Anonymous Says US Senators Were 'Incorrectly Outed' As KKK Members

Dave Knott writes: Nine names, 23 email addresses and 57 unlabelled phone numbers were published by hackers last weekend as part of an Anonymous-organized effort to "unhood" members of the Ku Klux Klan. There are doubts, however, about the Operation KKK data dump's veracity — and about one file, in particular, that alleges four U.S. senators and five mayors have hate group associations. The questionable data was released on PasteBin by an individual called Amped Attacks, who has now distanced himself from Anonymous, stating "i am not apart of anonymous nor have i ever claimed to be. i am my own man that acts on my own accord. i do however respect #OpKKK." To clarify the situation, Anonymous took to Twitter on Tuesday evening to state that "the twitter account that released the pastebin with the government officials that are clearly not KKK". Meanwhile, the Anonymous members behind Operation KKK say that "the actual release for Operation KKK will be 5 Nov." This is of course a date that has no small significance for Anonymous.

Comments

Gay Kay Kay?

[Shoten]

I noticed that something seemed off about this...since they said the mayor of Lexington, KY (Jim Gray) was a member of the KKK. Jim Gray is gay, and came out long ago; I would believe that you'd lose your membership in the KKK once you announce in a very public manner that you're gay.

On the other hand, it definitely gives a new aspect to the notion of being "outed".

Re:Gay Kay Kay?

[Anonymous Coward]

I live in Lexington, KY, and was saddened to see Mayor Jim Gray name on the list. The Mayor was forced to release a public statement denying the allegations. I may be stretching into hyperbole a bit here, but this is one of the result of McCarthyism: by merely being accused of association, the court of public opinion will judge that person guilty quickly-- even if investigation reveals no ties to said association. People's professional and personal lives are ruined by stuff like this if it gets too much momentum and oxygen.

Anyone with common sense would realize that Mayor Gray sexual orientation conflicts with that preferred by the KKK, which would preclude him from ever gaining membership in a group like them. Which makes it even more ridiculous that Mayor Gray had to release a public statement-- it's a shame it is even necessary.

The KKK has a hateful, narrow world view that is incompatible with who our mayor is. The KKK is anti-anything-not-WASSP (White Anglo Saxon Straight Protestant), and explicitly so. Mayor Gray is gay and out, and for those who know him personally or his public record, he hasn't an ounce of the racism that beats in the dark, angry hearts of KKK members. Gray doesn't sound like someone the KKK is looking to have among its ranks.

My goal isn't to sound like a staffer or loyal ally defending the mayor (despite the fact that I voted him.) The point is that there are a lot of idiots out there who believe these click-baitey releases and will swallow it whole without thinking. This is real; I heard small talk in line at the store this morning regarding it. There is enough general ignorance out there to make this a problem, and again: think McCarthyism. While this isn't the same as a powerful institution or individual from the establishment perpetuating it, the modern era of the internet can make us similar all victims.

Even if it is correct

[ArmoredDragon]

A fundamental problem I have with this, especially hacktivism in general, is that these people are doing things that they themselves wouldn't like the police to be doing. If you wouldn't support the police hacking into the systems of people saying things that are unpopular, then why would you support anonymous doing it? Likewise, DDoSing websites is censorship by every definition of the word, I don't care what purpose the website serves (be it commercial or not.)

Maybe in some situations, censorship is acceptable in Europe, but not here, not with the first amendment.

Re:Even if it is correct

[ArmoredDragon]

There are a lot of examples, such as it being illegal to bear a swaztika in Germany.

Re:Even if it is correct

[shaitand]

The police have legal immunity for their crimes while being granted special powers to enable them to commit them and the first amendment only applies to government. Private citizens are granted protections in the Constitution not restrictions while the reverse is true of government. Officials acting in their public capacity do not have protections from the bill of rights as evidenced by the separation of church and state. It is illegal for a government official to bring their religion to their public office/function.

A private citizen not only is granted no protections but must commit civil disobedience at great personal risk to protest for major changes and fight the protected and entrenched powers.

There is no end to the list of things I'm perfectly okay with a private citizen doing while completely opposed to police/military/government doing.

Re:Wait, anonymous has a fluid identity?

[NostalgiaForInfinity]

You mean like that "Anonymous Coward" guy that keeps posting here?