Anonymous is not a political movement. Some of the causes it champions are for internet freedom, certainly. The ends, anyway. You have to remember it didn't begin that way. It began with childish 'raids' on Habbo Hotel, DDOS of Support Online Hip-Hop, etc. The first big movement for freedom was Project Chanology (mixed in with the childish attacks).

I think this tipped some folks off about how powerful Anonymous could be, if it was guided somehow. Or maybe, it was simply the awakening within Anonymous that it could be something other than a childish prankster.

I've always thought that 4chan was synonymous with the internet's "id;" now it seems as if Anonymous is the birth of the internet's superego. There may be people subtly playing with strings (the aforementioned - a few responses up in a different thread - inner circle of quite competent blackhats), but largely I think Anonymous has become self-fulfilling. A meme catches its interest, and it acts.

Hell, there's even a link to the "Stand Alone Complex" section of the Ghost in the Shell philosophy page. Not a philo-head myself, but it makes sense. Network intelligence together close enough, and a different kind of intelligence will probably emerge.