This is not the first time that Anonymous took arms against the KKK, only a week ago, one of its members taking up the defense of a woman harassed on Twitter by KKK-linked users. Back then, a branch of the KKK, the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (TAKKKK), issued threats that it will take lethal force against protestors. Anonymous is widely known for targeting groups for beliefs the hackers disagree with.
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A press release said, “We will release, to the global public, the identities of up to 1000 klan members, Ghoul Squad affiliates and other close associates of various factions of the Ku Klux Klan”.
It said it will identify 1,000 KKK members on the one-year anniversary of its last tweak of the Klan, NYDailyNews.com reported.
Anonymous was not universally lauded for its activities during the Ferguson protests.
The anons involved in this operation still believe you no longer particularly deserve the right to Freedom of Speech and Freedom to Assemble but that is not up to us.
“Let us make this especially clear: We are not oppressing you, Ku Klux Klan”.
It added: “You are abhorrent”.
In a statement last week, the hacking group wrote: ‘KKK it has came to our unfortunate attention that you have been interacting your racists motivations and potentially targeting people of different races. “You operate much more like terrorists and you should be recognized as such”, the group said in the press release.
Anonymous hasn’t always got its targets right though.
The cyber campaign marks an escalation in the year-long battle between the two groups which began when white cop Darren Wilson shot dead unarmed black teen, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri.
The message went on to note that Klan members had attempted to play the victim after Anonymous’s 2014 attack of online accounts and exposure of the personal data – phone numbers, street addresses – of many who would have preferred their white-hooded faces remain secret. The officer, who had never even been to Ferguson, soon received hundreds of death threats.
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According to a January CNN report, there are an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan today.
