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190-523: Anonymous Non-centralized leadership David Miscavige Project Chanology (also called Operation Chanology ) was a protest movement against the practices of the Church of Scientology by members of Anonymous , a leaderless Internet-based group. "Chanology" is a combination of " 4chan " and "Scientology". The project was started in response to the Church of Scientology's attempts to remove material from

380-543: A mashup of the site's Gawker Stalker feature and Google Maps . After this, Gawker Stalker—originally a weekly roundup of celebrity sightings in New York City submitted by Gawker readers—was frequently updated, and the sightings are displayed on a map. The feature sparked criticism from celebrities and publicists for encouraging stalking. George Clooney 's representative Stan Rosenfeld described Gawker Stalker as "a dangerous thing". Jessica Coen said that

570-411: A subversive " trolling culture", and documents Internet memes , culture , and events, such as mass pranks, trolling events, "raids", large-scale failures of Internet security, and criticism of Internet communities that are accused of self-censorship to gain prestige or positive coverage from traditional and established media outlets . Journalist Julian Dibbell described Encyclopedia Dramatica as

760-494: A "dangerous cult" and said the organization is responsible for crimes and deaths. The Orlando Sentinel reported that the protest was "part of a worldwide campaign by a group that calls itself Anonymous", and an unnamed organizer who spoke to the paper stated that the group was protesting "a gross violation of the right to see free church material", referring to the Tom Cruise video that was pulled from YouTube. Protesters at

950-495: A "display of the decay of internet freedom". YouTube's official response stated: "There was an issue with video view counts not increasing that has now been resolved. The correct number of views should be displayed in the next 24 hours. Thanks for your patience." Jonathan Holmes , the presenter of the Australian watchdog program Media Watch , reported on two cases of media censorship of the protests. News.com.au pixelated

1140-513: A 10-year legal campaign against Dutch writer Karin Spaink and several Internet service providers after Spaink and others posted documents alleged to be secret teachings of the organization. The Church of Scientology's efforts ended in a legal defeat in a Dutch court in 2005. This series of events is often referred to as "Scientology versus the Internet". On January 14, 2008, a video produced by

1330-704: A 16-year-old boy was held by the police in south London on suspicion of breaching the Computer Misuse Act 1990 , and four were held in the Netherlands. AnonOps admin Christopher Weatherhead (alias "Nerdo"), a 22-year-old who had reportedly been intimately involved in organizing DDoS attacks during "Operation Payback", was convicted by a UK court on one count of conspiracy to impair the operation of computers in December 2012. He

1520-687: A Church of Scientology center in Orlando, Florida to protest the organization's practices. Small protests were also held in Santa Barbara, California (during the Santa Barbara International Film Festival ), and Manchester , England. Protesters in Orlando carried signs with messages "Knowledge is Free" and "Honk if you hate Scientology". According to WKMG-TV , the protesters called the Church of Scientology

1710-461: A Dutch secondary school in Deventer . Another hacking group associated with the project, calling themselves the "g00ns", mistakenly targeted a 59-year-old man from Stockton , California. They posted his home telephone number, address and his wife's Social Security number online for other people to target. They believed that he was behind counter-attacks against Project Chanology-related websites by

1900-594: A New York judge denied a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. On May 16, 2023, a New York appeals court dismissed the lawsuit. In April 2021, it was reported that Gawker would relaunch with former Gawker writer Leah Finnegan tapped as editor-in-chief. Finnegan has said, of the tone of the relaunched site, that "[...] current laws of civility mean that no, it can't be exactly what it once was." The site relaunched on July 28, 2021. On February 1, 2023, Bustle Digital Group announced that it would shut down Gawker as part of company-wide cuts. The company e-mailed employees, "facing

2090-627: A Scientology event in April in Nashville, Tennessee . According to WSMV-TV, a protester stated he was assaulted by three Scientology security guards while on public property, 400 yd (370 m) away from the Scientology building. The Church of Scientology had previously informed the security guards that the protesters were "dangerous people". A protester was issued three citations by the Scientology security guards, but these were all dismissed by

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2280-674: A Tunisian volunteer's computer to hack the website of Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi , replacing it with a message from Anonymous. Anons also helped Tunisian dissidents share videos online about the uprising. In Operation Egypt, Anons collaborated with the activist group Telecomix to help dissidents access government-censored websites. Sabu and Topiary went on to participate in attacks on government websites in Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Jordan, and Zimbabwe. Tflow, Sabu, Topiary, and Ryan Ackroyd (known as "Kayla") collaborated in February 2011 on

2470-439: A YouTube video in which a robotic voice speaks on behalf of Anonymous, telling the "leaders of Scientology" that "For the good of your followers, for the good of mankind—for the laughs—we shall expel you from the Internet." Within ten days, the video had attracted hundreds of thousands of views. With more than 10 thousand followers on their IRC server waiting for instructions, they felt they had to come up with something, and got

2660-416: A bankruptcy auction for less than $ 1.5 million. On January 16, 2019, it was announced Carson Griffith, Ben Barna, Maya Kosoff and Anna Breslaw were joining the staff of the new Gawker. However, on January 23, 2019, Kosoff and Breslaw announced they were quitting the site over offensive workplace comments made by Griffith. "We're disappointed it ended this way, but we can't continue to work under someone who

2850-509: A bankruptcy auction for less than $ 1.5 million. Gawker relaunched under the Bustle Digital Group on July 28, 2021, with Leah Finnegan as editor. On February 1, 2023, Bustle Digital Group suspended the site's operations. Finnegan tweeted that the publication was folding. In November 2023, Gawker was acquired by Meng Ru Kuok. The Gawker digital archive was not included in this purchase and all articles have been removed from

3040-471: A crowd ... They're very noisy, low-grade crimes." In its 2013 Threats Predictions report, McAfee wrote that the technical sophistication of Anonymous was in decline and that it was losing supporters due to "too many uncoordinated and unclear operations". Graham Cluley, a security expert for Sophos , argued that Anonymous' actions against child porn websites hosted on a darknet could be counterproductive, commenting that while their intentions may be good,

3230-542: A cyber-attack against Aaron Barr , CEO of the computer security firm HBGary Federal , in retaliation for his research on Anonymous and his threat to expose members of the group. Using a SQL injection weakness, the four hacked the HBGary site, used Barr's captured password to vandalize his Twitter feed with racist messages, and released an enormous cache of HBGary's e-mails in a torrent file on Pirate Bay. The e-mails stated that Barr and HBGary had proposed to Bank of America

3420-480: A form of performance. Then they tell the truth at unexpected and unfortunate times, sometimes destroying themselves in the process. They are unpredictable." Norton states that the difficulties in reporting on the group cause most writers, including herself, to focus on the "small groups of hackers who stole the limelight from a legion, defied their values, and crashed violently into the law" rather than "Anonymous's sea of voices, all experimenting with new ways of being in

3610-460: A further $ 25 million in punitive damages . On November 2, Gawker reached a $ 31 million settlement with Hogan. In 2007, Gawker published an article by Owen Thomas allegedly outing Silicon Valley venture capitalist Peter Thiel as gay, although Thomas contends the article did not constitute outing since Thiel's sexuality had been "known to a wide circle" in the Bay Area. This, together with

3800-453: A game of mental warfare. It will require our talkers, not our hackers. It will require our dedicated Anon across the world to do their part." Project Chanology's stated goals include the complete removal of the Church of Scientology's presence from the Internet and to "save people from Scientology by reversing the brainwashing". Project Chanology participants plan to join the Church of Scientology posing as interested members in order to infiltrate

3990-529: A group collectively known as Anonymous, on January 16, 2008, after the Church of Scientology issued a copyright violation claim against YouTube for hosting material from the Cruise video. The effort against Scientology has also been referred to by group members as "Operation Chanology". A webpage called "Project Chanology", part of a larger wiki, is maintained by Anonymous and chronicles planned, ongoing and completed actions by project participants. The website includes

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4180-707: A group of servers to host an independent IRC network, titled AnonOps. Operation Payback's targets rapidly expanded to include the British law firm ACS:Law , the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft , the British nightclub Ministry of Sound , the Spanish copyright society Sociedad General de Autores y Editores , the U.S. Copyright Office , and the website of Gene Simmons of Kiss . By October 7, 2010, total downtime for all websites attacked during Operation Payback

4370-423: A group: "anyone can be part of it. It is a crowd of people, a nebulous crowd of people, working together and doing things together for various purposes." The group's few rules include not disclosing one's identity, not talking about the group, and not attacking media. Members commonly use the tagline "We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us." Brian Kelly writes that three of

4560-592: A highly publicized interview with Scientologist Tom Cruise from the Internet in January 2008. The project was publicly launched in the form of a video posted to YouTube, "Message to Scientology", on January 21, 2008. The video states that Anonymous views Scientology's actions as Internet censorship , and asserts the group's intent to "expel the church from the Internet". This was followed by distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS), and soon after, black faxes , prank calls , and other measures intended to disrupt

