For those who have November 5 marked on their calendars as the date for a showdown between Facebook and the hacker group, Anonymous, it looks like we’re in for either disappointment or relief. That all depends on whose side you took. The ominous video promising the destruction of Facebook on the 5^th of November doesn’t have the full backing of Anonymous. In fact, representatives of the group have been posting messages on Twitter that discredit the video.

One of them said, “We absolutely disown OpFacebook… We’re supposed to fight for the users, not against them. Don’t violate private citizen privacy please.” Sure enough, it was inevitable that some of the members of the group would realize that they’re also harming some Facebook users in the process. However, that doesn’t mean that Facebook can let its guard down now.

Anonymous is a leaderless organization – it’s a group composed of tech-savvy teens and twenty-somethings who work together to perform acts of “hacktivism”. Together, the members of this group have all claimed to be behind the DDoS attacks on various websites, such as governments, banks, and multinational companies. However, due to its very nature, it’s very hard to organize the group. Within the organization itself are several sects which don’t necessarily agree with each other. One member posted on a separate Anonymous Twitter account that OpFacebook is being organized by some anons, but that it does not necessarily mean that the whole organization agrees with it.

Still, united or not, an attack could still happen. The only good thing about it is that these posts on Twitter show discord within Anonymous itself – something that could greatly weaken the attack that will happen on November 5, if there really is one.

Still, attack or no, the video did have an important message to impart, though it might have been grossly exaggerated. Our information really isn’t safe on Facebook, and the company really is taking too many liberties with what we give them. If anything, this message brought a very serious issue to light and at least raised awareness of the what Facebook could possibly be doing with every bit of information that we post on the site.