While protesters took to the streets to show their anger over the grand jury decision in Ferguson, the online hacktivist group Anonymous used their usual means to express disapproval: It threatened to shut down government and bank websites in Missouri and it dumped a slew of personal information online belonging to the head of the KKK and his associates.
Anonymous claimed to have taken over the @KuKluxKlanUSA Twitter account, its latest salvo in a dispute with the KKK after the hate group passed out fliers warning they would use “lethal force” against protesters after the grand jury decision.
The group released a new video threatening to shut down government websites in Missouri to protest the grand jury decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
“We find it disturbing that you, the grand jury, have chose this path as everyone will not choose to stand calm and let you choose to let him walk free,” the group said in the video posted Tuesday. “As you’ve seen all the riots and businesses, police cars, etc., being burned down while Anonymous shall target any Missouri government or bank sites now, so you better increase your security because we’re here and we’re not going to stand by and watch you let this man walk free.”
Outraged by the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by Cleveland police over the weekend, the group set its sights on the official website for the city of Cleveland, shutting down the city’s site and vowing to do the same to any municipality with “ignorant, untrained rookie cops.”
Anonymous released a video Monday attacking Cleveland police for their improper response to the 911 call warning that a juvenile was scaring other children with a gun that was probably fake.
The hacker group, which burst onto the scene in Ferguson with warnings to the police if they mistreated protesters after Michael Brown’s death, clearly sees itself as some sort of activist vigilante group, protecting the public from government abuse and overreach.
In a tweet posted Tuesday evening, the group attached links to two Pastebin documents that contained names, addresses, Social Security numbers, phone numbers, social media account information, credit card and banking information, and other detailed personal data for Frank Ancona, grand wizard of the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and his alleged associates.
The group also claimed it had hacked Ancona’s social media and PayPal accounts and disconnected his phone and electricity services.
There were allegations published online from a group called NOWsec that is purportedly linked to Anonymous that members of the St. Louis County Police Department had told them Ferguson-area law enforcement officers were affiliated with the “Ghoul Squad,” which the activists described as supportive of the local KKK chapter.
There were also reports that Anonymous had dumped Officer Darren Wilson’s personal information online, but the credit card numbers and other elements did not appear to be valid, according to rawstory.com.
