14 DAY TRIAL // Twitter accounts and websites managed by white supremacist group Ku Klux Klan have been taken over or knocked down by hacker collective Anonymous following KKK threat to use lethal force against Ferguson protesters.
The pressure in Ferguson, Missouri, is high these days, as the grand jury is about to give a ruling regarding Darren Wilson, the police officer accused of shooting unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown back in August.
Anonymous pledges retaliation
Late last week, a KKK group in Park Hills, Missouri, (75 miles south of Ferguson), started distributing fliers announcing lethal force against the protesters.
This sparked a reaction from Anonymous activists, who started OpKKK (HoodsOff), an attack against KKK, hijacking the @KuKluxKlanUSA Twitter account, taking down kkk.com, and learning the identity of the group leaders in and around Ferguson.
At the moment, @KuKluxKlanUSA is still under the control of the hackers, who changed the profile description to “Under anon control as of 16 NOV 2014 09:11:47. You should've expected us;” the profile image has also been changed to reflect that the account is under the control of the hackers.
Anonymous announced their actions against the white supremacy group in a YouTube video (see below), stating that their actions had nothing to do with the Klan’s beliefs but with the threats they made on November 12.
“The aim of our operation is nothing more than cyber warfare. Anything you upload will be taken down, anything you use to promote the KKK will be shut down,” the video message says, promising that information about the members of the group will be made public.
KKK taunted the hackers in tweets
The wrath of Anonymous was to be expected sooner or later, since KKK’s tweets promoted insults against the hackers, calling them “wannabes” and “low-lives behind a screen.” This type of messages continued until Sunday.
“We are continuing to read Anonymous threats with much amusement. Still no action taken. #Cowards #HoodsON,” was the last message posted on the @KuKluxKlanUSA profile by a Klan member; about two hours later, it was taken over by the hackers.
None of the original messages have been deleted, but new ones have been added, the latest entry in the feed being a picture of a unicorn in front of a sunset and a rainbow.
In a statement (available in the image gallery) posted by the hacker outfit, they say that the identities of more individuals associated with the Klan have been uncovered after hijacking the Twitter account.
“Based on the Direct Messages sent and received to @KuKluxKlanUSA, we can confirm that an official member of the Loyal White Knights of the KKK operated the account. Through the Klan’s Twitter account, we have obtained large amounts of information of multiple white supremacists, along with the operator of the account.”
It appears that releasing the newly collected information is a subject of debate because Anonymous wants to make sure it’s not exposing innocent people who are not tightly linked to KKK.
Anonymous video statement on YouTube:
Based on the direct messages sent from and to this account, we can confirm that this account was run by an official Klan member.
— Ku Klux Klan (@KuKluxKlanUSA) November 17, 2014
Apparently it wasn't obvious enough, but the account known as @YourKKKcentral had no affiliation with the KKK. Just a troll.
— Ku Klux Klan (@KuKluxKlanUSA) November 18, 2014
And finally, here's a unicorn :) pic.twitter.com/1QW0ECu4UI
— Ku Klux Klan (@KuKluxKlanUSA) November 18, 2014