4750-474: A history of conflict with groups on the Internet. In 1995, attorneys for the Church of Scientology attempted to get the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology (a.r.s.) removed from Usenet . This attempt backfired and generated a significant amount of press for a.r.s. The conflict with a.r.s led the hacker group Cult of the Dead Cow to declare war on the Church of Scientology. The Church of Scientology mounted

4940-467: A large amount of coverage on social bookmarking websites. The denial-of-service attacks on Scientology.org flooded the site with 220 megabits of traffic, a mid-range attack. Speaking with SCMagazineUS.com, a security strategist for Top Layer Networks, Ken Pappas said that he thought that botnets were involved in the Anonymous operation: "There are circles out there where you could take ownership of

5130-400: A lawsuit against Gawker and Denton for violating his privacy, asking for $ 100 million in damages; the trial was slated for July 2015. The cost of the lawsuit was partly funded by Peter Thiel , whom Gawker had previously outed in 2007. In January 2016, Gawker Media received its first outside investment by selling a minority stake to Columbus Nova Technology Partners . Denton stated that

5320-546: A list of suggested guerrilla tactics to use against the Church of Scientology. Members use other websites as well to coordinate action, including Encyclopedia Dramatica and the social networking site Facebook, where two groups associated with the movement had 3,500 members as of February 4, 2008. A member of Anonymous told the Los Angeles Times that, as of February 4, 2008, the group consisted of "a loose confederation of about 9,000 people" who post anonymously on

5510-434: A male escort, and pay him $ 2,500 for sex. The article also claimed that after the escort requested Geithner settle the escort's housing dispute, he cancelled the meetup, and the escort went to Gawker to publicize the alleged incident. The post sparked heavy criticism for outing the executive, both within and outside Gawker . Denton removed the story the next day, after Gawker Media's managing partnership voted 4–2 to remove

5700-468: A music video of singer Rick Astley 's pop single " Never Gonna Give You Up ", has been used as a theme in the protests against Scientology. At February 10 protests in New York, Washington, D.C., London and Seattle, protesters played the song through boomboxes and shouted the phrase "Never gonna let you down!", in what The Guardian called "a live rick-rolling of the Church of Scientology". In response to

5890-931: A need for Gawker 's reinvention and that "whatever plans materialize, what's for sure is that it won't be the same as it was before". However, the digital archive was not included in this purchase and all articles have been removed from the Gawker website. Gawker usually published more than 20 posts daily during the week, sometimes reaching 30 posts a day, with limited publishing on the weekends. The site also published content from its sister sites. Gawker' s content consisted of celebrity and media industry gossip, critiques of mainstream news outlets, and New York-centric stories. The stories generally came from anonymous tips from media employees, found mistakes and faux pas in news stories caught by readers and other blogs, and original reporting. On July 3, 2006, when publisher Nick Denton replaced Jesse Oxfeld with Alex Balk, Oxfeld claimed it

Project Chanology - Misplaced Pages Continue

6080-445: A number of actions known initially as Operation Tunisia in support of Arab Spring movements. Tflow created a script that Tunisians could use to protect their web browsers from government surveillance, while fellow future LulzSec member Hector Xavier Monsegur (alias "Sabu") and others allegedly hijacked servers from a London web-hosting company to launch a DDoS attack on Tunisian government websites, taking them offline. Sabu also used

6270-406: A part of that." Scott Stewart of University of Nebraska at Omaha 's The Gateway wrote: "Many participants sported Guy Fawkes masks to draw attention both to their identity as Anonymous and the Church of Scientology's abuse of litigation and coercion to suppress anti-Scientology viewpoints." The Internet meme Rickroll , where a link is given to a seemingly relevant website only to be directed to

6460-406: A plan to discredit WikiLeaks in retaliation for a planned leak of Bank of America documents, and the leak caused substantial public relations harm to the firm as well as leading one U.S. congressman to call for a congressional investigation. Barr resigned as CEO before the end of the month. Several attacks by Anons have targeted organizations accused of homophobia. In February 2011, an open letter

6650-551: A plane flew overhead trailing a large sign that read "Honk if you think Scientology is a cult." 150 protesters demonstrated in Clearwater, Florida, and a local organizer for Anonymous told The Tampa Tribune , "We feel that we have an obligation to educate the public about the things that have gone on and hopefully make the Church of Scientology understand that they have to change." Two people were arrested by DeKalb County, Georgia , police for using megaphones while stepping onto

6840-506: A poster carried by a protester which was revealed, through a Today Tonight segment, to have displayed the word "CULT". The Advertiser erased Tom Cruise's name from a protest placard, rendering the placard's message meaningless, without informing its readers. The Advertiser' s editor, Melvin Mansell, stated that the alteration had "slipped by" and that he was opposed to the publication of doctored photographs. According to NBC11 ,

7030-574: A press release declaring PayPal a target. Launching DDoS attacks with the LOIC, Anons quickly brought down the websites of the PayPal blog; PostFinance , a Swiss financial company denying service to WikiLeaks; EveryDNS , a web-hosting company that had also denied service; and the website of U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman , who had supported the push to cut off services. On December 8, Anons launched an attack against PayPal's main site. According to Topiary, who

7220-597: A press release, stating: Anonymous is tired of corporate interests controlling the internet and silencing the people’s rights to spread information, but more importantly, the right to SHARE with one another. The RIAA and the MPAA feign to aid the artists and their cause; yet they do no such thing. In their eyes is not hope, only dollar signs. Anonymous will not stand this any longer. As IRC network operators were beginning to shut down networks involved in DDoS attacks, Anons organized

7410-530: A problem", said John M. L. Brown, a Fraternal Order of Police attorney. On November 13, 2009, Independent Australian Senator Nick Xenophon used parliamentary privilege to accuse the Church of Scientology of being a criminal organization. Anonymous (hacker group) Anonymous is a decentralized international activist and hacktivist collective and movement primarily known for its various cyberattacks against several governments, government institutions and government agencies , corporations and

7600-510: A protest in Budapest , Hungary, at the same time and location as a program of the local Scientology church. A protest was held June 14, 2008 titled "Sea Arrrgh" (a satirical reference to the Church of Scientology's Sea Org ). Protesters dressed up as pirates . According to Macquarie National News , members of Anonymous highlighted the controversial practices of the Sea Org, including what

7790-539: A raid against the Church in retaliation, prank-calling its hotline, sending black faxes designed to waste ink cartridges, and launching DDoS attacks against its websites. The DDoS attacks were at first carried out with the Gigaloader and JMeter applications. Within a few days, these were supplanted by the Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC), a network stress-testing application allowing users to flood

Project Chanology - Misplaced Pages Continue

7980-606: A response to the Turkish government demand to ISPs to implement a system of filters that many have perceived as censorship. Chris Doyon (alias "Commander X"), a self-described leader of Anonymous, was arrested in September 2011 for a cyberattack on the website of Santa Cruz County , California. He jumped bail in February 2012 and fled across the border into Canada. In September 2012, journalist and Anonymous associate Barrett Brown , known for speaking to media on behalf of

8170-506: A series of articles about his friends and others that he said "ruined people's lives for no reason", motivated Thiel to fund lawsuits against Gawker by people complaining their privacy had been invaded, including Hulk Hogan. On July 16, 2015, Gawker reporter Jordan Sargent posted a story about a gay porn star's alleged text correspondence with a married executive from a competing media company, Condé Nast . The article claimed Condé Nast CFO David Geithner had planned to go to Chicago to meet

8360-510: A series of attacks against Sony in retaliation for trying to stop hacks of the PlayStation 3 game console. More than 100 million Sony accounts were compromised, and the Sony services Qriocity and PlayStation Network were taken down for a month apiece by cyberattacks. In July 2011, Anonymous announced the launch of its social media platform Anonplus . This came after Anonymous' presence

8550-470: A server with TCP or UDP packets. The LOIC soon became a signature weapon in the Anonymous arsenal; however, it would also lead to a number of arrests of less experienced Anons who failed to conceal their IP addresses . Some operators in Anonymous IRC channels incorrectly told or lied to new volunteers that using the LOIC carried no legal risk. During the DDoS attacks, a group of Anons uploaded

8740-416: A site that was proving difficult to staff, a lightning rod for controversy, and, ultimately, expensive to operate (reporting is expensive) while not generating commensurate revenue". In 2020, Griffith sued The Daily Beast , the site's editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman , and writer Maxwell Tani for defamation over an article about Kosoff and Breslaw's resignation over Griffith's comments. On March 24, 2021,

8930-439: A surprisingly difficult first quarter of 2023, [it] had made the decision to reprioritize some of its investments that better position the company for the direction we see the industry moving." Finnegan announced the company's decision on Twitter that same morning. In November 2023, the Gawker brand and domain were purchased by Meng Ru Kuok, the founder of Singapore-based venture capital firm Caldecott Music Group. Kuok stated

