After a Missouri-based chapter of the Ku Klux Klan threatened "lethal force" against Ferguson, Mo., "terrorists masquerading as 'peaceful protesters,'" the loosely affiliated "hacktivist" collective known as Anonymous struck back online, and in the last few days has hijacked some of the group's social media accounts and threatened to "unhood" its members in public.
Some Anonymous members used denial of service (DOS) attacks to take down the website for the Missouri chapter, called Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, according to Mediaite.
Traditionalist American Knights originally went on the offensive: Its imperial wizard, Frank Ancona, said, "[Anonymous] sounds to me like a bunch of kids in their mom's basement whacking off." But the Twitter bio for @KuKluxKlanUSA now reads, "Under anon control as of 16 NOV 2014 09:11:47."
Late Sunday, the compromised account tweeted a photo of a klansman hanging from a noose with the caption, "The war is on!"
Click here to see a complete timeline of the back-and-forth between the KKK and Anonymous
There are also reports that Anonymous members have seized some members' personal information, according to ZDNet, that "Anonymous has compromised KKK member email accounts, and a phone harassment campaign is being conducted on KKK members."
The campaign appears to be an international one, with Anonymous Australia announcing its involvement with a YouTube video Friday: "You messed with our family and now we will mess with yours … Let the cyber war begin."
These causes are no longer uncommon for those who affiliate with Anonymous. As documented in an extensive New Yorker profile in September, the group -- such as it is -- has, in addition to its other activities, coalesced around issues of righteous rebellion and cyber justice, often through extra- and illegal means.
A common slogan has become, “We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”
