Anonymous, an online group that says it's in support of free speech on the Internet, is calling on journalists to spread the word of those from "North Africa to Gaza [who] are rising up and risking their lives to demand nothing more than basic rights, an end to the corruption, and a fair chance to progress in life."

In a YouTube video, titled "A Message To Journalists," a robotic voice says:

"What the Western world is unaware of, and the Western media largely ignores, is the fact that the people protesting and the people dying in the Arab world are just like them. They have the same desire for basic freedoms, similar ambitions for themselves and for their family and friends, the same inherent intelligence and, the same keen sense of injustice as their counterparts in the West when oppressed.

Here is where we need your help. We ask you, the journalists, to bring to the rest of the world the humanity of these revolutions. What we are witnessing are not extremist acts that are committed by misled, ignorant people. Indeed, they are committed by intelligent, but desperate people - people willing to sacrifice themselves in order to inspire their fellow citizens to rally against their oppressors. The world needs human news. The world needs to know who it is that needs their support, and not just the number of casualties or the politics involved."

The group is well known for its backing of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange whose anti-secrecy organization was behind the gradual release of more than 250,000 secret diplomatic cables in late November. Only a small fraction of the cables have been made available for download so far.

Anonymous has served as Assange's international Internet miliatiamen targeting distributed-denial-of-service attacks on sites believed to be impending WikiLeaks' mission including MasterCard, Visa and PayPal, all of whom have denied users the ability to donate money to the organization. Though an attempt on Amazon.com failed, others, like MasterCard, didn't have the strong internal network of the online retailer and were hit hard, losing service for several hours.

Perhaps the greatest explanation of the group's mission comes early on in the video when the voice says, "In a world full of apathy, a world filled with people who don't even bother to read the information you painstakingly present, we are trying to do something."

The cyber organization is now attempting to take on freedom worldwide advocating for those fighting oppression in Egypt, Yemen, Albania, Algeria, Libya and elsewhere, by asking the press to tell the stories of these people.

"Tell us who they are and what it is they want for their country and their people, for now and in the future. So many voices are raised in protest right now and all the world can hear is the noise. Tell us what the people are saying," the voice says.

Both Egypt and Tunisia have seen high levels of unrest in recent weeks.

In Egypt, officials arrested more than 860 anti-government protestors on Wednesday and blocked social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, which they believe helped protestors organize.

Protests in Tunisia earlier this month toppled the 23-year regime of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali causing the leader to flee the country.

The @AnonymousIRC Twitter account has been especially active since the civil unrest heated up abroad. Using hashtags like #OpAlgeria, #OpTunisia, #OpLibya, #OpEgypt and #jan25 for the protests in Egypt, @AnonymousIRC has become a portal for news and information about the protests and a hub for conversation among activists.

In one tweet Wednesday, @AnonymousIRC instructed followers how to activate Twitter and Facebook and surpass the government's ban on them: "Egypt Gov only blocking by DNS. So for Twitter use http://128.242.245.148 for Facebook use http://69.63.189.11| Or: Proxy | #OpEgypt #Jan25."

One of the organization's most recent tweets said, "We the People. Silent no more. #Jan25 #OpEgypt #Anonymous."