9120-413: A time lapse method as the speaker addresses the leaders of Scientology directly: "We shall proceed to expel you from the Internet and systematically dismantle the Church of Scientology in its present form..." The video goes on to state: "We recognize you as serious opponents, and do not expect our campaign to be completed in a short time frame. However, you will not prevail forever against the angry masses of

9310-495: A trace of their thoughts, motivations, and reactions. Among those that do, opinions vary considerably." Broadly speaking, Anons oppose Internet censorship and control and the majority of their actions target governments, organizations, and corporations that they accuse of censorship. Anons were early supporters of the global Occupy movement and the Arab Spring . Since 2008, a frequent subject of disagreement within Anonymous

9500-503: A website created by Scientologists showing an anti-Anonymous video, Project Chanology participants created a website with a similar domain name with a video displaying the music video to "Never Gonna Give You Up". In a March 2008 interview, Astley said that he found the rickrolling of Scientology to be "hilarious"; he also said that he will not try to capitalize on the rickroll phenomenon with a new recording or remix of his own, but that he'd be happy to have other artists remix it. Following

9690-441: A woman from Anonymous contacted them and stated that protests were planned against Scientology each month through May 2008; and that a large protest was planned for two days after Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard 's birthday, March 15. Carlos Moncada of The Tampa Tribune reported that an "open letter to the press from Anonymous" was sent out via e-mail, and states that a protest is planned for March 15, 2008. The e-mail refers to

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9880-588: Is an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers that was based in New York City and focused on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb , the site had over 23 million visits per month in 2015. Founded in 2002, Gawker was the flagship blog for Denton's Gawker Media . Gawker Media also managed other blogs such as Jezebel , io9 , Deadspin and Kotaku . Gawker had come under scrutiny for posting videos, communications and other content that violated copyrights or

10070-480: Is antithetical to our sensibility and journalistic ethics, or for an employer [CEO Bryan Goldberg] who refuses to listen to the women who work for him when it's inconvenient," Kosoff and Breslaw said in a statement. In March 2019, Dan Peres was announced as the site's editor-in-chief. However, in August 2019, Peres, Griffith and the rest of the staff tasked with relaunching the site were laid off. "We are postponing

10260-476: Is just barmy". On May 23, 2008, the legal action against the boy was dropped. A Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) spokesman said: "In consultation with the City of London Police, we were asked whether the sign was abusive or insulting. Our advice is that it is not abusive or insulting and there is no offensiveness (as opposed to criticism), neither in the idea expressed nor in the mode of expression." Anonymous also held

10450-409: Is open to anyone who wishes to state they are a member of the collective; British journalist Carole Cadwalladr of The Observer compared the group's decentralized structure to that of al-Qaeda : "If you believe in Anonymous, and call yourself Anonymous, you are Anonymous." Olson, who formerly described Anonymous as a "brand", stated in 2012 that she now characterized it as a "movement" rather than

10640-434: Is sometimes stated to have changed the nature of protesting, and in 2012, Time called it one of the "100 most influential people" in the world. In 2012, Public Radio International reported that the U.S. National Security Agency considered Anonymous a potential national security threat and had warned the president that it could develop the capability to disable parts of the U.S. power grid. In contrast, CNN reported in

10830-479: Is tainted. The reasons behind it are tainted," said county resident Lirra Bishop. Stone stated the measure was intended for all residents of the county, though he cited protests at Scientology's Gold Base facility which houses residences and Scientology's Golden Era Productions as an example of why the ordinance is needed. Protesters at Gold Base have included members of Anonymous, and Scientology officials claimed they were "threatened with violence". Protesters told

11020-477: Is whether members should focus on pranking and entertainment or more serious (and, in some cases, political) activism. We [Anonymous] just happen to be a group of people on the Internet who need—just kind of an outlet to do as we wish, that we wouldn't be able to do in regular society. ...That's more or less the point of it. Do as you wish. ... There's a common phrase: 'we are doing it for the lulz.' Because Anonymous has no leadership, no action can be attributed to

11210-518: The New York Observer six months after his promotion. Later, in 2005, the editor position was split between two co-editors, and Coen was joined by guest editors from a variety of New York City-based blogs; Matt Haber was engaged as co-editor for several months, and Jesse Oxfeld joined for longer. In July 2006, Oxfeld's contract was not renewed, and Alex Balk was installed. Chris Mohney, formerly of Gridskipper , Gawker Media's travel blog ,

11400-561: The New York Observer . In February 2007, Sicha returned from his position at the New York Observer , and replaced Mohney as the managing editor. On September 21, 2007, Gawker announced Balk's departure to edit Radar Magazine ' s website; he was replaced by Alex Pareene of Wonkette . The literary journal n+1 published a long piece on the history and future of Gawker , concluding that, "You could say that as Gawker Media grew, from Gawker' s success, Gawker outlived

11590-479: The Atlantic Wire, a blog of the magazine, The Atlantic Monthly . In 2012, the website changed its focus away from editorial content and toward what its new editor-in-chief A. J. Daulerio called "traffic whoring" and " SEO bomb throws". In January 2013 Daulerio reportedly asked for more responsibility over other Gawker Media properties, but after a short time was pushed out by publisher Denton. Daulerio

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11780-638: The Church of Scientology . 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 " or " hivemind ". Anonymous members (known as anons ) can sometimes be distinguished in public by the wearing of Guy Fawkes masks in the style portrayed in the graphic novel and film V for Vendetta . Some anons also opt to mask their voices through voice changers or text-to-speech programs. Dozens of people have been arrested for involvement in Anonymous cyberattacks in countries including

11970-448: The Gawker archive was worth preservation – "the early content of Gawker , in particular, is of real significance in the history of journalism. [...] But whether you like it or not, or mimic it or not, what they did changed the way things are done. For that alone, it is (and will be) worth study, and is thus worth preserving". In 2017, academics Katherine Boss and Meredith Broussard commented that "the archives included, crucially, not just

12160-517: The Gawker relaunch," a BDG spokesperson said. "For now, we are focusing company resources and efforts on our most recent acquisitions, Mic, The Outline, Nylon and Inverse." Kate Storey of Esquire outlined the leading theory on the failed relaunch was that it aimed to turn Gawker into "the prestigious, journalistic gem of BDG, kept afloat by the profits of other sites like Bustle and Elite Daily", however, "the BDG board and Goldberg soon lost interest in

12350-493: The Gawker website no longer displays its articles following the purchase of the Gawker brand without the purchase of the archive. On October 4, 2012, Daulerio posted a short clip of Hulk Hogan and Heather Clem, the estranged wife of radio personality Todd Alan Clem , having sex. Hogan sent Gawker a cease-and-desist order to take the video down, but Denton refused. Denton cited the First Amendment and argued that

12540-691: The Ides of March : "We, too, wish to celebrate this event, albeit in our own special way ... Beware the Ides of March, Church of Scientology!" The March protests were titled "Operation Party Hard". Protests began in Australia on March 15, 2008, and were followed by protests in major cities worldwide including Brussels , London, Seattle , Phoenix , Manchester, and Los Angeles. Approximately 7,000 to 8,000 people protested in about 100 cities worldwide. The protests took place in locations in Australia, Europe, Canada, and

12730-588: The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), successfully bringing down both sites. On September 19, future LulzSec member Mustafa Al-Bassam (known as "Tflow") and other Anons hacked the website of Copyright Alliance, an anti-infringement group, and posted the name of the operation: "Payback Is A Bitch", or "Operation Payback" for short. Anons also issued

12920-531: The Scientology video featuring Tom Cruise from the recently removed posting on YouTube. They soon posted a copyright infringement notice written by lawyers for Scientology. By July 2009, the video had not been removed and no lawsuit was filed. On September 17, 2008, in reporting that pranksters associated with 4chan had hacked the personal e-mail account of Alaska Governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin , Gawker published screenshots of

13110-739: The Time Warner Center . Not the Ziegfield ;[ sic ] or Loews Lincoln Square , where most premieres are held in public." The venue was chosen in part to minimize the exposure to Scientology protestors gathered at the Time Warner Center. There were also Scientology protests at the European premiere in Berlin, where one protester got his V for Vendetta mask autographed by Tom Cruise. Chanology participants shared

13300-643: The US Justice Department said that the individual, a resident of New Jersey , "participated in the attack because he considered himself a member of an underground group called 'Anonymous'". Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said that the Church of Scientology had cooperated in the investigation. The individual faced a sentencing scheduled for August 2009. In May 2009, members of Anonymous told WSMV-TV that they were bullied by off-duty security guards while protesting at

13490-572: The USA Network hacktivist drama, Mr. Robot . Furthermore, Wired calls the "Omegas", a fictitious hacker group in the show, "a clear reference to the Anonymous offshoot known as LulzSec ". In the TV series Elementary a hacktivist collective called "Everyone" plays a recurring role; there are several hints and similarities to Anonymous. The name Anonymous itself is inspired by the perceived anonymity under which users post images and comments on

