Arizona law enforcement cannot be sleeping well tonight, with the keyboard anarchists of "Chinga La Migra" ("Fuck the Border Patrol," in English) claiming yet another hack with a corresponding data dump of local cops' personal info.
I only say "claiming" because I'm still accessing the torrent. (Hey, I never said I was Julian Assange.) However, the CLMers (or "AntiSec," or whatever they're calling themselves for the moment) have issued a press released stating that the information is from various chapters of the Fraternal Order of Police around the state.
The site for the Mesa FOP is currently down, and so is Tucson FOP. Also, the FOP Maricopa Lodge 5's home page has been defaced with the CLM press release in red on a black background, and a video of Public Enemy's "Hazy Shade of Criminal" embedded there to boot.
CLM's release reads, in part:
For the third knockout blow against Arizona law enforcement, we decided to get destructive. We're defacing eight AZ Fraternal Order of Police websites and releasing a master list of over 1200 officer's usernames, passwords, and email addresses. Additionally we are leaking hundreds of private FOP documents and several more mail spools belonging to FOP presidents, vice presidents, secretaries, a police chief, and the FOP Labor Council executive directory and webmaster whose insecure web development skills was responsible for this whole mess. We're doing this not only because we are opposed to SB1070 and the racist Arizona police state, but because we want a world free from police, prisons and politicians altogether.
As the release notes, this latest hack-attack is the third in two weeks culling info from Arizona LEOs. The first two hit the Arizona Department of Public Safety, which has got to be glad CLM left them alone for a change.
I have to admit that CLM's success to date has been both impressive and frightening, which is likely the effect it's going for. When the cops can't protect their personal stuff on the Internet, it makes you wonder if anyone can.
Thing is, CLM's aim is scatter-shot and indiscriminate, as there are far worse police organizations in state to pick on than AZ DPS or the FOP. I mean, the FOP is no PLEA (Phoenix Law Enforcement Association), for instance. Everyone in this state knows that PLEA is an outright nativist, anti-Hispanic police union. By contrast, the FOP has a pretty good reputation.
Similarly, DPS is no Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, with Hispanic-hunter Joe Arpaio as the jefe. My guess is that the hackers are either outside the state and don't know the players involved, or they don't really care. The second being the most likely.
Of course, I'm not suggesting anyone hack anyone. Nor can I or would I condone such outrageous criminal activity. (Though I'll read the files, natch.) It's just that matching up CLM's anti-1070 rhetoric with its actions is a little difficult given its current targets. What's the point of going after cops who may just be doing their jobs?
