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  (Source: cityofcarrollton.com)
The information posted on the website consisted of email accounts, social security numbers and passwords for several accounts of law enforcement authorities

The hacker group Anonymous is known for causing havoc in both corporate and government systems. It has declared war on the U.S., and in the past year alone, the group hacked Bank of America emails, NATO and supposedly threatened to destroy Facebook on November 5.

Now, Anonymous is at it again, this time hacking the Texas Police Chiefs Association website for a brief period of time on Thursday. It replaced the home page with a list of police departments and officials whose email accounts had been hacked by the group.

According to msnbc.com, the information posted on the website consisted of email accounts, social security numbers and passwords for several accounts of law enforcement authorities. In addition, classified police documents and lewd, racial jokes were posted to the site.

Approximately 10 of the email accounts hacked were personal accounts of law enforcement officials, and most of the hacked police departments were those in small Texas cities or school district police agencies.

Anonymous even hacked the accounts of retired police officials, such as Robert Mock. Mock was a lieutenant with the Houston Police Department four years ago, and now works in law enforcement in the Houston area, but has been a retired lieutenant since leaving the Houston Police Department. Anonymous listed him as still active as a lieutenant along with his personal email, cell phone bill, water bill, and emails that were forwarded to Mock consisting of jokes that poked fun at Arabs and Muslims.

Mock said he receives forwarded messages just like anyone else, and deletes most of them.

"I'm upset, as anybody would be whose account was hacked into," said Mock. "This wasn't my work account. Got my private information out there. I don't even know what's out there."

Among the officials hacked were Jesus Torres, assistant chief of police in Laredo, and a manager of a Texas Department of Public Safety crime lab.

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But there is good news
By Beenthere on 9/3/11, Rating: 0
RE: But there is good news
By Some1ne on 9/3/2011 8:26:21 AM , Rating: 2
Really? Did you seriously just lump pirates in with hackers and assert that both groups deserve to be thrown in jail? And suggest that an increased prison population is beneficial to the economy?

Your post must be pure flamebait, but I think you tried just a bit too hard. The idea that any human being would legitimately be stupid enough to believe what you wrote is simply too far-fetched to be believable.


RE: But there is good news
By AssBall on 9/3/2011 12:58:40 PM , Rating: 2
Didn't you know? Prisons are an awesome source of economic growth...


RE: But there is good news
By Beenthere on 9/3/11, Rating: -1
RE: But there is good news
By Solandri on 9/3/2011 4:10:39 PM , Rating: 2
In a democracy, any legislation which turns the majority of the population into felons is doomed to fail. Laws exist to smooth out and reduce problems arising between human interaction. A law criminalizing the behavior of a majority of the population is counter to that goal, since it increases such problems. It will eventually be repealed by said ticked off majority. Don't believe me? Go google prohibition.

The only way such a law can remain in force is through corruption of government. In which case you should be opposed to such laws for an entirely different reason.


RE: But there is good news
By mindless1 on 9/3/2011 4:38:51 PM , Rating: 2
Antisocial much?

So tell us you've never jaywalked, never exceeded the speed limit driving, or any other violation of law?

Oh wait, you mean the laws you choose to break are ok, it's only if it hurts someone else that you're for imprisonment.

Mighty humanitarian view you have, though it's foolish to think imprisoning people helps the economy or did you overlook that these prisoners themselves are jobs lost, GDP lost, and sinking tax dollars into something with no return on investment.


RE: But there is good news
By KCjoker on 9/5/2011 7:52:56 PM , Rating: 2
Don't compare misdemeanors with felony crimes please.


RE: But there is good news
By mindless1 on 9/6/2011 8:40:04 PM , Rating: 2
You're right. The misdemeanor speeding, jaywalking, etc risks lives while the piracy just annoys someone, 'twas never even established that it costs income as there is evidence it makes software MORE popular, MORE copies end up sold due to the popularity.