13680-669: The United States , the United Kingdom , Australia , the Netherlands , South Africa , Spain , India , and Turkey . Evaluations of the group's actions and effectiveness vary widely. Supporters have called the group "freedom fighters" and digital Robin Hoods , while critics have described them as "a cyber lynch-mob" or "cyber terrorists". In 2012, Time called Anonymous one of the " 100 most influential people " in

13870-714: The Xenu.net website first result in searches for "scientology". Rob Garner of MediaPost Publications wrote: "The Church of Scientology continues to be the target of a group called Anonymous, which is using Google bombs and YouTube as its tools of choice." In a February 4, 2008, article, Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw told the Los Angeles Times that Church of Scientology's websites "have been and are online." Danny McPherson, chief research officer at Arbor Networks , claimed 500 denial-of-service attacks had been observed on

14060-515: The 2005 film V for Vendetta . Guy Fawkes was an English Catholic executed for a 1605 attempt to destroy the House of Lords . In V for Vendetta , a rebel against a near-future fascist regime uses the mask in his public appearances and distributes many of its copies to the population to enable mass protests. The Boston Globe characterized usage of the Guy Fawkes masks as "an allusion to

14250-450: The Anonymous entity advanced in 2004 when an administrator on the 4chan image board activated a "Forced_Anon" protocol that signed all posts as Anonymous. As the popularity of imageboards increased, the idea of Anonymous as a collective of unnamed individuals became an Internet meme . Users of 4chan's /b/ board would occasionally join into mass pranks or raids. In a raid on July 12, 2006, for example, large numbers of 4chan readers invaded

14440-752: The Board of Supervisors in Riverside County, California , voted to approve an ordinance which restricts residential picketing there to 30 ft (9.1 m) or further from an individual's residence. The ordinance was originally introduced by Supervisor Jeff Stone, board chairman, in November 2008, and went through multiple changes. Critics of the ordinance stated that Stone proposed the measure due to favor for Scientology, which has its Hemet compound located in Riverside County. "The whole ordinance

14630-509: The Board of Supervisors that due to the lack of sidewalk near Gold Base, the anti-picketing ordinance would severely hamper the ability to protest outside the Scientology compound. After stating on October 17, 2008, that he would plead guilty to involvement in the January 2008 DDoS attacks against Church of Scientology websites, an 18-year-old self-described member of Anonymous entered a guilty plea related to hacking charges in May 2009. A release from

14820-466: The British insurgent and a film depicting an antigovernment movement". Aaron Tavena of College Times wrote that the Guy Fawkes masks provided a "dramatic effect" to the protests, and Nick Jamison of The Retriever Weekly wrote: "During the February 10 protests, Anonymous was informative, Anonymous was peaceful, and Anonymous was effective. After seeing all of the pictures from the 10th with everyone in disguise, many sporting Guy Fawkes masks, I wanted to be

15010-455: The Church continued throughout the year, including "Operation Party Hard" on March 15 and "Operation Reconnect" on April 12. However, by mid-year, they were drawing far fewer protesters, and many of the organizers in IRC channels had begun to drift away from the project. By the start of 2009, Scientologists had stopped engaging with protesters and had improved online security, and actions against

15200-438: The Church of Scientology featuring an interview with the actor Tom Cruise was posted on YouTube. In the video, music from Cruise's Mission: Impossible films plays in the background, and Cruise makes various statements, including saying that Scientologists are the only people who can help after a car accident and that Scientologists are the authority on getting addicts off drugs. According to The Times , Cruise can be seen in

15390-448: The Church of Scientology told the St. Petersburg Times the event was timed to coincide with the birthday of Lisa McPherson. In addition to DDoS attacks against Church of Scientology websites, Anonymous also organized a campaign on one of their websites to "begin bumping Digg", referring to an attempt to drive up Scientology-related links on the website Digg.com . On January 25, 2008, eight of

15580-648: The Church of Scientology uses to control information about itself" rather than the "controversial nature of Scientology itself". Project Chanology began its campaign by organizing and delivering a series of denial-of-service attacks against Scientology websites and flooding Scientology centers with prank calls and black faxes . The group was successful in taking down local and global Scientology websites intermittently from January 18, 2008, until at least January 25, 2008. Anonymous had early success rendering major Scientology websites inaccessible and leaking documents allegedly stolen from Scientology computers. This resulted in

15770-558: The Church of Scientology's operations. In February 2008, the focus of the protest shifted to legal methods, including nonviolent protests and an attempt to get the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the Church of Scientology's tax-exempt status in the United States. Reactions from the Church of Scientology regarding the protesters' actions have varied. Initially, one spokesperson stated that members of

15960-444: The Church of Scientology, and cited past incidents including the death of Lisa McPherson : "We find it interesting that you did not mention the other objections in your news reporting. The stifling and punishment of dissent within the totalitarian organization of Scientology. The numerous, alleged human rights violations. Such as the treatment and events that led to the deaths of victims of the cult such as Lisa McPherson." Lisa McPherson

16150-460: The Church of Scientology. Protesters chanted "Church on the left, cult on the right" (in reference to the Church that was beside the Church of Scientology building), "Religion is free" and "We want Xenu ". Scientology staff locked down the building and set up a camera to record the event. After the protest in Sydney, a surge in online Internet traffic due to individuals attempting to view pictures from

16340-420: The Church. The most recent international organized protest was held October 18, 2008. Members of Anonymous dressed as zombies , and highlighted what they described as questionable deaths and suicides of Scientologists. The film Valkyrie , starring and produced by Tom Cruise, premiered in New York City on December 17. Entertainment reporter Roger Friedman noted that it was held "in the private screening room at

16530-535: The Church." On May 10, a teenager who went to the protests in front of the Queen Victoria Street Church of Scientology in London was issued a court summons after being asked to take down a sign that read "Scientology is not a religion, it is a dangerous cult". Posting anonymously on a forum, the teenager stated "Within five minutes of arriving ... I was told by a member of the police that I

16720-555: The Digg community was interested in." Adelson said two other instances which similarly have dominated the Digg main page in the past were the Virginia Tech Massacre in the aftermath of the incident and the "7/7" London bombings in 2005 . Adelson commented on the popularity of Scientology theme within the Digg community: "In the history of Digg, there's no question that the topic of Scientology has been of great interest to

16910-554: The Finnish social networking site Habbo Hotel with identical avatars; the avatars blocked regular Habbo members from accessing the digital hotel's pool, stating it was "closed due to fail and AIDS". Future LulzSec member Topiary became involved with the site at this time, inviting large audiences to listen to his prank phone calls via Skype . Due to the growing traffic on 4chan's board, users soon began to plot pranks off-site using Internet Relay Chat (IRC). These raids resulted in

17100-515: The Internet. A security analyst told The Age that the number of people participating anonymously in Project Chanology could number in the thousands: "You can't pin it on a person or a group of people. You've thousands of people engaged to do anything they can against Scientology." Members of Project Chanology say their main goal is "to enlighten the Church of Scientology (CoS) by any means necessary." Their website states: "This will be

17290-422: The Internet. Usage of the term Anonymous in the sense of a shared identity began on imageboards , particularly the /b/ board of 4chan , dedicated to random content and to raiding other websites. A tag of Anonymous is assigned to visitors who leave comments without identifying the originator of the posted content. Users of imageboards sometimes jokingly acted as if Anonymous was a single individual. The concept of

17480-404: The May 10, 2008 protests were referred to as "Operation : Fair Game : Stop", and National Nine News has reported that the full title of the May 10 protests is "Battletoad Earth: Operation Fairgame Stop". The May 10 date was chosen as May 9 is the anniversary of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard 's book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health . Over 400 people were present at

17670-442: The May 10, 2008, protests in cities in Australia. Wen Hsing, a member of Anonymous, commented to scopical.com.au about the Church of Scientology's denial of its "fair game" policy : "Even if the name 'fair game' is not in use, the Church of Scientology is an organization that continues to practice a vicious policy of retribution against perceived enemies, and it teaches its members that extreme measures are morally justified if they aid

17860-591: The Regime, a counter-hack group who crashed one of the Project Chanology planning websites. The group allegedly attempted to gain personal information on people involved in Project Chanology to turn that information over to the Church of Scientology. After discovering they had wrongly targeted the couple, one of the members of the g00ns group called and apologized. A new video entitled "Call to Action" appeared on YouTube on January 28, 2008, calling for protests outside Church of Scientology centers on February 10, 2008. As with

18050-539: The Scientology site in the week prior to February 4, some of which were strong enough to bring the website down. Calling Anonymous a "motley crew of internet troublemakers", Wired blogger Ryan Singel said that, while attempting to bypass the Prolexic servers protecting the Church of Scientology website, users of a misconfigured DDoS tool inadvertently and briefly had targeted the Etty Hillesum Lyceum,

