Who Is Anonymous - And Why Do They Care About Mike Brown?

Listen to Florrisant County dispatch above. Initial reports of Mike Brown’s shooting, comes on in the audio about 11:26. 

Who is behind the shadowy Internet hacker collective Anonymous? We have no idea.

All we know if that they are a loose collective of cyber hackers who sometimes step into volatile situations where hacking might make a difference.  They were involved in the Steubenville rape case, as much of the evidence was disseminated via social media. They started in 2003, and have also been involved in denial of service attacks on government and corporate websites in the hopes of sabotaging or dismantling governments, agencies or corporations that they feel are harmful or oppressive.

A few years ago, several hackers alleged to be their main crew were arrested and charged with various computer crimes, but apparently some new people have taken their place. Calling their campaign #OpFerguson, the “hactivists” are working toward the cause of justice in Ferguson, Missouri in the wake of 18-year-old Mike Brown’s shooting by police this past weekend. Protesters have descended on the small town, and several nights of looting and unrest have followed. Brown was unarmed and an eyewitness says he was shot several times even after his hands were up.

Gawker is reporting Anonymous says they plan to publicly identify the Ferguson, Mo., police officer who shot and killed  Brown over the weekend. They have already released audio that purports to be of the police radio on the night of the day of the shooting.

Ferguson Police Chief Jon Belmar has refused to divulge over fears for the officer’s safety. Belmar has been specifically targed by the group who is alleging some shady goings-on in the department as well as Belmar’s personal life.

Mother Jones’ Josh Harkinson writes:

I traded emails last night with one of the half-dozen core Anonymous members working on Operation Ferguson, as the group’s effort to pressure and shame the local police department is known. They were still working to verify the identity of the shooter. “I can only tell you that our source is very close personally to the officer who killed Mike Brown, and that this person is terrified to be our source,” said the anon, whom I will call Fawkes. He added that the source “reached out to us, we did not seek out this person.”

Harkinson’s source said that Anon members were firmly united behind the group’s recent efforts in Ferguson:

Per Harkinson:

It has been a busy few days for Operation Ferguson. The hackers shut down the city’s website for a few hours on Sunday night and Tuesday morning, posted the home address and number of police chief John Belmar, and dropped an email bomb that crammed city and police inboxes with junk messages. The goal was “to get journalists like you to do interviews with us, and incidentally maybe talk about the issue at hand in the process,” Fawkes told me. “Looks like it worked.” Early this morning, the allied Twitter account @TheAnonMessage announced that it had access to emergency response recordings related to Brown’s death.

(Photo: Associated Press of the riot police presence in Ferguson, Missouri)

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