Anonymous turns on itself

PART OF THE ANONYMOUS hacktivist movement has been singled out for being too organised and self serving.

Part of the group attacked Anonops and its networks yesterday, saying that it no longer stood for free speech or the wider movement, shuts out new members and is controlled by personalities rather than protesters.

"Over the course of the following months, it has become very clear to us that AnonOps no longer stands for the values of open speech, freedom of opinion and has instead transformed itself into a network rampent with trolls, abusive channel operators, and a generally unwelcoming place for those whom wish to communicate and gather to fight the powers of corruption, and those whom wish to censor our open internet," says the introduction to a Pastebin release.

"Various attempts have been made in the past to course correct AnonOps, but the totalitarian IRC operator regime has remained intact. The AnonOps network prides itself in being 'secure', however, such is not the case. Rather, they employ incompetent and highly unprofessional channel and IRC operators, allowing their personal grudges to interfere with the operation of a secure network for Anonymous."

According to the release, newcomers are treated with "condescention and arrogance", which seems to fly against the "we are legion" message that Anonymous puts out, and this behaviour is encouraged by the channel operators.

"A decentralized organization such as Anonymous cannot thrive on a network ran by such people as Power2All, Wolfy, Owen and Shitstorm," adds the post. "Anonymous transcends beyond one IRC network, or one social medium. Spread. Be aware. Educate. Anonymous is an idea; ideas are bulletproof."

A hacking attack against the group and its IRC channels was welcomed by Anonymousabu, a vocal member of Anonymous, who said that it was about time that someone smacked away its iron grip, "Props to whoever owned anonops' services, It is time that we decentralize from the network. Anons, spread out!", he said. "How does it look that anonymous is decentralized but everyone stays centralized on anonops?"

Anonops is in for a rinsing from the group and its irate hackers, and the authors of the Pastebin post called out the sub-group as an enemy that would be persecuted.

"Welcome to the court of the internet, AnonOps. You shall be persecuted for your crimes against the freedom of chats, your utter and repeated failure as an IRC network, and your gross negligence in securing the identities of those whom chat and remain Anonymous on your network," it says

"As long as AnonOps stay online, they will continue to adulterate our cause, bastardizing ideals of Anonymous, and running a network where the only lulz to be had are that of the failures whom chat there and run the network. Such activity cannot continue." µ