The hacker group Anonymous has released a link to the names, addresses and passwords of 102 members of the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) police force.

In July, members of the BART police force shot dead a homeless man whom they claimed lunged at them with a knife. The incident caused public outrage and led to protests at some stations. Protesters were open about their plans to use mobile phones to organize protests and track and avoid BART officers. In response, the transit authority disabled cellular towers at key locations stopping mobile services. The legality of this is currently being debated along with civil liberties issues, etc. Since the the hacker group Anonymous has staged two retaliatory attacks on BART. The first time, they defaced and shut down their customer services portal. The second time, they published personal information of the BART police officers.

I’m not condoning the shooting. I wasn’t there, so can’t know what happened. Likewise, I don’t agree with denying access to mobile phone services. Deliberately endangering the lives of over one-hundred officers and their families, that’s just wrong.

I’ll say this as plainly as possible. Anonymous may claim to be acting for what they see as the common good, but they aren’t. They are hiding behind the anonymity of the Internet because they are cowards and bullies. They are too lazy and scared to stand up and publicly work for real change. Instead, they choose to hide in the dark and throw their virtual stones. Instead of dialogue, they seek to use force to get what they want. They want people to see them as cyber heroes, bravely standing up to tyranny on the virtual frontier. The truth is, they are what they claim to oppose. A faceless group with zero accountability, doing whatever they feel like. By putting innocent lives at risk, they have shown themselves no better than the very worst of those they have targeted in the past.

It’s past time for law enforcement to deal with this. By actively endangering peoples lives, disrupting government and corporate infrastructure and stealing and publishing sensitive information, Anonymous has set itself up as being beyond any law. It’s time to set that straight. It’s time to acknowledge them as a terrorist organization with all that that implies.

If any member of the BART police force or their families is harmed as a result of this information being published, ANY member of Anonymous who is apprehended should be held accountable and punished to the full extent of the law. Specifically, those anti-terrorism laws no one likes. Those should work nicely.

Cheers, Winston