Integral Options Cafe: Anonymous Hacks Westboro Baptist Church Over Plans to Picket Connecticut Shooting Funerals

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Anonymous Hacks Westboro Baptist Church Over Plans to Picket Connecticut Shooting Funerals

Back in 2011, Anonymous declared war on the Westboro Baptist Church, which is really little more than the Phelps extended family members. After offering a peace agreement, Anonymous gave a live demonstration of their hacking prowess as one of their "followers" was being interviewed on a radio show and claiming their websites were protected by god.

Now the feud is back on. After the Westboro cult announced that they would picket the funerals of the children killed Friday in Connecticut, Anonymous retaliated by posting the contact information for all of the church's members online.

This was the original story in Salon in 2011:

Anonymous shuts down Westboro Baptist Church site — during a live interview

After asking for peace, the renegade hacker group launched its first attack on the infamous Christian group

BY ADAM CLARK ESTES

Less than a week ago, a rumor spread that the vigilante hacker organization Anonymous had declared war on the Westboro Baptist Church. Though quickly dismissed as a hoax, the headline-grabbing possibility spread through the media faster than an offensive Kanye West tweet. Given the clandestine nature of Anonymous — as the name implies, all of the member of the group are, in fact, anonymous — the truth proved elusive. Regardless, the Westboro Baptist Church started a smear campaign against Anonymous and insisted that their message could not be silenced. In the words of WBC: “Bring it.“

Hoping to clear the air, radio talk show host David Pakman invited Shirley Phelps-Roper, spokesperson from the Westboro Baptist Church, and an (anonymous) member of Anonymous onto his show for a live web chat. Pakman moderated the conversation, and the banter started out almost cordial. However despite Anonymous’ continued denial of a war or plans of an attack, Phelps-Roper persistently insulted the group and its representative. After Phelps-Roper tells the Anonymous representative he’s going to Hell, Anonymous says, “I have a surprise for you.”

Anonymous unleashed an attack during the insults and directed the audience towards downloads.westborobaptistchurch.com with a notice from Anonymous:

Watch the full interview here. The attack happens around the 9:00 mark.

At the time of publishing this post, all of the Westboro Baptist Church’s various sites — including godhatesfags.com — were inaccessible.

~ Adam Clark Estes blogs the news for Salon.

Here is Salon's take on the new actions by Anonymous.

Anonymous hit Westboro Baptist Church over Sandy Hook picket plans

Hackers publish private information about church members following news that it would picket the Newtown school

BY NATASHA LENNARD

A Westboro picket in 2005 (Wikimedia)

The ever-hateful Westboro Baptist Church have not failed to deliver in the wake of the Newtown school massacre. The Church, notorious for picketing the funerals of fallen troops with “God Hates Fags” placards, announced Saturday that they would picket Sandy Hook elementary school, where 20 children and six adults were shot dead Friday. Tweets from the Phelps family suggest they believe the horrors in Connecticut are a punishment from God for gay marriage.

Hacker collective Anonymous were swift to respond, releasing private information of Westboro members including email addresses, phone numbers and home addresses. This video, decrying the church for spreading “seeds of hatred.” The video warns, “We will destroy you. We are coming.”

[h/t BetaBeat]

~ Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email: nlennard@salon.com.

In case anybody would like to speak to some of the members of the Westboro Baptist Church in regards to their plans to picket the funerals of those children who died, here is the list - Thanks, Anonymous. Here are a few names with which to begin:

Westboro Baptist Church

3701 SW 12th St

Topeka, KS 66604

Phone: 785-273-0325

Email: wbclist@speakfree.net

Email: info@phelpschartered.com

Email: chockenbarger@cox.net

http://www.godhatesfags.com/

Phelps Law Firm

Phelps Chartered

1414 SW Topeka Boulevard

Topeka, KS 66612

PO Box 1886