The most recent actions by Anonymous, it seems – which have largely gone unreported by the mainstream media – were against pro-Tunisian government sites earlier this month.
The attacks were peripheral to the overthrow of the government in that country, but Anonymous has now gone on record as confirming its 'people' launched a series of DDoS attacks on pro-government sites.
"Of course, there was that Fine Gael election website hack claimed by Anonymous, raising its visibility in Ireland", notes the Irish Times, which spoke to an Anonymous organiser claiming to be based in the Republic.
The interview is interesting, Infosecurity notes, as the spokesperson claims not to be an IT expert but more of a humanist.
"Though [Anonymous is] not specifically IT based, IT plays a huge part in Anonymous as the internet is the final frontier of freedom of expression. I play a role in decisions made by the hive, as do all anons. I had a heavy involvement in OPTunisia [the Tunisian campaign]", said the spokesperson.
Despite intelligence reports that Anonymous has a cell-based structure, it seems these reports are wide of the mark.
The Anonymous interviwee told the paper that there is a great deal of co-ordination. "Especially for OPTunisia, the co-ordination I experienced surprised me greatly. There is no organisation within the group or its members, but there is a great deal of co-ordination and co-operation."
"For instance when Anonymous first heard of the Tunisian government allegedly phishing for Facebook and e-mail passwords we immediately referred this to the members who are involved heavily with programming", s/he said.
The spokesperson went on to tell the paper that Anonymous makes use of (presumably encrypted) IRC channels to co-ordinate attacks on the infrastructure of the internet.
According to Anonymous, when people started being shot at [in Tunisia] by the police, its managers received some very disturbing footage of policemen firing live rounds at protesters.
"We kept very close track of every killing we heard of and the locations. We received reports around the same time of opposition leaders, activists and journalists being visited and threatened in the middle of the night by secret police, many of whom were taken away and locked up", said the spokesperson.
Anonymous' priorities, s/he explained, are with internet censorship.
"As a net-based organisation we believe that censorship has no place on the net as the internet is nothing more than a collection of people’s thoughts, beliefs and expressions. To censor the net is to censor the mind. This will in the majority of cases be the cause of Anonymous' involvement in an issue. We know our strengths and limitations," s/he added.