Who is Anonymous? Anonymous, in essence, is a loosely connected online community that is known for raiding websites and attacking individuals in a form known as trolling, slang for insulting or provoking someone to evoke a humorous response.

Trolling has been at the forefront of discussions on Internet ethics, with many calling it a form of cyber-bullying.

EvCC sociology professor Beverly Farb said trolling exists in "anomie," a state in which social norms have been eroded, evident in such incidences as mocking a grieving family.

Farb added that as part of an anonymous group, individuals feel less responsibility to their actions towards another person, and that in this sense, the other people are dehumanized.

"Any time there's a 'we,' there is automatically a 'they'," she said.

Although Anonymous has been around for a while raiding websites, including social network site Habbo.com back in 2006, where members blocked access to certain parts of the site, they have only recently gained wide media attention for their global protest of Scientology, which started in early 2008.

The protest, dubbed "Project Chanology," was formed on anonymous image boards such as 4chan.org, where posters had the tag "anonymous" on their posts long before it was ever used as a group name, and other websites such as somethingawful.com in response to the Church of Scientology (CoS) removing a video of Tom Cruise speaking about Scientology from the website youtube.com. Accusing them of censoring information about themselves, Anonymous claims Scientology is a business-like cult posing as a religion that has exploited and abused its members; such as Lisa McPherson, a woman who died under allegedly neglectful circumstances during care at the CoS headquarters in Clearwater Fl. Their eventual goal, according to the few known leaders of Anonymous, is to dismantle the church itself, and if not that, at least bring awareness to the capitalist nature of the organization.

The media has given many reports on Anonymous, with questions of ethics and their practices being raised. They have been called "hackers on steroids" and "the internet hate-machine" for their activities on the Internet. News reports have accused them of being terrorists and hate-mongers, and through all of this, Anonymous has responded with only humor. It can be noted that many of these reports carry false info, some spread by Anonymous themselves in an example of trolling.

Anonymous is well-known for holding protests outside of Scientology centers, often wearing Guy Fawkes masks, as seen on the main character in the film "V for Vendetta," to hide their identity.

On Nov. 15, Anonymous held one of these protests outside of the Church of Scientology of Washington State, located in Seattle, holding signs such as "Scientology kills," and "Honk against Scientology." One member of Anonymous, who said he traveled from Munich, Germany, just for the protest, said he is mostly concerned for the people that he claims Scientology has cut off from the rest of society, explaining the policy of keeping their members from family and friends who are critical of Scientology. "When this boat capsizes, where are all these people going to go?" He said, "These people are looking for answers, and they think Scientology is giving them to them. It's sad."

While some question the ethics and legality of both sides of the issue, one thing is very certain: Anonymous is changing the way the world protests, and it will continue to do so in the future.