Anonymous targets Oakland city officials
The hacktivist group releases a document filled with private information on a group of City Hall and police department personnel. One councilwoman, whom Anonymous thanked for her community support, was spared.
Oakland city officials, meet Anonymous.
In response to what it claims is a series of community-busting moves by the California city's leaders and police, such as Occupy Oakland-related arrests and crackdowns, budget cutting and school, park, and library closings unaccompanied by City Hall salary cuts, the hacktivist group today released a document containing personal data on a number of officials.
"Anonymous has been watching," the group wrote on Facebook. "Since the inception of Occupy Oakland, we have been actively monitoring your behavior and exposing the identities and sensitive information of Officers of the Oakland Police Department; as they have continued to act in an unprofessional and violent matter. You tear gassed us. You shot us with your weapons. You arrested us. You beat us. You also did this to our friends, and to our families. We watched as you cut budgets, cut our jobs, closed our schools, our parks, and our libraries, while leaving your own salaries alone."
Not long after, the group released the document containing the officials' private data.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland's mayor seemingly dismissed Anonymous' move, saying most of the released information was already available online.
But the Chronicle also noted that among Oakland officials, one member of the city council did not have her information posted. "Thank you for your support," Anonymous wrote of Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, "and being a true leader in the community."
This is not the first time that Anonymous has targeted Bay Area officials. Last August, the group broke into the union site of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police department, which had been lambasted for its decision to shut down cell phone service in the subway system's tunnels in advance of a public protest. Anonymous then posted a database from the union site that made public the names, e-mail and home addresses, and passwords of department officials.