted major pro-copyright and anti-piracy organizations, law firms, individuals, and entertainment industry websites in retaliation for DDoS attacks on torrent sites. (See also Operation Payback.) December: Anonymous started DDoS attacks on websites of companies who had withdrawn banking facilities from WikiLeaks including Amazon, PayPal, BankAmerica, Swiss bank PostFinance, MasterCard, and Visa. Over the next year, dozens were arrested and several convicted for their part in the operation. (See also Operation Payback § Operation Avenge Assange and Anonymous (hacker group) § Operation Avenge Assange.) December: Anonymous promoted sifting through WikiLeaks to identify potentially overlooked cables, making short videos covering the topic, and flooding the internet with them.
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