One of the moderators on WWP has written an excellent post that clearly defines the difference between Anonymous, Chanology & WWP and the relationship to current activities regarding Wikileaks.
Although the Wikileaks situation has bought about this clarification, the information in the post holds true regardless of Wikileaks and should really be understood by anyone reading WWP or even ESMB.
http://forums.whyweprotest.net/332-wikileaks/please-read-anonymous-whyweprotest-wikileaks-74386/
Although the Wikileaks situation has bought about this clarification, the information in the post holds true regardless of Wikileaks and should really be understood by anyone reading WWP or even ESMB.
http://forums.whyweprotest.net/332-wikileaks/please-read-anonymous-whyweprotest-wikileaks-74386/
There has been an unusual amount of traffic and new users in the last few days. This is undoubtedly due to media coverage of "Operation Payback" in support of WikiLeaks.
Whyweprotest.net is the number three Google result for "Anonymous" with the first two being Wikipedia articles. A number of news sources have connected the "Anonymous" that works against the Church of Scientology with the "Anonymous" that is attacking the websites of companies that have worked against WikiLeaks. There was even a link here from a New York Times article in connection with "Operation Payback," so it is only natural that some people end up here in response to what is an ongoing international news story. We welcome new users and wish you the best.
I'm making this post to clarify things to our new users, to passers-by and some established users who seem to be a bit misinformed.
What Anonymous is
Anonymous is simply a group of people who communicate using disposable identities, or not using any identity at all. "Anonymous" can refer to the millions of people who post on various websites without using their real identities, it can refer to any given subset of those people, or it can even refer to a single person.
What Anonymous is not
Anonymous is not a single cohesive group of people. No single person or group of people is representative of "Anonymous" as a whole. Anonymous has no official membership, and has no official guidelines and no officials. There is no controlling entity and no unifying principles. Not everyone who considers himself to be Anonymous is involved with everything "Anonymous" is said to be responsible for, and things that "Anonymous" is said to be responsible for do not represent the opinions or actions of every single person or any given person who considers himself to be a part of Anonymous.
What WhyWeProtest.net is
WhyWeProtest.net (WWP) is primarily the central hub for "Project Chanology." Project Chanology is the name for the anti-Scientology activism movement that includes elements of Anonymous and also includes former Scientology members and other long-time critics. Some of WWP's users consider themselves to be "Anonymous" some do not. WWP is not exclusively limited to Scientology. WWP also hosts discussion and activism on a number of other topics including the recent Iranian elections. There is a general sentiment among most WWP users strongly in favor of free expression and the free exchange of information.
What WhyWeProtest.net is not
WWP is not representative of "Anonymous" as a whole. "Anonymous" as a whole is not necessarily representative of Chanology or WWP. WWP is not the one and only home of Anonymous, it is a home for some people who consider themselves to be part of Anonymous.
WWP is NOT a staging ground for any sort of illegal activity against any party. WWP does not condone or promote any illegal activities. If you as a WWP user spot any promotion of illegal activities, such as denial of service attacks please use the report button to the left of the post so that the moderating staff can act. WWP will comply with any valid orders by law enforcement agencies, however to date we have never received any such orders.
Why WWP has a section for discussing WikiLeaks
A lot of WWP users hold very strong sentiments about the freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of information. WikiLeaks is viewed as a beacon of freedom of information and actions against it are viewed as suppressing free expression of ideas. WikiLeaks has also hosted a number of internal Scientology documents.
This section is to be used for discussion of events surrounding WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, and it can be used to organize legal avenues to disseminate your opinion on the subject.
This section is NOT to be used to promote or organize any illegal activities. This, however does not mean that you cannot discuss when other people are using illegal activities.
Now please feel free to call me a leader-fag and whatnot now, but I think this needed to be clarified
Thanks,
Rufus