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Comment by lhnn | Hacker News Reader

Let's see how many anons go from downloading and running LOIC to analyzing documents and uploading audio on Youtube.

I would not be surprised by a decent response to this, plenty of Anon got out of their parent's basements to the Co$ protests. This doesn't require leaving the computer, a far easier proposition for most I would expect.

Also, the media coverage has largely treated Anon and it's missives as a serious resistance movement loosely linked to Wikileaks rather than a collective of bored trolls and pranksters, which means they'll gain a lot of support from people that are serious about uncovering government conspiracies.

Would it confuse you to find that a decent sized portion of anon are the type of people that tuck their kids in at night in the suburban ranch-style house before returning to their personal crusade to extract justice from a system that protects the morally bankrupt?

Or, are we just deciding to play on the usual stereotype.

Also, is hanging around in a spot in meatspace with other people a more effective means to a goal than a direct action that is performed online? When you sell software, are you walking door to door? Or selling online? Would it be fair to call you "a lazy basement-dweller" since you don't walk door to door selling software?

Does this statement seem deragatory to you? "This (selling online) doesn't require leaving the computer, a far easier proposition for most I would expect."

Maybe you can do it, since technically anyone can be Anon.

That's the neat thing about leaderless resistance.

Although Anonymous is special, because typical leaderless resistance can only exist with very strict rules (see: ALF).

I'm curious whether anyone has researched how vulnerable a leaderless group is to suggestion by agents provocateurs. On one hand I could see the "inertia" of the group tending toward some mean purpose, but on the other hand it seems possible for a leaderless group to be pushed quite easily. I suppose it would depend on how much shared philosophy there was within the group, and whether that philosophy would have enough weight to prevent outsiders from pushing the group off track.

It makes me think of swarms, flocks, and emergent behavior.

The problem that agent provocateurs is that it's difficult to convince someone that you're in the in-group. I've been in a situation with agent provocateurs[1] and frankly, the 5'11" dude in a crew cut that's built like a house is not an anarchist. It was pretty freaking silly.

You'd think that it would be easier for something like Anon, but it's actually probably harder. The only thing you have is communication, and so it'll be scrutinized even more. Anon's humor style is incredibly deep and nested, when you really get down to it. I'm not saying that it's impossible, it'd just take some work.

1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPFC7THiKho

It's too bad videos of police infiltrators trying to rouse peaceful protestors to violence don't get more airtime.

I wouldn't call those guys "provocateurs", it looked like they were just walking with the crowd. But they definitely didn't seem to fit in.

Can you specify exactly what you mean by ALF? Wikipedia turns up both the Arab Liberation Front and the Afar Liberation Front, both of which mention leaders.

Animal Liberation Front

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