=Anon= 
Did your pod morph get puppethacked, forcing you to masturbate furiously in front of an award ceremony crowd? Was your entire ﬂeet of AI-piloted workbots infected with a narcoalgorithm, sparking an impromptu factory ﬂoor dance party? Were your romantic private communications with a mercurial lover exposed just in time to ruin your chances at re-election? Was the climax of your vampire MARG inﬁltrated by a ﬂash mob of pink unicorn avatars with rainbow blasts that burned the highest-level undead characters to ash? Congratulations, you were punked by Anon.
The hacker gang known as Anon is descended from a long lineage of griefer and hacktivist groups, dating back to the earliest decades of the 21st-century internet. Anon is often described as a mob of digital hooligans, and they have been known for mesh-based mischief and pranks that range from harmless and entertaining to damaging and malicious. They are, however, also known to engage in electronic civil disobedience and hacking campaigns for certain causes, particularly in support of leaks, freedom of information, and transparency and against censorship and countersousveillance. Their actions beneﬁt from sheer force of numbers and the anonymity of participants.
Anon is rooted in intentionally informal structures. Anyone can join their online gatherings and chats where anonymity is mandatory. The group operates with a leaderless mob dynamic where operations arise out of causes that organically accrue a critical mass of popular support. In-ﬁghting is common and expected, with Anon groups often splitting over certain issues. The driving force is not politics or ethics, but how many laughs can be derived. Critics note how Anon groups are vulnerable to external memetic manipulation and puppetnet inﬁltration, though Anon mesh nodes take measures to counteract this.
Though banned and persecuted in many habitats, Anon moots can be found in the hidden corners of almost any local mesh. In the inner system, most authorities consider Anon to be a front for [[anarchists|anarchist]] and criminal operatives—or at best a haven for unruly teens and antisocial delinquents. There is some truth to this, as many autonomist subversives share an ideological afﬁnity with Anon’s causes and participate in Anon operations. Likewise, black hat hackers occasionally take a break from their black market businesses and lend their expertise to Anon ops for fun.
Anon groups can also be found in autonomist habitat mesh nets. Many anti-authoritarians enjoy the autonomy provided by the faceless social interactions in Anon moots, without fear of the impact it might have on their rep, as well as the way it puts everyone on the same level regardless of reputation. Some autonomists dislike how it enables social action without accountability, and there is also concern that hypercorp agents may take advantage of autonomist Anon groupings as a shield for their sabotage efforts.

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