After all the ghouls and witches are away from Halloween, millions of Anons around the world will meet on November 5th, drawn to Guy Fawkes, revolution, change, and the gunpowder plot, to make their presence known to world governments and the elite (the true vampires and goblins of our society).
Those who support the Anonymous movement, Discordianism, anarchy, fighting against government oppression, encryption, hacking, human rights, various activist causes for our animal friends and otherwise, justice and even those who just enjoy the Lulz of a website or database getting pwned by code, will all join together for a single day showcasing global unity.
In other words, individuals of every race, ideological beliefs and social class will meet in streets all over the world to celebrate November 5th and the gunpowder plot which will never be forgotten, mirroring the movie V for Vendetta as a symbol for standing against tyranny.
It is a day that historically has been marked with Anons protesting in the streets since 2011. All in an effort to remind the elite and other interests that "we are still here, we will remain a pain in your ass, and we aren't going away." As well as to ask a simple question to governments across the globe: "do you liek mudkipz and lulzboats?"
To paraphrase: "We are legion, we are many, we are the resistance against corrupt governments, and the corruption of this world. You are the disease and we are the antidote."
Since 2011 after the rise of the Occupy Wall Street, meeting on November 5th has become a tradition for those who have chosen to be apart of the Anon collective idea.
For governments, November 5th and the headless symbol of Anonymous is seen as a form of resistance and dissent throughout the world. Earth's citizens unite and protest elitist policies, corruption, and in some countries even oppression all in solidarity with each other (brothers and sisters) wearing Guy Fawkes masks to obscure identities and represent unity.
Historically, the feds have tried to discover what they deemed Anonymous's "shadowy leadership" by spying on Anons at the march with Stingrays, drones and digital monitoring technology to tap conversations, albeit failing to realize its decentralized nature.
In the U.S. the DHS even recently used a modified version of the Anonymous “man without a head” logo in a presentation on surveillance. Ironically, the modified logo was copyrighted and was originally created for an article critical of Pakistan’s mass surveillance, Muckrock reported.
There are no leaders in Anonymous like the feds think; everyone networks and works together for common like-minded causes, be it hunting pedophiles, animal abusers, domestic terrorists or uniting together to stop laws against the Internet like ACTA, SOPA, PIPA, CISPA and the cleverly named never forgotten CISPA 2.0, or numerous anti-war actions just to name a few of the collective's operations over the years.
In 2011 the feds seemed to partially figure things out, noting in a DHS bulletin that Anonymous lacked "a centralized leadership structure and distributed (often international) personnel poses a significant hurdle for law enforcement organizations hoping to curb the flow of cyber attacks against organizations."
Although it's further worth noting that there are no specific goals for the march or collective, there is, however, an overarching desire to combat censorship, promote freedom of speech, and counter government control within the collective. While anti-oppression and supporting whistleblowers seems to be something most can agree on.
Years before 2011, Anonymous became known as the government's and Internet's final boss. (You just lost the game!)
Anonymous actions have been taken against Sony, HB Gary, Aaron Barr, Operation Payback, and protests against organizations like Westboro Baptist, Church Of Scientology, and various governments worldwide including Iran, Egypt, Australia, and Ireland to name a few of those targeted in early Ops.
Utilizing a number of techniques such as digital web sit-ins (DoS attacks) with LOIC (sending HTTP header requests to sites), "rudimentary exploits", d0xing and sometimes the more extreme hacking of a database and leaking of its tables and contents for the Lulz.
Meanwhile, for those who support the idea of Anonymous decentralization, government transparency, and freedom for everyone, the march is seen as a day to meet, trek, network and form ideas with like minds, leaving behind hacktivist deeds that individuals of the collective might (or might not) have taken part in. (You do not talk about fight club; rule 9001 of the Internet - everyone is a fed, don't brag.)
November 5th is also seen as a day to remember those within the collective who have been incarcerated and charged with the "Computer Fraud and Abuse Act" for their actions or passed on like Tayyeb Shehadah, who was shot for protesting in Palestine by an Israeli sniper (mask seen below).
You don't have to be a hacker to be Anonymous, Anons have a number of other skills used to support operations within the decentralized leaderless collective such as artwork, video editing, writing PRs, aiding whistleblowers and boots on the ground, the list goes on and on.
Anyone can be Anonymous.
Over the years, Guy Fawkes masks have even been outlawed at protests in some countries like Bahrain, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Canada to name just a few. In fact, even in the U.S. a Kentucky lawmaker recently filed a bill to ban masks at protests in the state last year.
Year after year the Million Mask March has been a historical event.
This year promises to be no different with thousands of Anons planning to march in cities across the world according to a Pastebin (alt-link) naming some of the locations for the event, while a Facebook group for the march entitled Million Mask March Worldwide boasts 250,000-plus likes.
(Since there are no official accounts that represent the whole idea of Anonymous, the march is expected to be vast and wide across the world and this list should be assumed to be incomplete.)
It's also not out of the question to see data drops from hacktivists within the collective to celebrate the occasion.
Already, LulzSec Italy in conjunction with AntiSec and Anonymous Italy have promised a week entitled OpBlackWeek which they state will be filled with hacks and leaks according to a post on the Cyber Guerilla website utilized by Anonymous hacktivists.
"Operations have been started with hacking and defacing University sites. “Let’s start the dances with Education!," the post from LulzSec Italy reads.https://twitter.com/CgAn_Doemela/status/1056946489380036608
Participants in the march are reminded that peaceful protest is encouraged.
However, if individuals get violent they do so on their own accord and fully understand the consequences that may ensue for others participating in the Million Mask March in their area, which will likely include tear gas and brutal response from riot cops.
If you are interested in attending and showing your government a civil presence you can find your closest Million Mask March location by searching Twitter or Fedbook (Facebook) with the terms "million mask march [your city]".
Aaron Kesel writes for Activist Post. Support us at Patreon. Follow us on Minds, Steemit, SoMee, BitChute, Facebook and Twitter. Ready for solutions? Subscribe to our premium newsletter Counter Markets.