A number of Twitter accounts allegedly belonging to the Ku Klux Klan have been hacked by the Australian branch of activist group Anonymous.
The accounts, including @YourKKKcentral and @KuKluxKlanUSA, were seized after Anonymous declared “cyber warfare” on the racist group.
Members of the KKK have been threatening to use “lethal force” against demonstrators in Ferguson, Missouri, who are protesting about the fatal August shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson.
A grand jury, sitting in the county seat of Clayton is currently deliberating whether to bring criminal charges against Wilson.
Flyers handed out by the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, which is the Missouri branch of the sect, told “the terrorists masquerading as ‘peaceful protesters’” that they had “awakened a sleeping giant”.
In a video released on YouTube on Friday, Anonymous responded to the KKK’s actions with the launch of its “Operation KKK”.
It said: “We are not attacking you because of what you believe in as we fight for freedom of speech…
“We are attacking you because of what you did to our brothers and sisters at the Ferguson protest on 12 November.”
It added: “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.”
Tweeting from @KuKluxKlanUSA last night, the hacktivist group said:
UPDATE: Anonymous will release a statement on THIS account tomorrow at 03:00 GMT (21 hours from now) regarding the seizing of this account.
; Ku Klux Klan (@KuKluxKlanUSA) November 17, 2014
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
That is all we will say for now. The rest will be clarified in tomorrow’s statement. #OpKKK
; Ku Klux Klan (@KuKluxKlanUSA) November 17, 2014
According to an unconfirmed statement sent to ZDNet, Anonymous also claims to have seized the website belonging to Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, as well as personal accounts. It is also reportedly conducting a phone harassment campaign.
However, #HoodsOff went a step further, providing home addresses, phone numbers, and information about the families of KKK members. This is where the group may have crossed an defensible ethical divide and fallen into a crevasse. While exposing people as members of a racist hate group is indeed an act of service to the public, providing information that could make them targets of aggression is not.