18240-513: The Tom Cruise video, and other sites have posted the entire video. Lawyers for the Church of Scientology wrote to Gawker requesting the removal of the video, but Nick Denton of Gawker stated: "It's newsworthy and we will not be removing it." Project Chanology was formulated by users of the English-speaking imageboards 711chan.org and 4chan , the associated partyvan.info wiki , and several Internet Relay Chat channels, all part of

18430-647: The United States. Approximately 200 masked protesters gathered outside the Church of Scientology's headquarters in Adelaide , Australia. An anonymous spokesman told News.com.au that Scientology should lose its tax-exempt status. About 150 protesters came to the Yonge Street headquarters of Scientology in Toronto, Canada; sang " Happy Birthday " and chanted "we want cake". During the Los Angeles protests,

18620-511: The accompanying commentary had news value. Judge Pamela Campbell issued an injunction ordering Gawker to take down the clip. In April 2013, Gawker wrote, "A judge told us to take down our Hulk Hogan sex tape post. We won't." It also stated that "we are refusing to comply" with the order of the circuit court judge. Gawker' s actions have been criticized as hypocritical since they heavily criticized other media outlets and websites for publishing hacked nude pictures of celebrities. Hogan filed

18810-623: The ages of 15 and 26 with suspicion of participating in Anonymous DDoS attacks. During July 19–20, 2011, as many as 20 or more arrests were made of suspected Anonymous hackers in the US, UK, and Netherlands. According to the statements of U.S. officials, suspects' homes were raided and suspects were arrested in Alabama , Arizona , California , Colorado , Washington DC , Florida , Massachusetts , Nevada , New Mexico , and Ohio . Additionally,

19000-603: The articles but also the comments and the dialogue that readers had with the authors. Yet no advance plans had been made for Gawker's archives, and the abruptness of the bankruptcy and the sale, compounded by the controversial nature of the site and its implosion, made it even more difficult to save at the last minute". Their review of the independent archive status in July 2017 "showed that archive.org had more than 16,000 snapshots of www.gawker.com dating back to 2003, with substantial gaps in coverage [...]. Quality assurance of each post

19190-487: The attack on Scientology on January 25, 2008, and on January 25, 2008, the Church of Scientology's official website remained inaccessible. On January 21, 2008, Anonymous announced its goals and intentions via a video posted to YouTube entitled "Message to Scientology", and a press release declaring "War on Scientology", against both the Church of Scientology and the Religious Technology Center . In

19380-503: The billionaire problem". On the independent archive, The New York Times commented: For readers, finding past coverage would be similar to using the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. For journalists, the archives represent a line of defense against what some fear is an increasingly potent weapon. Readers and former employees of Gawker have fretted that its domain and archive could be bought by someone with little regard for

19570-465: The body politic. Your choice of methods, your hypocrisy, and the general artlessness of your organization have sounded its death knell. You have nowhere to hide because we are everywhere... We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us." By January 25, 2008, only four days after its release, the video had been viewed 800,000 times, and by February 8, 2008, had been viewed over 2 million times. Author Warren Ellis called

19760-497: The bot machines that are already owned and launch a simultaneous attack against [something] like the church from 50,000 PCs, all at the same time". In response to the attacks, on January 21, 2008, the Scientology.org site was moved to Prolexic Technologies , a company specializing in safeguarding web sites from denial-of-service attacks. Attacks against the site increased, and CNET News reported that "a major assault" took place at 6 p.m. EST on January 24, 2008. Anonymous escalated

19950-455: The case of Gawker [...] as a cautionary tale illustrating the precarity of digital news" and that "the Gawker and Gothamist cases both scared reporters who don't personally archive their own work, just as it demonstrated the role of news archives in democratic societies and the need for preservation policies that ensure the public with a faithful account of history". As of November 2023 ,

20140-418: The chan boards, particularly /b/. In September 2010, however, Anons became aware of Aiplex Software, an Indian software company that contracted with film studios to launch DDoS attacks on websites used by copyright infringers, such as The Pirate Bay . Coordinating through IRC, Anons launched a DDoS attack on September 17 that shut down Aiplex's website for a day. Primarily using LOIC, the group then targeted

20330-513: The cities was the Guy Fawkes mask from the graphic novel and film V for Vendetta , in which an anarchist revolutionary battles a totalitarian government. The suggestion of the choice of mask was well received. On February 10, thousands of Anonymous joined simultaneous protests at Church of Scientology facilities in 142 cities in 43 countries. The stylized Guy Fawkes masks soon became a popular symbol for Anonymous. In-person protests against

20520-479: The coming months . Most came from sites with low ad revenue. On November 12, 2008, the company announced selling the popular blog site Consumerist and the folding of Valleywag , with managing editor Owen Thomas being demoted to a columnist on Gawker , and the rest of the staff being laid off. Some members and staff writers complained that owner Nick Denton was looking to sell out all of the Gawker sites while they were still profitable. In December 2009, Denton

20710-485: The community ... I can't explain why." On January 29, 2008, Jason Lee Miller of WebProNews reported that a Google bomb technique had been used to make the Scientology.org main website the first result in a Google search for "dangerous cult". Miller wrote that Anonymous was behind the Google bomb, and that they had also tried to bump Scientology up as the first result in Google searches for "brainwashing cult", and to make

20900-511: The company’s onetime mission. [...] Mr. Higgins said the threat of an owner who would remove or change articles could have a chilling effect on the press, either by directly shutting publications or by encouraging self-censorship. Research on the "archiving practices and policies" of various types of journalistic production by the Columbia Journalism Review in 2019 highlighted that interviewed news workers "frequently cited

21090-431: The concerns over the post's issues and received criticism, as the cause. Denton offered staff who disagreed with the actions a buyout option, which was accepted by staff including features editor Leah Finnegan and senior editor and writer Caity Weaver . Denton defended the story's writer, Sargent, who remained in his job. According to The Daily Beast , "a source familiar with the situation said Gawker ultimately paid

21280-510: The conditions for its existence". In 2008, weekend editor Ian Spiegelman quit Gawker because Denton fired his friend Sheila McClear without cause. He made that clear in several comments on the site at the time, also denouncing what he said was its practice of hiring full-time employees as independent contractors in order to avoid paying taxes and employment benefits . On October 3, 2008, Gawker announced that 19 staff members were being laid off in response to expected economic hardships in

21470-451: The deal was reached in part to bolster its financial position in response to the Hogan case. In March 2016, Hulk Hogan was awarded $ 140 million in damages by a Florida jury in an invasion of privacy case over Gawker' s publication of a sex tape: on March 18, Hogan was awarded $ 55 million for economic harm and $ 60 million for emotional distress ; on March 21, 2016, the jury awarded Hogan

21660-683: The decision. Gawker staff announced the vote on May 28, 2015. Following the decision to delete a controversial story in July 2015 ( see § Condé Nast executive prostitution claims , below ), Read and Gawker Media executive editor Tommy Craggs resigned in protest. Leah Beckmann, the site's then deputy editor, took over as interim editor in chief. She was replaced in October 2015 by Alex Pareene. On August 18, 2016, Gawker announced that it would be shutting down after Univision Communications acquired Gawker Media's six other websites. These websites continued to operate under Univision which named

21850-407: The demonstration wore masks, and said they were attempting to inform the public about what they believed to be "restrictions of free speech and profiteering through pyramid schemes" by the Church of Scientology. They asserted they were not protesting the doctrine of Scientology, but rather alleged actions of individual Scientologists. One protester stated that he had created a Facebook group to organize

22040-456: The district attorney. On May 8, 2009, WSMV-TV reported that "laws appear to have been broken" in the manner in which the Scientology security guards handled the protesters. The Scientology security guards were not clearly identified as off-duty police officers, and permits for the Scientology event attended by the Anonymous protesters were for the wrong day. "The armed people from the other county are not identified police officers. You're looking for

22230-519: The emails, photos, and address list obtained by the hackers. While accessing personal e-mail accounts without authorization constitutes a federal crime, current DOJ interpretation of this statute following the decision in Theofel v. Farey-Jones is that perpetrators may be prosecuted only for reading "unopened" emails. FBI Spokesman Eric Gonzalez in Anchorage , Alaska, confirmed that an investigation

22420-575: The final article for Gawker , titled "How Things Work". In September 2016, Univision removed multiple articles which were published under Gawker Media: "two Gizmodo posts about Shiva Ayyadurai , who claims to have invented email; two Deadspin posts about former major league baseball player Mitch Williams ; a Deadspin post about conservative provocateur Chuck Johnson; and a Jezebel post about Meanith Huon. Ayyadurai, Williams, Johnson and Huon have all sued Gawker Media for defamation over those posts". On March 14, 2006, Gawker launched Gawker Stalker Maps,

