By Ali Siemens (Staff Writer) – Email
The hacktivist group Anonymous is now claiming it was framed for posting an open letter that threatened the Westboro Baptist Church – an institution known for its controversial protests vilifying homosexuality. The letter was published on the AnonNews website, a page explicitly designed to allow anyone to post anything without censorship. It appeared to act as a warning to the church, demanding they take down their numerous websites and cease to spread their messages; it threatened that, should they fail to comply, “the damage incurred [by Anonymous] will be irreversible.”
Anonymous has gained international attention for targeting the websites of groups or individuals for amusement or vigilante purposes. The group has a history of hacking websites and then vandalizing them (often replacing a homepage with their logo), or implementing a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack that makes the website unavailable to users. A representative of the group told the BBC that they specialize in targeting those, “that are bowing down to government pressure.” Anonymous previously supported Julian Assange during the censorship of Wikileaks – most notably by taking down the Visa and Mastercard websites in December 2010 after the companies denied Wikileaks their services – and are currently working on operations involving Egypt, Libya, and Iran, attacking government-run websites. WBC has many websites, including God Hates Fags, Your Pastor Is A Whore, God Hates Canada, God Hates America, and Priests Rape Boys. The group believes that most other religious groups are “Satanic frauds preaching Arminian lies,” especially those that don’t express disapproval of homosexuality. WBC criticizes America and other countries because they tolerate homosexuality, abortion, and divorce, and the church often displays signs that state: “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” implying that these soldiers are killed by God for defending America. To spread their message, WBC often pickets the funerals of soldiers, people who have died from AIDS, and homosexuals, as well as Jewish institutions such as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The letter written to WBC was filled with strong statements about its members, calling them “an assembly of graceless sociopaths and maniacal chauvinists and religious zealots,” expressing unhappiness with the church’s conduct. But the question still under debate is: who actually wrote the letter threatening to take down their websites? Anonymous roundly denied ever writing the letter, claiming that they always admit to their hacking. In a phone interview on The David Pakman Show, Shirley Phelps-Roper – spokesperson for the WBC – confronted a source from the hacktivists group.
During the interview, the Anonymous representative gave several reasons why it was impossible for the letter to be connected to his organization. He noted that all of their attacks are well-planned and meticulously organized, and that the letter that appeared on AnonNews does not match their style or voice. At one point during the interview, he also speculated that the WBC could have participated in creating the press release in order to get their organization in the public eye, and claimed that another hacktivist known as The Jester (th3j35t3r) “deserves some credit” for actually taking down several WBC websites previous to the interview. Phelps-Roper denied the accusation.
Although Anonymous denied downing the WBC websites, the conference call soon took a quick turn as the group hacked www.westborobaptistchurch.com and posted a picture of the Anonymous logo on the site, accompanied by a letter declaring: “Anonymous has lost its patience with you” – all while still speaking with Phelps-Roper on-air.
The WBC was unable to capture the IP address of Anonymous or The Jester, which could offer proof that they were responsible for altering and disabling the WCB websites.
