Anonymous hackers threaten to release names of Ku Klux Klan members
HACKING collective Anonymous has threatened to unmask 1000 members of the ‘terrorist’ Ku Klux Klan and bring them out of hiding.
HACKER collective Anonymous has threatened to release the names of up to 1000 members of the Ku Klux Klan.
The “hacktivists” said it is “the right course of action” to unmask the white supremacists and affiliated organisations as part of “Operation KKK.”
The cyber campaign marks an escalation in the year-long battle between the two groups which began when white cop Darren Wilson shot dead unarmed black teen, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri.
“You are more than extremists. You are more than a hate group. You operate much more like terrorists and you should be recognised as such,” Anonymous said in a statement about the latest operation.
“You are terrorists that hide your identities beneath sheets and infiltrate society on every level. The privacy of the Ku Klux Klan no longer exists in cyberspace. You’ve had blood on your hands for nearly 200 years.”
The aim of this operation is nothing more than cyber warfare. #OpKKK is not violent.
— Operation KKK (@Operation_KKK) October 29, 2015Hoods.
— Operation KKK (@Operation_KKK) October 28, 2015The statement continued: “You continue to inflict civil rights violations, commit violent crimes and solicit others to commit violent criminal acts. You seek to intimidate and/or eliminate those that are different from you and those that you dislike by any means possible.”
Anonymous has targeted a range of groups it considers egregious, dangerous or “enemies of freedom.”
After the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris in January, the hacking group declared war on terrorism, vowing to track down and destroy jihadist websites.
“Freedom of speech has suffered an inhuman assault ... Disgusted and also shocked, we cannot fall to our knees. It is our responsibility to react,” a person in a Guy Fawkes mask — the group’s unofficial symbol — read out in a video shared online.
Anonymous also took down several Islamic extremist-linked Twitter and Facebook accounts through “Operation ISIS” or #OpISIS.
In the aftermath of the Ferguson shooting in August 2014, the hackers released alleged police dispatch audio to provide “transparency” for the public. They also unmasked Missouri law enforcement officials and other authorities who were KKK members, leading to some leaving the group.
Operation KKK is set to kick off on November 24, a year since the St Louis County prosecutor announced that a grand jury decided not to indict Wilson over Brown’s shooting death.