22610-493: The first mainstream press story on Anonymous, a report by Fox station KTTV in Los Angeles, California in the U.S. The report called the group "hackers on steroids", "domestic terrorists", and an "Internet hate machine". Encyclopedia Dramatica was founded in 2004 by Sherrod DeGrippo, initially as a means of documenting gossip related to LiveJournal , but it quickly was adopted as a major platform by Anonymous for parody and other purposes. The not safe for work site celebrates

22800-431: The following in 2008: Anonymous is the first internet-based super-consciousness. Anonymous is a group, in the sense that a flock of birds is a group. How do you know they’re a group? Because they’re travelling in the same direction. At any given moment, more birds could join, leave, peel off in another direction entirely. Sam Esmail shared in an interview with Motherboard that he was inspired by Anonymous when creating

22990-507: The following week. Its other websites were unaffected, and continued publication under Univision as the renamed Gizmodo Media Group . Founder Nick Denton created the site's final post on August 22, 2016. The Freedom of the Press Foundation independently archived the Gawker website and its articles in 2018. On July 12, 2018, Bryan Goldberg , owner of Bustle and Elite Daily , purchased Gawker.com and its archive in

23180-596: The funerals of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, CosmoTheGod published the names, phone numbers, and e-mail and home addresses of church members and brought down GodHatesFags.com with a DDoS attack. In August 2012, Anons hacked the site of Ugandan Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi in retaliation for the Parliament of Uganda 's consideration of an anti-homosexuality law permitting capital punishment. In April 2011, Anons launched

23370-415: The group "have got some wrong information" about Scientology. Another referred to the group as a group of "computer geeks". Later, the Church of Scientology started referring to Anonymous as "cyberterrorists" perpetrating "religious hate crimes" against the church. Detractors of Scientology have also criticized the actions of Project Chanology, asserting that they merely provide the Church of Scientology with

23560-424: The group had largely ceased. A period of infighting followed between the politically engaged members (called "moralfags" in the parlance of 4chan) and those seeking to provoke for entertainment (trolls). By September 2010, the group had received little publicity for a year and faced a corresponding drop in member interest; its raids diminished greatly in size and moved largely off of IRC channels, organizing again from

23750-530: The group posed the question: "Why does something that describes itself as a religion need an intelligence agency that aggressively persecutes critics?" The group posted a video in early August 2008 calling for renewed activity in their protest efforts, and planned a subsequent international protest for August 16, 2008. About 35 protesters gathered twice in September 2008 during the first preview and premiere of Arthur Miller 's play All My Sons . They encouraged Scientologist Katie Holmes , wife of Tom Cruise, to leave

23940-476: The group to the trickster archetype and said that "they dramatize the importance of anonymity and privacy in an era when both are rapidly eroding. Given that vast databases track us, given the vast explosion of surveillance, there's something enchanting, mesmerizing and at a minimum thought-provoking about Anonymous' interventions". When asked what good Anonymous had done for the world, Parmy Olson replied: In some cases, yes, I think it has in terms of some of

24130-508: The group's key characteristics are "(1) an unrelenting moral stance on issues and rights, regardless of direct provocation; (2) a physical presence that accompanies online hacking activity; and (3) a distinctive brand." Journalists have commented that Anonymous' secrecy, fabrications, and media awareness pose an unusual challenge for reporting on the group's actions and motivations. Quinn Norton of Wired writes that: "Anons lie when they have no reason to lie. They weave vast fabrications as

24320-686: The group's website. When the Occupy Wall Street protests began in New York City in September 2011, Anons were early participants and helped spread the movement to other cities such as Boston . In October, some Anons attacked the website of the New York Stock Exchange while other Anons publicly opposed the action via Twitter. Some Anons also helped organize an Occupy protest outside the London Stock Exchange on May 1, 2012. Gawker.com Gawker

24510-455: The group, was arrested hours after posting a video that appeared to threaten FBI agents with physical violence. Brown was subsequently charged with 17 offenses, including publishing personal credit card information from the Stratfor hack. Several law enforcement agencies took action after Anonymous' Operation Avenge Assange. In January 2011, British police arrested five male suspects between

24700-631: The hackers who controlled the botnets. PayPal estimated the damage to have cost the company US$ 5.5 million. It later provided the IP addresses of 1,000 of its attackers to the FBI , leading to at least 14 arrests. On Thursday, December 5, 2013, 13 of the PayPal 14 pleaded guilty to taking part in the attacks. In the years following Operation Payback, targets of Anonymous protests, hacks, and DDoS attacks continued to diversify. Beginning in January 2011, Anons took

24890-482: The heroes. Like Alan Moore's character V who inspired Anonymous to adopt the Guy Fawkes mask as an icon and fashion item, you're never quite sure if Anonymous is the hero or antihero. The trickster is attracted to change and the need for change, and that's where Anonymous goes. But they are not your personal army – that's Rule 44 – yes, there are rules. And when they do something, it never goes quite as planned. The internet has no neat endings. Furthermore, Landers assessed

25080-413: The idea of a worldwide protest. Because they both wanted to use a symbol or image to unify the protests, and because all protesters were supposed to be anonymous, it was decided to use a mask. Due to shipment problems caused by the short amount of time to prepare, they improvised and called all the costume and comic book-shops in the major cities around the world, and found that the only mask available in all

25270-492: The image-sharing site Flickr . Cities with turnouts of one hundred or more protesters included Adelaide , Melbourne , and Sydney , Australia; Toronto , Canada; London, England; Dublin , Ireland; and Austin , Dallas , Boston , Clearwater , and New York City, United States. 150 people protested at the Church of Scientology building in Sydney, Australia, carrying signs and wearing costumes. Participants were masked to maintain their anonymity and avoid possible retaliation from

25460-459: The individual subject in late capitalism? Internal dissent is also a regular feature of the group. 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". Gabriella Coleman writes of the group: "In some ways, it may be impossible to gauge the intent and motive of thousands of participants, many of who don't even bother to leave

25650-478: The individual's actions. Anonymous organized a 12th global protest against Scientology for January 10, 2009, to coincide with the Chanology movement's first anniversary. On February 10, 2009, Anonymous released a statement: "Scientology operatives still continue to paint Anonymous in a negative light as a means of distracting attention from Scientology operations and attempting to discredit those who bring truth to

25840-434: The issues at hand. It just isn’t working." The group claimed credit for leaks of internal Scientology documents that appeared on the website WikiLeaks , and announced further global protests for subsequent weekends in February 2009. Members of Anonymous continued to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Chanology movement during February 2009, with protests held in locations including Hemet, California . On March 3, 2009,

26030-509: The limelight with a person in a bunny suit protesting against the hero worship of Claus von Stauffenberg . On January 8, 2009, an 18-year-old male member of Anonymous ran into the New York Scientology building shirtless and covered with Vaseline , pubic hair , and toenail clippings . He then proceeded to toss books around and smear the mixture on objects in the building. The man, identified by police as Mahoud Samed Almahadin,

26220-441: The loss of the Hogan lawsuit. CNBC also reported that Gawker Media would be put up for auction following the bankruptcy filing. On August 18, 2016, Gawker Media announced that its flagship blog, gawker.com, would be ceasing operations the following week. Univision continued to operate Gawker Media's six other websites - Deadspin , Gizmodo , Jalopnik , Jezebel , Kotaku and Lifehacker . On August 22, 2016, Nick Denton wrote

26410-622: The mainstream press". In 2018, the Freedom of the Press Foundation independently archived the Gawker website and its articles via Archive-It . Parker Higgins, the Freedom of the Press Foundation's director of special projects, said they wanted to "reduce the 'upside' for wealthy individuals and organizations who would eliminate embarrassing or unflattering coverage by purchasing outlets outright. In other words, we hope that sites that can't simply be made to disappear will show some immunity to

26600-520: The map is harmless, that Gawker readers are "for the most part, a very educated, well-meaning bunch", and that "if there is someone really intending to do a celebrity harm, there are much better ways to go about doing that than looking at the Gawker Stalker". On April 6, 2007, Emily Gould appeared on an edition of Larry King Live hosted by talk show host Jimmy Kimmel during a panel discussion titled " Paparazzi : Do They Go Too Far?" and

26790-416: The membership as a whole. Parmy Olson and others have criticized media coverage that presents the group as well-organized or homogeneous; Olson writes, "There was no single leader pulling the levers, but a few organizational minds that sometimes pooled together to start planning a stunt." Some members protest using legal means, while others employ illegal measures such as DDoS attacks and hacking. Membership

26980-485: The new editor-in-chief of Gawker . Gabriel Snyder, who had been editor-in-chief for the previous 18 months and had greatly increased the site's readership, released a memo saying he was being let go from the job. In December 2011, A. J. Daulerio, former editor-in-chief of Gawker Media sports site Deadspin , replaced Remy Stern as editor-in-chief at Gawker . The company replaced several other editors, contributing editors, and authors; others left. Richard Lawson went to

