Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous

462 Pages·2014·1.44 MB·English

by  Gabriella Coleman

hacker, hoaxer, whistleblower, spy

hacker, hoaxer,
whistleblower, spy
the many faces of anonymous
Gabriella Coleman
London • New York
First published by Verso 2014
© Gabriella Coleman 2014

The partial or total reproduction of this publication, in electronic form or
otherwise, is consented to for noncommercial purposes, provided that the
original copyright notice and this notice are included and the publisher and the
source are clearly acknowledged. Any reproduction or use of all or a portion
of this publication in exchange for financial consideration of any kind is
prohibited without permission in writing from the publisher.

The moral rights of the author have been asserted
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Verso
UK: 6 Meard Street, London W1F 0EG
US: 20 Jay Street, Suite 1010, Brooklyn, NY 11201
www.versobooks.com
Verso is the imprint of New Left Books
ISBN-13: 978-1-78168-583-9
eISBN-13: 978-1-78168-584-6 (US)
eISBN-13: 978-1-78168-689-8 (UK)
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the library of congress
Typeset in Sabon by MJ & N Gavan, Truro, Cornwall
Printed in the US by Maple Press
Printed and bound in the UK by CPI Group Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
I dedicate this book to the legions behind Anonymous—
those who have donned the mask in the past,
those who still dare to take a stand today, and
those who will surely rise again in the future.

Contents
Introduction: “And Now You Have Got Our Attention” 1
1. On Trolls, Tricksters, and the Lulz 19
2. Project Chanology—I Came for the Lulz but
Stayed for the Outrage 53
3. Weapons of the Geek 81
4. The Shot Heard Round the World 113
5. Anonymous Everywhere 143
6. “Moralfaggotry” Everywhere 177
7. Revenge of the Lulz 203
8. LulzSec 237
9. AntiSec 277
10. The Desire of a Secret Is to Be Told 317
11. The Sabutage 337
Conclusion: Daybreak 377
Acknowledgements 401
A Note on Sources 409
Notes 411
Index 433

Introduction: “And Now, You
Have Got Our Attention”
O
n July 29, 2007, an entity calling itself Anonymous—
unknown, at the time, to all except the most erudite
Internet denizens—uploaded a video to YouTube. A
metallic, digital tone thrums as a headless suited man appears
over a blank background. A male voice begins to speak
through the interference: “Dear Fox News,” it intones.1 The
news organization had recently devoted a segment entirely
to a group they described as “the Internet Hate Machine”—
a title the collective would subsequently adopt as a badge
of honor.
But for a collective that revels in trickery and guile, to
simply laugh and dismiss such an exposé would be to miss
a great opportunity. And so, the disturbingly ponderous,
down-pitched voice of Anonymous continues: “The name and
nature of Anonymous has been ravaged, as if it were a whore
in a back alley, and then placed on display for the public eye to
behold. Allow me to say quite simply: you completely missed
the point of who and what we are … We are everyone and we
are no one … We are the face of chaos and the harbingers of
judgment. We laugh at the face of tragedy. We mock those in
pain. We ruin the lives of others simply because we can … A
man takes out his aggression on a cat, we laugh. Hundreds
die in a plane crash, we laugh. We are the embodiment of