It's believed that members of Anonymous, a group of hackers and activists, are behind the attacks on the PlayStation Network. While the group's "leaders" have dismissed these claims, the fact they're seen as "leaders" at all may have become a bit of a problem.
According to a report on website thinq_, a splinter group has spun off from Anonymous and brought down two of the hackers' websites, in protest over the actions of a "leadership cabal" that's formed amongst the activists.
While originally conceived as a democratic, leaderless mass, these purported rebels said that Anonymous' top brass have now "crossed the barrier, involving themselves in a leadership role", which is "not how things were set up".
One of these rebels, "Ryan", said that media coverage of Anonymous' actions in support of Wikileaks and torrent sites inflated the group's egos, and led them to begin operations not in the name of a cause, but simply to grab headline space.
"I was never a fan of OpSony", another rebel, "Garrett", said, referring to Anonymous' original campaign against Sony which led to...not much. "They just like seeing things destroyed."
Interestingly, "Garrett" doesn't believe the Anonymous leadership were behind the PSN attacks, saying "Even if they were, it was planned behind closed doors. No one's going to admit to that. It's way too hardcore. The FBI will be involved. I doubt if that will ever come out."
While Anonymous' "leaders" have denied conducting the attacks which brought down the PSN, the fact it's a rag-tag bunch of activists has many people believing members of the group were responsible, whether "leadership" approved or not.