27170-445: The opportunity to "play the religious persecution card". Other critics such as Mark Bunker and Tory Christman initially questioned the legality of Project Chanology's methods, but have since spoken out in support of the project as it shifted towards nonviolent protests and other legal methods. The word "Chanology" is a portmanteau of 4chan (the site where the project originated) and "Scientology." The Church of Scientology has

27360-417: The organization. Andrea Seabrook of National Public Radio 's All Things Considered reported Anonymous was previously known for "technologically sophisticated pranks" such as spamming chat rooms online and "ordering dozens of pizzas for people they don't like". Ryan Singel of Wired appeared on the program on January 27, 2008, and told Seabrook that members of Anonymous were motivated by "the tactics

27550-943: The people of Scientology, however the Church of Scientology has committed crimes. They're vehemently anti-opposition. Anyone who opposes them, must go down." A protester in Santa Barbara emphasized that their opposition was against the organization, not the belief system, and that they supported the Scientology split-off group known as the Free Zone . Protesters turned out in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania despite unusually cold weather. The masked crowd consisted mainly of college students, including some who had travelled from as far as Penn State University . Protesters in Boston, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh , Toronto, Edinburgh , London, and other cities worldwide, wore Guy Fawkes masks modeled after

27740-412: The post—marking the first time the website had "removed a significant news story for any reason other than factual error or legal settlement." On July 20, 2015, Gawker Media executive editor Tommy Craggs and Gawker.com editor-in-chief Max Read posted their resignations from the company, citing the lack of transparency by and independence from the company's management over the post's removal, rather than

27930-520: The press release, the group stated that the attacks against the Church of Scientology would continue in order to protect freedom of speech and to end what they characterized as the financial exploitation of church members. The Tom Cruise video is referred to specifically at the start of the Anonymous YouTube video posting, and is characterized as a "propaganda video". The video utilizes a synthesized voice and shows floating cloud images using

28120-440: The press to give it that sense of abundance", exaggerating the role of the grassroots membership. However, this account was disputed. The attacks brought down PayPal.com for an hour on December 8 and another brief period on December 9. Anonymous also disrupted the sites for Visa and MasterCard on December 8. Anons had announced an intention to bring down Amazon.com as well, but failed to do so, allegedly because of infighting with

28310-600: The previous videos, the two-minute video used a synthesized computer voice and featured stock footage of clouds and sky. The video was accompanied by a text transcript with British English spelling. The video denied that the group was composed of "super hackers", stating: "Contrary to the assumptions of the media, Anonymous is not 'a group of super hackers.' ... Anonymous is everyone and everywhere. We have no leaders, no single entity directing us." The video said that Project Chanology participants include "individuals from all walks of life ... united by an awareness that someone must do

28500-502: The privacy of its owners, or was illegally obtained. Gawker 's publication of a sex tape featuring Hulk Hogan led Hogan to sue the company for invasion of privacy. Hogan received financial support from billionaire investor Peter Thiel , who had been outed by Gawker against his wishes. On June 10, 2016, Gawker filed for bankruptcy after being ordered to pay Hogan $ 140 million in damages. On August 18, 2016, Gawker Media announced that its namesake blog would be ceasing operations

28690-404: The protest crashed hundreds of websites when a server was overloaded. The Sydney protest was one of the first worldwide, and after the first images of the protest went online a surge in traffic drove the hosting company's bandwidth usage up by 900 percent. The hosting company Digitalis temporarily prevented access to hundreds of its clients' sites, and customer support representative Denis Kukic said

28880-452: The protest focused on increasing awareness of the Church of Scientology's disconnection policy. Protesters around the world gathered in over 50 cities, including Toronto, London, Sydney, and Berlin. A subsequent international protest was planned for May 10, 2008, according to The University Register it was titled "Operation Battletoad Earth", and an additional protest was planned for June 2008. According to John DeSio of The Village Voice ,

29070-462: The protest, explaining "It started online with a group called Anonymous ... They got upset with Scientology because the church hides important documents that are supposed to be released to the public." On February 10, 2008, about 7,000 people protested in at least 100 cities worldwide. Within 24 hours of the first protest, a search for "Scientology" and "protest" on Google Blog Search returned more than 4,000 results and more than 2,000 pictures on

29260-428: The protesters believe to be forced contracts where Scientologists work below a livable wage, that female Sea Org members who become pregnant are pressured to have abortions, and that children of families in the organization are made to perform difficult physical labor. An international protest held on July 12, 2008, titled: "Spy vs. Sci" highlighted the Church of Scientology's Office of Special Affairs . A press release by

29450-428: The protests were meant to draw attention to what the group refers to as a "vast money-making scheme under the guise of 'religion'". By January 30, 2008, 170 protests had been planned outside Church of Scientology centers worldwide. A video posted to YouTube called "Code of Conduct" outlined twenty-two rules to follow when protesting, and urged protestors to remain peaceful. On February 2, 2008, 150 people gathered outside

29640-452: The protests, there were reports that YouTube was freezing the view counts on videos criticizing Scientology, including clips from the protests themselves, potentially preventing them from being displayed on YouTube's front page. Similarly, the original "Message to Scientology" video had received nearly 2.5 million views and yet failed to be featured as a "most-watched". The net neutrality activist group movieLOL strongly criticized YouTube for

29830-490: The reaction of the police at the Atlanta protest. In contrast, a Los Angeles Police Department officer at the Los Angeles protest was widely praised after a video was uploaded to YouTube showing him acknowledging the demonstrators' right to protest and encouraging them to stay on the sidewalk for their own safety. Anonymous held its third international protest against Scientology on April 12, 2008. Named "Operation Reconnect",

30020-554: The removal of illegal websites and sharing networks should be performed by the authorities, rather than Internet vigilantes. Some commentators also argued that the DDoS attacks by Anonymous following the January 2012 Stop Online Piracy Act protests had proved counterproductive. Molly Wood of CNET wrote that "[i]f the SOPA/PIPA protests were the Web's moment of inspiring, non-violent, hand-holding civil disobedience, #OpMegaUpload feels like

30210-518: The right thing." Specific controversies involving the CoS were cited in the video as the explanation for actions by Anonymous. In an email to CNET News , Anonymous stated that coordinated activities were planned for February 10, 2008, in many major cities around the world. Anonymous hoped to use "real world" protests to rally public opinion to their cause. According to the Associated Press ,

30400-435: The same year that "security industry experts generally don't consider Anonymous a major player in the world of cybercrime" due to the group's reliance on DDoS attacks that briefly disabled websites rather than the more serious damage possible through hacking. One security consultant compared the group to "a jewelry thief that drives through a window, steal jewels, and rather than keep them, waves them around and tosses them out to

30590-400: The site "where the vast parallel universe of Anonymous in-jokes, catchphrases, and obsessions is lovingly annotated, and you will discover an elaborate trolling culture: Flamingly racist and misogynist content lurks throughout, all of it calculated to offend." The site also played a role in the anti- Scientology campaign of Project Chanology . On April 14, 2011, the original URL of the site

30780-540: The stuff they did in the Middle East supporting the pro-democracy demonstrators. But a lot of bad things too, unnecessarily harassing people – I would class that as a bad thing. DDOSing the CIA website, stealing customer data and posting it online just for shits and giggles is not a good thing. Quinn Norton of Wired wrote of the group in 2011: I will confess up front that I love Anonymous, but not because I think they're

30970-488: The subject of the offending article a tidy undisclosed sum in order to avoid another lawsuit." Gawker Media President and General Counsel Heather Dietrick declined to confirm or deny there was a settlement. On June 10, 2016, Gawker Media and its associated subsidiaries Gawker Sales, Gawker Entertainment, Gawker Technology and Blogwire filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York, following

31160-492: The surge was unexpected: "We had no advance notice that there was going to be a sudden surge of traffic or that there would be more than 100 times the average traffic that this customer's website normally consumes." Masked protesters in Seattle, Washington, United States congregated in front of the Church of Scientology of Washington. Protesters were quoted as saying, "We believe in total freedom of belief. We have nothing against

31350-415: The surrounding street opposite of the church during a protest. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that five protesters were cited for "causing 'hazardous' or 'offensive' conditions", and that eight motorists were pulled over by police and ticketed for excessive use of horns, after they honked while driving past the protest. The American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International investigated

31540-399: The top ten stories on Digg.com were about either Scientology-related controversies or Anonymous and attempts to expose Scientology. Digg CEO Jay Adelson told PC World that Anonymous had not manipulated the site's algorithm system to prevent artificial poll results, stating: "They must have done a very good job of bringing in a diverse set of interests ... It just happened to hit a nerve that

31730-604: The unit Gizmodo Media Group in an effort to distance itself from the Gawker name. Gawker' s employees were transferred to the other six websites or elsewhere in Univision. While Univision initially acquired the Gawker website when it purchased the other websites, "Univision deemed the Gawker.com brand too toxic, and transferred it back to the bankruptcy estate". The Gawker website remained online after it ceased publication. On July 12, 2018, Bryan Goldberg , owner of Bustle and Elite Daily , purchased Gawker.com in

