Guy Fawkes. Guy Fawkes (13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
Fawkes was born and educated in York. His father died when Fawkes was eight years old, after which his mother married a recusant Catholic. Fawkes later converted to Catholicism and left for the continent, where he fought in the Eighty Years' War on the side of Catholic Spain against Protestant Dutch reformers. He travelled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England but was unsuccessful. He later met Thomas Wintour, with whom he returned to England. Wintour introduced Fawkes to Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate King James I and restore a Catholic monarch to the throne. 'V for Vendetta' Inspires Anonymous, Creator David Lloyd Responds. As a loose collective of so-called "hackers" labeled Anonymous continues to cause mostly harmless chaos around the Internet, a symbol born from Alan Moore and David Lloyd's graphic novel V for Vendetta has become synonymous with the cause of radical transparency online.
The Guy Fawkes-style mask worn by the character V was first used by Anonymous as way to publicly protest what they saw as the harmful indoctrination of Scientology, but has since evolved to encompass an entire movement that is as seemingly diverse as it is secretive. We decided to dig in to what the movement is trying to accomplish, as well as what creator Alan Moore thinks about the hacktivist group.
Targets of the group have reportedly included the Church of Scientology, Bank of America, the Tunisian government, the Columbian secret police, and Sony. The agent in charge of my particular warrant actually asked me if I owned a Guy Fawkes mask. CA: Why was Guy Fawkes an inspiration for the the character V? DL: No. Yes. Masked Anonymous Protesters Aid Time Warner’s Profits. The Aesthetic Face(s) of Anonymous. As an anthropologist of the digital I tend not to treat digital media as exceptional, except when it comes to the few exceptions that seem to rub up against our traditional categories and methodological tools.
Anonymous, the online entity that has recently erupted full force engaging in wave after wave of protest following the Wikileaks drama, seems to be one such exception. For those that know nothing about Anonymous it is a challenge to characterize in the course of a few sentences. But largely because of the recent distributed denial of service attacks, journalists have been on a spree to describe Anonymous, so far, largely telescoping on the DDoS and as one journalist put it, the “darkened” chat rooms many an anon are to be found. While it is partly accurate to describe some irc programs as “dark” in so far as some of the popular clients like irssi, have a black background, many do not. Yes and no. Anonymous is rooted fully in our digital present. Guy Fawkes Mask: How Anonymous hacker group created a powerful visual brand. Anonymous logo from parasearcher.blogspot.com.
The loosely affiliated and ever-changing band of individuals who call themselves Anonymous have been variously described as hackers, hacktivists, free-expression zealots, Internet troublemakers, and assorted combinations thereof. By all accounts the group has no clear hierarchy or leadership, or even any internal agreement about what exactly it is. And yet, as you’ve encountered news and speculation about Anonymous—maybe from reports about coordinated denial-of-service attacks on financial institutions that stopped doing business with WikiLeaks last year, or the group’s more recent association with Occupy Wall Street—you may also have noticed its memorable logo: a suited figure with a question mark where his head should be, set against a U.N.
-style globe. Anonymous traces its roots to the infamous /b/ message board on 4Chan.org. Six or eight people, Housh reckons, hashed out a press release. “Everyone in the channel erupts,” Housh recalls. Guy Fawkes and Anonymous mask. The irony of the Anonymous mask. Occupy's V for Vendetta protest mask is a symbol of festive citizenship. A protester at Occupy Seattle wears a V for Vendetta Guy Fawkes mask.
Photograph: Ted S Warren/AP The skin is pallid, the cheeks touched with pink. The eyes are holes. Alan Moore – meet the man behind the protest mask. The comic-book writer Alan Moore is not usually surprised when his creations find a life for themselves away from the printed page.
Strips he penned in the 1980s and 90s have been fed through the Hollywood patty-maker, never to his great satisfaction, resulting in both critical hits and terrible flops; fads for T-shirts, badges and shouted slogans have emerged from characters and conceits he has dreamed up for titles such as Watchmen and From Hell. How Did Guy Fawkes Become a Symbol of Occupy Wall Street? Nov 5, 2011 8:05am Today is Guy Fawkes Day.
In Great Britain, Guy Fawkes Day — and its post-meridian counterpart, Bonfire Night — have been celebrated every Nov. 5 for centuries, since soon after Fawkes’ death in 1605.