Anonymous, whether viewed as an online force for good or hackers disguised as do-gooders, have undeniably far-reaching capabilities. They’ve demonstrated this again Friday (2/10/2012) by announcing that they had hacked local and state law enforcement in Alabama to gain access to the information of 46,000 residents. The information includes social security numbers, license plate numbers, and dates of birth. Anonymous proceeded to release a heavily edited version of the personal information of 500 of those Alabama residents.
Anonymous Targets Alabama’s Computer Systems
Regarding the incident, Alabama Department of Homeland Security Director Spencer Collier had this to say:
“This is an ongoing investigation by the Alabama Bureau of Investigation and any further comment would be premature at this time,”
The group claims to have meant no harm by releasing the information of those individuals, which was heavily edited and used to prove the attack took place. The reason cited for the attack was Alabama’s tough immigration laws, which they called racist. Anonymous was also accused of taking down the CIA website for several hours on Friday.
Is Anonymous right in their vigilante justice, or are they just putting people at risk and costing tax-payers money for their own amusement?
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