31920-581: The unsettling wave of car-burning hooligans that sweep in and incite the riot portion of the play." Dwight Silverman of the Houston Chronicle concurred, stating that "Anonymous' actions hurt the movement to kill SOPA/PIPA by highlighting online lawlessness." The Oxford Internet Institute 's Joss Wright wrote that "In one sense the actions of Anonymous are themselves, anonymously and unaccountably, censoring websites in response to positions with which they disagree." Gabriella Coleman has compared

32110-399: The video "creepy in and of itself" and a "manifesto, declaration of war, sharp political film". In a different video posted to YouTube, Anonymous addresses news organizations covering the conflict and criticizes media reporting of the incident. In the video, Anonymous criticizes the media specifically for not mentioning objections by the group to certain controversial aspects of the history of

32300-472: The video "extolling the virtues of Scientology". The Australian newspaper The Daily Telegraph characterized Cruise as "manic-looking", "gush[ing] about his love for Scientology". The Church of Scientology asserted that the video material was "pirated and edited" and taken from a three-hour video produced for members of Scientology. YouTube removed the Cruise video from their site under threat of litigation. The website Gawker did not take down their copy of

32490-530: The website. Gawker was founded by journalist Nick Denton in 2002, after he left the Financial Times . It was originally edited by Elizabeth Spiers . Gawker' s official launch was in December 2002. When Spiers left Gawker , she was replaced by Choire Sicha , a former art dealer. Sicha was employed in this position until August 2004, at which point he was replaced by Jessica Coen, and she became editorial director of Gawker Media . Sicha left for

32680-510: The world". Since 2009, dozens of people have been arrested for involvement in Anonymous cyberattacks, in countries including the U.S., UK, Australia, the Netherlands, Spain, and Turkey. Anons generally protest these prosecutions and describe these individuals as martyrs to the movement. The July 2011 arrest of LulzSec member Topiary became a particular rallying point, leading to a widespread "Free Topiary" movement. The first person to be sent to jail for participation in an Anonymous DDoS attack

32870-468: The world. Anonymous' media profile diminished by 2018, but the group re-emerged in 2020 to support the George Floyd protests and other causes. The philosophy of Anonymous offers insight into a long-standing political question that has gone unanswered with often tragic consequences for social movements: what does a new form of collective politics look like that wishes to go beyond the identity of

33060-434: Was 537.55 hours. In November 2010, the organization WikiLeaks began releasing hundreds of thousands of leaked U.S. diplomatic cables . In the face of legal threats against the organization by the U.S. government, Amazon.com booted WikiLeaks from its servers, and PayPal , MasterCard , and Visa cut off service to the organization. Operation Payback then expanded to include "Operation Avenge Assange ", and Anons issued

33250-584: Was Dmitriy Guzner, an American 19-year-old. He pleaded guilty to "unauthorized impairment of a protected computer" in November 2009 and was sentenced to 366 days in U.S. federal prison . On June 13, 2011, officials in Turkey arrested 32 individuals that were allegedly involved in DDoS attacks on Turkish government websites. These members of Anonymous were captured in different cities of Turkey including Istanbul and Ankara . According to PC Magazine , these individuals were arrested after they attacked websites as

33440-432: Was a Scientologist who died in 1995 under controversial circumstances. The Church of Scientology was held responsible and initially faced felony charges in her death. The charges were later dropped and a civil suit brought by McPherson's family was settled in 2004. This second video was removed on January 25, 2008, YouTube citing a "terms of use violation". Organizers of the February 10, 2008, Project Chanology protests against

33630-486: Was an attempt to make the blog more mainstream and less media-focused, ending a tradition of heavy media coverage at Gawker . Denton announced in a staff memo in November 2015 that the site was switching from covering New York and the media world to focus primarily on politics. Gawker' s website with its content initially remained online following its shutdown in 2016. This archive contained "over 200,000 articles". Christopher Bonanos of New York argued in 2016 that

33820-455: Was arrested in relation to attacks by LulzSec against Sony. Anonymous first became associated with hacktivism in 2008 following a series of actions against the Church of Scientology known as Project Chanology. On January 15, 2008, the gossip blog Gawker posted a video in which celebrity Scientologist Tom Cruise praised the religion; and the Church responded with a cease-and-desist letter for violation of copyright. 4chan users organized

34010-534: Was asked about the Gawker Stalker. Kimmel accused the site of potentially assisting real stalkers , adding that Gould and her website could ultimately be responsible for someone's death. Kimmel continued to claim a lack of veracity in Gawker 's published stories, and the potential for libel it presents. At the end of the exchange Gould said that she didn't "think it was OK" for websites to publish false information, after which Kimmel said she should "check your website then." On January 15, 2008, Gawker mirrored

34200-453: Was charged with burglary, criminal mischief, and aggravated harassment as hate crimes. Two weeks later, 21-year-old film student and Anonymous member Jacob Speregen was charged with aggravated harassment and criminal mischief as hate crimes after he filmed Almahadin carrying out his prank. According to his mother and the video, Speregen was filming the event from behind the barricade. Scientology critics Mark Bunker and Jason Beghe disagreed with

34390-418: Was hired for the newly created position of managing editor. On September 28, 2006, Coen announced in a post on Gawker that she would be leaving the site to become deputy online editor at Vanity Fair . Balk shared responsibility for the Gawker site with co-editor Emily Gould . Associate editor Maggie Shnayerson also began writing for the site; she replaced Doree Shafrir , who left in September 2007 for

34580-570: Was hit or miss, and comments were also archived only intermittently". Maria Bustillos, for the Columbia Journalism Review in 2018, highlighted "what would be missing if the Gawker archive were to disappear" which includes the "roots" of public accusations on the misconduct of Louis C.K. , Bill Cosby , and Harvey Weinstein . Bustillos opined that "in the absence of journalists willing to take such risks, it's not at all clear whether such stories would ever have come to light in

34770-406: Was in the command channel during the attack, the LOIC proved ineffective, and Anons were forced to rely on the botnets of two hackers for the attack, marshaling hijacked computers for a concentrated assault. Security researcher Sean-Paul Correll also reported that the "zombie computers" of involuntary botnets had provided 90% of the attack. Topiary states that he and other Anons then "lied a bit to

34960-485: Was nominated for "Media Entrepreneur of the Decade" by Adweek , and Gawker was named "Blog of the Decade" by the advertising trade. Brian Morrissey of Adweek said " Gawker remains the epitome of blogging: provocative, brash, and wildly entertaining". In February 2010, Denton announced that Gawker was acquiring the "people directory" site CityFile.com, and was hiring that site's editor and publisher, Remy Stern, as

35150-495: Was not allowed to use 'that word'". He said that the police told him he had 15 minutes to take down the sign. The teenager did not, citing a 1984 High Court ruling by Mr Justice Latey in which he described the Church of Scientology as a "cult" that was "corrupt, sinister and dangerous". The sign was then confiscated. Shami Chakrabarti , the director of Liberty , a human rights group, said that, "They will be banning words like 'war' and 'tax' from placards and demonstrations next. This

35340-545: Was published on AnonNews.org threatening the Westboro Baptist Church , an organization based in Kansas in the U.S. known for picketing funerals with signs reading "God Hates Fags". During a live radio current affairs program in which Topiary debated church member Shirley Phelps-Roper , CosmoTheGod hacked one of the organization's websites. After the church announced its intentions in December 2012 to picket

35530-522: Was redirected to a new website named Oh Internet that bore little resemblance to Encyclopedia Dramatica. Parts of the ED community harshly criticized the changes. In response, Anonymous launched "Operation Save ED" to rescue and restore the site's content. The Web Ecology Project made a downloadable archive of former Encyclopedia Dramatica content. The site's reincarnation was initially hosted at encyclopediadramatica.ch on servers owned by Ryan Cleary, who later

35720-465: Was removed from Google+ . The site was later hacked by a Turkish hackers group who placed a message on the front page and replaced its logo with a picture of a dog. In August 2011, Anons launched an attack against BART in San Francisco, which they dubbed #OpBart. The attack, made in response to the killing of Charles Hill a month prior, resulted in customers' personal information leaked onto

35910-474: Was replaced as editor-in-chief by longtime Gawker writer John Cook. In March 2014, Max Read became the Gawker' s editor-in-chief. In April 2014, using internet slang was banned per new writing style guidelines. In June 2015, Gawker editorial staff voted to unionize. Employees joined the Writers Guild of America. Approximately three-fourths of employees eligible to vote voted in favor of

36100-428: Was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment. Ashley Rhodes, Peter Gibson, and another male had already pleaded guilty to the same charge for actions between August 2010 and January 2011. Evaluations of Anonymous' actions and effectiveness vary widely. In a widely shared post, blogger Patrick Gray wrote that private security firms "secretly love" the group for the way in which it publicizes cyber security threats. Anonymous

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