Anonymous is a decentralized virtual community, commonly referred to as an internet-based collective of hacktivists whose goals are also decentralized.
The name was inspired by the perceived anonymity of people on the internet. The sense of using that shared identity began on imageboards such as 4chan. The name further escalated when 4chan image board signed all posts as Anonymous. As the popularity of imageboards increased, the idea for people to use the word "Anonymous" as a collective unnamed individual became an internet meme.
At first, the members of the imageboards would occasionally join into mass raids, or just pranks, to social networking services and websites. They've blocked users from accessing the service, invited a large number of people to listen to prank calls via Skype and also on Internet Relay Chat (IRC). The result are published press stories about Anonymous. The reports called the group "hackers on steroids", "domestic terrorists", and an "internet hate machine".
Since then, the group is loosely associated with international network of activists and hacktivists. Places on the web associated with them are described as "an internet gathering". The group became well-known for series of well-publicized distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on government, corporate and religious websites.
Representing the concept of many online and offline community users simultaneously existing as an anarchic, Anonymous members or "Anons", can be distinguished in public by the wearing of Guy Fawkes masks portrayed in the graphic novel and film, V for Vendetta.
Because the group is decentralized, meaning there is no leadership inside the community, the group that works in a coordinated manner usually commence their attacks or decisions based on self-agreed goal or entertainment.
