Austin , Texas ( CNN ) -- When it 's revealed that a prominent member of a clandestine movement has been giving information to the FBI for months , you 'd think it would intimidate others in the group into backing off . And that may have been the case when it was discovered that `` Sabu , '' real name Hector Xavier Monsegur , had been arrested in June and provided information that helped lead to the arrest of five other alleged members of the `` hacktivist '' collective , Anonymous . For a few minutes , anyway . `` That night , after everyone found out , it was a bit chilling , '' said Gregg Housh , one of the few people associated with Anonymous who speaks publicly using his real identity . But in the hours and days that followed , something very different happened . `` That switched . A lot of people we had n't seen for months , or years , started showing up . An attack [ on some sites by Anonymous ] happened that night , '' he said . `` It just angered them , not frightened them . '' Housh was speaking at South by Southwest Interactive on Tuesday , the annual festival in Austin devoted to Web and digital culture . He appeared on a panel with the director of a documentary about Anonymous , and two people who spoke ( one via Web chat ) wearing the movement 's trademark `` Guy Fawkes mask . '' The masks , patterned after the one worn by the shadowy anti-hero from the comic book and movie `` V for Vendetta , '' gave an almost surreal air to the panel at a conference where black-framed glasses are a more common fashion accessory . As a crowd of about 200 watched , `` Anonymous 9000 '' spoke on a big screen , his mask and white gloves lending theatrics even as he talked soberly about the inner workings of a movement that has alternately inspired , intimidated and baffled the Web . `` I was kind of mesmerized by what was going on , '' said Brian Knappenberger , who directed `` We Are Legion : The Story of the Hacktivists . '' `` This is an attempt to define that culture . '' In recent years , Anonymous has been involved in some of the most high-profile cyberattacks on the Web -- hobbling the websites of governments and businesses , hacking into sites to reveal private data and , along the way , getting dubbed cyberterrorists by authorities in the United States and elsewhere . Who is Anonymous ? Everyone and no one . The group claims no leaders or power structure and does n't require any sort of membership . That , some members say , is a blessing and a curse . `` That 's the double-edged sword of Anonymous , '' said Anonymous 9000 . `` Anyone can claim the name of Anonymous and do whatever they want . If anyone wants to make Anonymous look bad ... it 's easy to do . '' For example , he said he and many other `` Anons '' disagree with actions by Sabu and others under the banner of Anonymous splinter-group Lulzsec . Those included posting private data , including credit-card and Social Security numbers , of Web users and launching distributed denial-of-service ( DDoS ) attacks against media sites who posted stories they did n't like . Lulzsec targets Arizona law enforcement . `` When I got into this , I felt Anonymous was a group of groups who fight for the users , '' Anonymous 9000 said . `` To see people getting DDOSed .. there 's a pretty good argument that 's a form of censorship . '' Last week , five men in the United States and Europe were arrested and charged in federal court for what investigators called among the `` most sophisticated hackers in the world . '' Monsegur and others have claimed responsibility for cyberstrikes between December 2010 and June 2011 that included denial of service attacks against the websites of Visa , MasterCard and PayPal . Housh , who said `` Sabu '' had always been `` vocal , '' `` angry '' and `` a complete ass , '' said he suspected something was amiss when the alleged Lulzsec member disappeared from the Web for a while , then returned more animated and aggressive than ever . `` I watched , and some of these people who did these hacks would not have gotten arrested [ except for the fact that ] he taught them how to do the hacks , '' he said . Knappenberger 's film chronicles the rise of Anonymous from a disparate group hanging out in the forums of notorious website 4chan to the day recently when members of the Polish parliament , in protest of a vote they said would restrict Web freedom , donned their own Guy Fawkes masks in solidarity with the group . Housh was , in his words , `` around near the beginning , '' which means about 2006 . Shortly after that , in 2008 , Anonymous gained visibility after launching an operation to defy the Church of Scientology . After leading protests and other efforts against the church , which Anonymous attacked after it deleted leaked copies of a video that actor Tom Cruise made for it , Housh 's identity was revealed . He then shifted his activism to acting as a sort of public spokesman for the movement . While the collective has no single unifying goal , those associated with Anomymous often work against what they consider censorship , hypocrisy and heavy-handedness by governments around the world . Anonymous members say they were active in Arab Spring uprisings in places such as Egypt and Libya , have outed members of alleged child pornography sites and vocally opposed the Stop Online Piracy Act -- federal legislation Web activists felt could hamper freedom online . They 've also backed the Occupy political movement , which is how the other masked panelist said he got involved about four months ago . An activist with Occupy Austin , he said the collective , in effect , became tech support for efforts here . He recalled a protest during which he says a police officer was acting aggressively toward protestors at a demonstration at Austin City Hall last month . As cameras streamed the protest online , he called out the officer 's name and badge number , saying that all of his personal information would be online within hours . `` And they were , '' the masked panelist in Austin said . `` I was able to call on Anonymous and know they would deliver . '' So what will become of Anonymous in the wake of the recent arrests ? Housh said most people he talks to seem to realize arrest is a possibility . `` I do n't think anything is going to change , '' he said .
Anonymous also appeared on a documentary panel at surreal SXSW panel . Gregg Housh tells crowd of about 100 that Anonymous associates are motivated . Housh says prominent rapper ` ` Sabu '' had always been ` ` vocal , '' ` ` angry '' Anonymous is the name of a ` ` ' '' collective that has made headlines lately .