Anonymous is a loosely associated international network of hackers that describe themselves as “an Internet gathering” and “a very loose and decentralized command structure that operates on ideas rather than directives.” They use to be known as harmless internet trolls with pranks like “rickroll” and “lolcats,” but ever since 2008, they turned their motives to that of hactivism with protests online and offline wearing Guy Fawkes masks.

Anonymous claims that it’s guiding principle is “anti-oppression.” Throughout the years, they have proved this by their unrelenting moral stance on issues and rights, regardless of direct provocation. Despite their origins from 4chann and lack of command structure, they have proved to be a force to be reckoned with.

Many companies have learned that Anonymous follows through on their threats the hard way. In 2010, PayPal suspended funding services to WikiLeaks after pressure from the United States government since classified government documents were posted. WikiLeaks, like many other organizations, depends on donations using PayPal. Through what Anonymous called “Operation Payback,” Paypal’s main site, along with MasterCard.com and Visa.com, are taken completely offline for 12 hours, costing the companies millions in lost revenue. Later that year, Sony services Qriocity and Playstation Network were taken down for a month apiece due to cyber attacks from the group.

Anonymous also extends on a political matters as well when they feel that personal liberties have been compromised. In 2011, the Tunisian Stock Exchange and the Tunisian Ministry of Industry websites were brought down in Operation Tunisia after the Tunisian government tried to restrict the Internet access of its citizens. Since 2013, #OpSaudi has been targeting websites from the Saudi government protesting the actions of the regime. After the November 2015 Paris attacks, Anonymous has declared war on ISIS, and since this, they claim to have taken down 20,000 twitter accounts. The BBC reports, however, that many of the accounts on the list that they released are still active.

They also take a stand on moral issues. When Westboro Baptist announced that they planned on picketing the funerals of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, Anonymous published the names, phone numbers, e-mail and home addresses of church members as well as bringing down the church’s websites. Since 2011, Operation Darknet has been in effect and targeting child pornography sites. In 2014, Anonymous declared cyber war on the Ku Klux Klan after the group made death threats during the Ferguson riots and has since attacked servers hosting KKK sites and released personal details of the members.

Anonymous is not without its problems, however. Anyone can join the cyber hacking group, and because of this and lacking a structure, the group is filled with disagreement among members. Recently some members reported to have declared war on Donald Trump, but the “Anonymous Official” YouTube channel denounced the operation, claiming that Anonymous supports freedom of speech even if that speech is coming from a monster.

Several people who associate themselves with Anonymous have been arrested for their cyber actions as hacktivists. Hacking into websites, defacing webpages, DDoS attacks (making a network resource unavailable temporarily or indefinitely), and distributing links to hacked information is illegal.

The members of this group are breaking the law and that comes with consequences, but it makes one question if breaking the law is always wrong. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, speech and press, but sometimes the government contradicts that such as in the case of Operation Payback or the people use it for the wrong intentions such as the people of Westboro Baptist. By the legal definition, what Anonymous is doing is wrong, but by moral definition, a lot of what they’re doing is right.