TechtechnologyanonymousHackers

Your Anon News, Anonymous's Official News Site, Nears Launch

Anonymous Is Getting Serious About The News Business
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By 

Deputy Managing Editor Of Impact & Innovation, The Huffington Post

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KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - MAY 25: :Political activists wear anonymous masks during a political rally against election fraud on May 25, 2013 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Thousands of supporters of Pakatan Rakyat (People's Pact/People's Alliance) gathered to voice their dissatisfaction over alleged election fraud in Malaysia's 13th General election result. (Photo by Rahman Roslan/Getty Images)

After a hugely successful fundraising campaign on Indiegogo, Your Anon News, an arm of hacktivist group Anonymous dedicated to sharing news on social media, is nearly ready to launch its own full-fledged news website.

The news-gathering group plans to make its websites more collaborative than traditional news sites. A "social chat feature" will replace a comments sections and Twitter will be deeply integrated into the page, according to a Pastebin statement outlining new details of the site. Previously, the group said that it wanted to feature the contributions of "citizen journalists".

"Its time to start getting the real news out there, to everyone," Your Anon News wrote. "We have to stop relying on big corporations to do that for us." The group hasn't given a release date yet.

Your Anon News made a name for itself on Twitter, where it has gained more than 1 million followers, sharing news stories about causes that Anonymous cares about in addition to news on Anonymous itself.

Looking to move beyond that platform, as well as its Tumblr blog, the organizers of Your Anon News turned to fundraising website Indiegogo. Hoping to raise only $2,000, the group brought in $54,668, demonstrating a public appetite for an Anonymous-branded news organization.

Anonymous, identified most notably with the Guy Fawkes mask from "V for Vendetta," is a controversial group of loosely organized online activists who have been credited with hacking government sites, and sites belonging to other groups they disagree with.

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Before You Go

9 Gadgets To Help You Avoid Surveillance
Fingerprint Gel(01 of09)
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The Japanese government counter-terrorism practice of fingerprinting foreigners who enter the country may have inspired Doctor Tsutomu Matsumoto to invent "fingerprinting gels", a way of faking fingerprints for scanners.Learn how to make your own here. (credit:AP)
White Noise Generator(02 of09)
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Worried someone around you is secretly recording everything you do? No fear! There's a relatively low-tech way to defeat such snoops, via white-noise-producing audio jammers. These tiny devices use good ol' white noise to blur the sound picked up by hidden microphones and other surreptitious recording devices. (credit:<a href="http://www.flickr.com/" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="Flickr:" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5bb3663de4b0fa920b97ba97" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="http://www.flickr.com/" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="before_you_go_slideshow" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="29" data-vars-position-in-unit="37">Flickr:</a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/anonymous9000/" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name=" Anonymous9000" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5bb3663de4b0fa920b97ba97" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="http://www.flickr.com/people/anonymous9000/" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="before_you_go_slideshow" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="30" data-vars-position-in-unit="38"> Anonymous9000</a>)
Phonekerchief(03 of09)
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MIT's Technology Review calls it the newest, hottest Thanksgiving accessory -- but you can use phone-size "Faraday cages" like this (sold by uncommongoods) to block your cellphone's call signal, WiFi and GPS. Handy now that federal courts are ruling that cops can track suspects via cellphone sans warrant, and Apple can remotely disable your phone camera with a click. As security researcher Jacob Appelbaum said in an interview with N+1 back in April, "Cell phones are tracking devices that make phone calls." So shouldn't you be prepared for when you don't want to be tracked? (credit:uncommongoods)
LED-Lined Hat(04 of09)
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Hidden cameras got you down? Blind them all with a simple baseball cap lined with infrared LEDs. Amie, a hacker on WonderHowTo, shows the world how to make one, while this German art exhibition lays out how these ingenious devices work. (credit:AP)
Bug Detector(05 of09)
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These receivers reveal the telltale electronic crackle of hidden mics and cameras. Strangely enough, they were around long before "surveillance culture" became a common phrase. Today they're sold in all sorts of shops for surveillance paranoids. (credit:Gadget Playground)
Camera Map(06 of09)
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Sometimes hiding your face isn't enough; sometimes you don't want to be seen at all. For those days, there's camera maps. The NYC Surveillance Camera Project is currently working to document the location of and working status of every security camera in New York City. This project has been replicated by others in Boston, Chicago and Bloomington, Indiana. Notbored.org has even published a guide to making your own surveillance camera maps (here). (credit:AP)
Dazzle Camouflage(07 of09)
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Credit to artist Adam Harvey for this one. Inspired by the "dazzle camouflage" used on submarines and warships during World War I, he designed a series of face paint principles meant to fool the facial recognition schemas of security cameras. Check out The Perilous Glamour of Life Under Surveillance for some tips on designing your own camera-fooling face paint. (credit:Adam Harvey)
Throwaway Cellphone(08 of09)
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Walmart may be the premier symbol of corporate America, but its disposable cellphone selection can help you start a thoroughly maverick lifestyle. $10 TracFones work on most major networks, including AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon, and come with minutes prepaid so you can dispose of the devices when you're done. (credit:AP)
RFID-Blocking Wallet(09 of09)
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Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) chips are now regularly implanted in passports, ID cards, credit cards and travel papers. These tiny chips make machine-reading your documents easier -- but could also let anyone with the right type of scanner scrape your information and track your whereabouts. Luckily, gadget geeks have come to the rescue again, this time with RFID-blocking wallets. Working on the same principle as the "phonekerchief", these wallets create a Faraday cage around your items, keeping their data secure until you take them out to be scanned where they're supposed to be scanned. Destroying the chip is simpler: just nuke it in the microwave for five seconds. Of course, whatever you're microwaving might burst into flames first... (credit:AP)
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