Anonymous Publishes Names Of Ku Klux Klan Members

The Anonymous campaign against the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) continues after the hacker collective published the details of a thousand alleged KKK sympathisers.

Anonymous said that the publishing of 1,000 was alleged KKK sympathisers is a “a form of resistance” against racial violence.

It published the names using its Twitter feed with the #HoodsOff tag, which revealed a link to a document on Pastebin. That data shows social media profiles of people who had joined or “liked” KKK-related groups on Facebook and Google+.

Revealed

“Data collected for Operation KKK was gathered over approximately 11 months and those included on this list were identified primarily through HUMINT (human intelligence) data collection strategies,” said Anonymous.

“This means that individuals on this list were often identified by human sources of information through both overt (interviewing expert sources) and covert (digital espionage / social engineering) methods. Individuals on our list were also identified through open source intelligence strategies (OSINT).”

“We understand this initiative is extremely controversial and we know we will face much criticism for this operation and our work will be heavily scrutinized,” the group added. “We hope this body of work speaks for itself.”

“We consider this data dump as a form of resistance against the violence and intimidation tactics leveraged against the public by various members of Ku Klux Klan groups throughout history,” it said.

Anonymous is targeting the Ku Klux Klan because of its response to those protesting the shooting of a black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014.

The KKK threatened to use “deadly force” against the protesters.

Social Justice

Anonymous has history in tacking online extremists. In January this year it claimed responsibility for disabling a France-based website it associated with extremists, in the wake of the murder of journalists and artists at Charlie Hebdo.

This is not the first time that Anonymous has gone after the KKK – in November 2014 the group launched a major cyberattack against the Klan. It posted several messages on the KKK’s official Twitter feed, and took control of another account affiliated with the Klan.

It also took down four of the KKK’s websites, including its KKK.com portal.

Anonymous is treading carefully now however. Earlier this week, a list published online incorrectly identified a number US politicians as KKK members. This was quickly followed by an official Anonymous denial from its @Operation_KKK Twitter account.

Meanwhile a ‘Million Mask March’ took place in London on Guy Fawkes night, with many protesters wearing the “Guido” masks. The march was mostly peaceful but there was some violence and fifty people were arrested.

Three policemen and six horses were hurt in the violence.

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