Anon, but not alone: Anonymous helps its fallen brethren

Anonymous is an organization famous for its disorganization with no leaders or power structure. When it comes to helping those who are down, an outsider might expect that anons who fall behind are left behind. But when an anon is apprehended by the government for cybercrime, a support network springs up around him or her, thanks to the orchestrations of a subset of Anonymous called FreeAnons, the "Anonymous Solidarity Network." Members of FreeAnons help arrested anons in various ways, from sending them care packages while they're in jail to sending a volunteer to court to monitor their case.

The front-facing part of the FreeAnons networks consists of several sites dedicated to raising money for arrested or imprisoned anons like Topiary or Mercedes, as well as a general fund for smaller cases. The general fund, which has been accepting money since October, has collected only $3,780.88—a paltry sum considering the number of cases multiplied by the cost of bail and lawyers' fees (that amount represents "the majority of collected funds," Nancy Norelli, a Florida lawyer and the public face of FreeAnons told Ars). Norelli and Barton, an anonymous FreeAnons member (nick changed to protect the anon), told Ars that no one does much to promote the funds and solicit donations outside of the AnonOps IRC or a session on Radio AnonOps—the nature of the support cast doesn't exactly lend itself to a high-profile charity ball.