Hackers Hit Westboro Baptist Church Over Newtown Shootings Threat
Church hit by hacktivists after saying it will picket school where 20 children were murdered
Hacktivists have leaked details of extremist evangelical group Westboro Baptist Church, known for its “God Hates Fags” campaign, after the church said it would picket Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, preaching its anti-gay message to the grieving families of 20 children and six adults killed there on Friday.
A hacker going by the name of LulzPirate, who is affiliated with the Anonymous collective, reacted to the organisation’s plan to preach anti-gay propaganda at the school, by breaking into the church’s website, Godhatesfags.com, and posting contact data and addresses of site administrators on Pastebin.
“Normal religious groups preach love and understanding. That is how they attract people. Westboro Baptist Church isn’t a church at all. They are more like the KKK,” the hacker said on the Pastebin release.
Westboro Baptist Church targeted
Westboro Baptist Church has courted controversy in the past, picketing funerals of US soldiers and hounding the gay community at numerous events. Last week, the group reportedly said it believes the murders in Newtown were a punishment from God for gay marriage.
“Remember, these are terrible people who picket funerals,” read an Anonymous Twitter account tweeted alongside a link to the leaked details.
Hackers have also managed to compromise the Twitter account of Shirley Phelps-Roper, a spokesperson of the Westboro Baptist Church, whose details were also posted. “This account is now being ran by @CosmoTheGod,” a tweet from the @DearShirley account read earlier today.
It called on users to sign a petition to have the US government formally recognise the church as a hate group.
This is not the first time Anonymous and Westboro Baptist Church have been involved in a confrontation. Westboro Baptist Church claimed in February 2011 that Anonymous threatened, in a letter posted on AnonNews.org, to hack the church’s site if it did not cease its picketing campaigns. But in a message posted on AnonNews.org that same month, Anonymous accused the church itself of posting the letter on AnonNews.
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