Yesterday evening, a group associated with Anonymous, the international cyberhacking outfit, posted personal information about LAPD officers online. CabinCr3w, as the group labels itself, included addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and even the names of children on a post to a website called “Sticky Paste,” which allows for uploads to be made of any data without an account.
Eventually, the information was taken down and links provided on the group’s Twitter account stopped working, but later the same day the information was reposted to a new website, the group’s Tumblr. The LAPD stresses that its servers have not been breached, and that such actions are not illegal, even though they are “creepy.”
CabinCr3w cited to KPCC in this story that they posted the information as a reaction to the way in which police forces dealt with the Occupy L.A. protesters, pointing to violence during the raid and the length of time in which some arrestees are being detained. Police defend their actions by saying they gave the protesters plenty of advance notice to leave the area. What really seems to rankle the department is that the group included some information associated with officers that have been retired and had nothing to do with the Occupy L.A. raid, as they are now trying to lead the lives of civilians.
WEIGH IN
Is this just digital blustering? Will anything worse come from this information being made public? What does the group hope to accomplish in the long run? How was so much information amassed without a breach in the LAPD’s computer system? Why isn’t this illegal?
Guest:
Tami Abdollah, KPCC Reporter