Anonymous Begins Publishing Ku Klux Klan Member Details Online

UPDATE: 11:50 p.m. EDT -- Following the publication of email addresses and phone numbers reportedly belonging to members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) another post on text-sharing site Pastebin is claiming to name nine politicians who are members of the KKK. The list of four senators and five city mayors is completely unverified and the official Operation KKK Twitter account has distanced itself from the listing saying: "We won't release names without due diligence. We discourage the circulation of disinformation and will not promote an unverifiable list of politicians." However the original tweet has since been deleted by the group.

The listing names the politicians, their spouses and the local chapter of the KKK to which they are purported to belong. The person who posted the information said they redacted the politicians's home addresses to prevent anyone taking action directly against them.

Original Story

Hacktivist group Anonymous has begun publishing the personal details of members of the Ku Klux Klan as its campaign of cyberwar against the white supremacist group escalates.

Anonymous, the amorphous online activist collective, last week promised to reveal the identity of 1,000 members of the KKK after coming into possession of the private information through a compromised Twitter account associated with the group.

The details published on Sunday and Monday are only a small portion of the total information, and include email addresses and phone numbers which the hacktivist group claims belong to members of the KKK. Anonymous hackers have so far published four separate listings on text-sharing website Pastebin, including 57 phone numbers and 23 email addresses.

There has been no verification of the details so far, but Anonymous has vowed to reveal the full identities of up to 1,000 members of the KKK Thursday, Nov. 5 to coincide with the group’s global protest movement, called the Million Mask March. International Business Times has attempted to call several of the numbers on the list, but none have connected so far.

One source speaking to IBT said a number of the phone numbers and email addresses on the list are known to him but are not members of the KKK, with one being a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a historical group populated by relatives of Confederate soldiers.

Some official KKK Twitter accounts have reacted angrily to publication of members’ details, with one suggesting the white supremacist group carry out its own rally on Nov. 5 alongside Anonymous' Million Mask March.

Anonymous and the KKK have been battling it out in cyberspace for almost a year, ever since the protests in Ferguson when a local chapter of the Klan weighed into the debate by warning that it would use “lethal force” against anyone protesting on the streets of Ferguson. In response, Anonymous took control of the official Twitter account of the KKK chapter and published details of some members’ identities. The group also claimed evidence of a connection between the Ferguson police and the KKK.

In its statement addressed to the members of the KKK, Anonymous didn’t pull any punch in its assessment of the group: “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.”