In 2012, Time called Anonymous one of the ' 100 most influential people' in the world. Supporters have called the group 'freedom fighters' and digital Robin Hoods, while critics have described them as 'a cyber lynch-mob' or 'cyber terrorists'. Evaluations of the group's actions and effectiveness vary widely. Some anons also opt to mask their voices through voice changers or text-to-speech programs.ĭozens of people have been arrested for involvement in Anonymous cyberattacks in countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, India, and Turkey. 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. 'These ISPs have sought to balance community expectations to remove access to the video with the need to minimise any inconvenience that may arise from legitimate content being blocked as an unavoidable, temporary consequence,' Communications Alliance chief executive John Stanton said in a statement.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 the Church of Scientology.Īnonymous 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'. The telco industry's peak body said the decision to voluntarily block domains was made due to the 'extraordinary circumstances' involved. Optus said it had blocked the domains after 'reflecting on community expectations'. 'While there were discussions at an industry level about this issue, this is a decision Vodafone Australia came to independently,' a spokeswoman said in a statement.

Vodafone said while blocking requests normally came from the courts or law enforcement agencies 'this was an extreme case which we think requires an extraordinary response'. The ban on 4chan was lifted a few hours later. Optus and Vodafone declined to name which domains they blocked but the same platforms also failed to load on their networks on Tuesday afternoon. Watch the latest news on Channel 7 or stream for free on 7plus >

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