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Anonymous, a self-proclaimed investigative news organization and well-known hacking group, has announced they may reveal the names of 1,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan this month. In what has been named Operation KKK, the organization says they'll expose the information of the KKK members on Nov. 5.
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The date was chosen intentionally, as it's close to the anniversary of the court's decision to not indict Officer Darren Wilson for shooting and killing Michael Brown and the subsequent riots that broke out in Ferguson, Missouri in November 2014.
The cyber activists say they will also shut down websites and other social media accounts affiliated to the white supremacist group.
This is the second time Anonymous and the KKK have clashed. Last year there were reports that the hackers infiltrated the group's social media accounts and harassed members by phone.
The full statement about the information leak reads:
"Greetings Citizens of the World. We are Anonymous.
When people are faced with grave injustices, those cries do not go unheard.
Ku Klux Klan, We never stopped watching you. We know who you are. Originally, we did not attack you for your beliefs as we fight for freedom of speech. We attacked you due to your threats to use lethal force in the Ferguson protests. We took this grudge between us rather seriously. You continue to threaten anons and others. We never said we would only strike once.
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. We are not here to strip you of your Freedom of Speech. Anonymous will never strip you of any of your Constitutional rights. There is no "hate speech" exception to the Constitution. In a free society, we do have a duty to protect free thought, even when especially offensive. Your hateful ideas and words remain yours to keep. You are allowed to speak and in kind, we are allowed to respond. You are legally free to live and be any which way you choose to live and be. Keep in mind, it is not illegal nor oppressive to hurt your feelings. With that said - We are stripping you of your anonymity. Again. This is our protected speech.
After closely observing so many of you for so very long, we feel confident that applying transparency to your organizational cells is the right, just, appropriate and only course of action. You are abhorrent. Criminal. You are more than extremists. You are more than a hate group. You operate much more like terrorists and you should be recognized as such. You are terrorists that hide your identities beneath sheets and infiltrate society on every level. The privacy of the Ku Klux Klan no longer exists in cyberspace. You've had blood on your hands for nearly 200 years. You continue to inflict civil rights violations, commit violent crimes and solicit others to commit violent criminal acts. You seek to intimidate and/or eliminate those that are different from you and those that you dislike by any means possible. You seek to terrorize anyone and anything that you feel is a threat to your narrow view of the "American way of life".
The last time we took your hoods off, you claimed to be misunderstood. Victimized. No. You are a damaged, dangerous, fragmented, splintered and amorphous collection of terroristic cells with a hate-based ideology and a well documented history of violence against the American public - assault, murder, terrorism. You play a deep, damaging and historically sinister and malevolent role in the United States. We understand you far too well. You made a clear and ever present enemy of Anonymous when you threatened the lives of protesters and the men and women representing Anonymous on the ground in Ferguson, Missouri in November of 2014. You continue to make threats to anons you believe you have identified, journalists, anyone in the public that speaks out against your behavior. Your threats and intimidation are unprovoked, unwanted and will not be tolerated. Enough is enough. You once told Anonymous that we awakened a sleeping giant within you. We are here to remind you once again - you summoned an unslayable dragon. Anonymous is an idea. This fight will go on as long as it has to.
The aim of this operation is digital. Another cyber war trist, nothing more. We are not violent. 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 across the Unites States.
To the government representing the people of the United States of America:
The American public should not be subjected to victimization by hate groups through a hate group's protection by the United States Constitution without additional laws in place to protect potential victims of these violent organizations. More dialogue is needed to create working solutions.
To the Citizens of the World:
We stand with you always, against oppression and injustice. Anonymous is many things. The anons participating in Operation KKK believe that it is a civic responsibility to be conscious and self-critical of our society in order to improve upon the shape of things to come.
To those that really disagree with us:
Sorry for the inconvenience, but not really. We are trying to change our world.
To the freedom fighters representing Anonymous in Ferguson, Missouri:
Stay the course."
Social media users posted conflicting comments and criticisms about the potential leak.
"Well, if you think the Ashley Madison hacking was embarrassing, finding out that you work with a KKK member should invite some interesting coffee break conversations over race relations," one Facebook user wrote.
Another man posted: "I have mixed feelings about this. This isn't like Ashley Madison where massive divorces likely followed. That incident ended with quite a few suicides as well, which is part of why I feel conflicted on this leak. These people would likely than be subject to intense mob mentality attacks. Is this really the kind of world we want to live in? Where opposing speech - regardless of what we think of it - is censored or met with violence if it isn't mainstream thought?"
One woman wrote: "I abhor the KKK and their racist beliefs. A big part of me would love to see members exposed and hopefully some big damage done to a hateful organization. The other part of me thinks about the hate sites online dedicated to outing members of the LGBTQ community in the hopes they will be discriminated against by other right wing organizations, potential employers, community members etc. So is it ok that some groups are outed and others are not? And if we celebrate the outing of one group, can we really condemn the outing of another?"
Others posted support.
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