> But is it actually possible that it is really a decentralized collective?
Always has been. Wikipedia is pretty thorough[0]. Anonymous arose from 4chan, and while subgroups have certainly organized (of which Lulzsec is probably most notable), the "Anonymous" moniker is used by the folks who frequent(ed) 4chan, Something Awful, YTMND -- it was never a stable group, never had a leader. It's just whoever was around at the time and felt like joining in (... often, for the lulz).
A majority of "participants" were script kiddies - downloading tools someone else wrote, naive DDoS attacks, and things of that nature. But there were also some who really knew their shit.
Always has been. Wikipedia is pretty thorough[0]. Anonymous arose from 4chan, and while subgroups have certainly organized (of which Lulzsec is probably most notable), the "Anonymous" moniker is used by the folks who frequent(ed) 4chan, Something Awful, YTMND -- it was never a stable group, never had a leader. It's just whoever was around at the time and felt like joining in (... often, for the lulz).
A majority of "participants" were script kiddies - downloading tools someone else wrote, naive DDoS attacks, and things of that nature. But there were also some who really knew their shit.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(hacker_group)