RE: But there is good news
By Uncle on 9/4/2011 1:10:36 AM , Rating: 2
We must have or were working to have a just society. We have more people in prison then any country in the world. So are we doing something right or something wrong.


RE: But there is good news
By tayb on 9/4/2011 10:33:49 AM , Rating: 1
I think if you take a look at the majority of voters in this country you would not be surprised to find levels of stupidity that you thought were impossible to obtain.


RE: But there is good news
By kjboughton on 9/3/2011 12:36:46 PM , Rating: 2
Broken Window Fallacy.

This is some retarded $hit.


Hmm,
By priusone on 9/3/2011 1:59:24 AM , Rating: 5
So let me get this straight, Anon messed with Texas?




RE: Hmm,
By ViroMan on 9/3/11, Rating: -1
RE: Hmm,
By Uncle on 9/3/2011 11:28:47 AM , Rating: 2
"I don't even know what's out there." Well he does now BH hahahah. Probably has a FaceBook account,I don't so can someone check to see if he really values his privacy. If he deletes his off humor why are they still in his email exchange.


RE: Hmm,
By Mr Joshua on 9/3/2011 4:51:33 PM , Rating: 2
What we now know is out there are jokes within the Texas police community mocking Arabs and Muslims.As to why they are there still, look for who he forwarded them to.


What was the reason for this?
By tayb on 9/4/2011 10:32:17 AM , Rating: 3
I don't understand this group right now. When they were hacking Sony they were trying (misguided) to send a message to Sony that their actions were not to be tolerated. While I didn't agree with what they were doing at all I could at least understand that their end result was to hurt Sony. I understood that.

It seems like after the Sony stuff they just went off the deep end. Posting account information on random police officers in Texas? Huh? Why? Did these guys do something wrong? I don't get it.

What message is Anonymous trying to send with this?




By icanhascpu on 9/6/2011 7:04:09 AM , Rating: 1
Have you seen what Texas has been up to lately?


About those jokes
By WinstonSmith on 9/4/2011 12:25:35 PM , Rating: 2
"In addition, classified police documents and lewd, racial jokes were posted to the site."

Jokes attributed to whom, the police or the site creators? I assume the former, but make it clear. Do you have no editorial review here?




By rbuszka on 9/6/2011 12:27:43 PM , Rating: 2
I was just recently on the web site of the Fraternal Order of Police reviewing the list of bills that they are supporting. For those who are unaware, the Fraternal Order of Police is a 'brotherhood'-style lobbying organization that looks out for the interests of law enforcement officials, and not for the interests of the public. Their chairman has publicly stated that he believes members of the public should not be allowed to record video of police officers performing their public duties in public, as an example of their attitude toward accountability. Another example is that they oppose any legislation that would create a civilian review board for monitoring a state or local law enforcement agency. One bill they are supporting would make it illegal to post the personal information of police officers on the Internet. This is just another piece of legislation designed to erode the accountability of police officials (since you won't be able to find out who they are), and to make law enforcement officers into their own separate class of society.

Given the targets that "Anonymous" has supposedly been able to successfully hack, including the CIA web site, I've seen people speculate that the group might be a government group, and not a group of individuals in the general public. If this is true, it seems plausible to me that "Anonymous" may be choosing targets based on their strategic value for advancing a public agenda. In this case, they would be attempting to advance this bill to make it illegal to post police officer personal information online by causing the public to suspect a dastardly motive for posting the police officers' information ("Oh no, the hackers are at it again, we're scared..."), since 'hacking' is associated in the public eye with nefarious schemes and villainous motives.

This connection probably wouldn't have 'clicked' for me if I hadn't been on the FOP web site very recently, reviewing the FOP's legislative priorities. I personally know a couple of local police officers, and they're good people, but the activities and priorities of the FOP as a lobbying body deeply concern me, as they seem motivated to pursue advancing a police state on the public, where law enforcement officials are on a different plane of society from normal individuals, and may act without accountability or criticism. That is an agenda I cannot support.




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