Anonymous Attacks Oakland: Hacker Group Posts City Officials' Private Information Online (VIDEO)

Well it wouldn't be a Bay Area protest without a friendly visit from Anonymous.

On Tuesday morning, Oakland officials woke to find themselves the latest target of international hacktivist group Anonymous when the group posted private information online. Anonymous highlighted the brutality at the Occupy Oakland protests and the allegedly unreasonable salaries of top officials in the light of recent budget cuts as motives behind the hack.

(SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO)

Targeted in the attack were Mayor Jean Quan, Chief of Police Howard Jordan, Oakland City Administrator Deanna Santana, City Attorney Barbara Jean Parker, and City Council Members Jane Brunner, Patricia Kernighan, Nancy Nadel, Libby Schaaf, Ignacio De La Fuente, Desley Ann Brooks and Laurence Reid. Councilmember at Large Rebecca Kaplan was spared, and a note by her name read, "Thank you for your support and being a true leader in the community."

The post included details like phone numbers, addresses, email addresses, salary information (Deanna Santana apparently pulls in $273,000), family information, website administration IDs and property value information. It also included some less-than-flattering accompanying notes, like the one outlining the rape charges against Council Member Ignacio De Le Fuente's son.

In true Anonymous style, the group included with the hacked information a hopelessly dramatic video memo:

(Cue heartbeat sound effect and voice dub.)

Citizens of Oakland -

Anonymous has been watching. Since the inception of Occupy Oakland, we have been actively monitoring your behavior and exposing the identities and sensitive information of Officers of the Oakland Police Department, as they have continued to act in an unprofessional and violent manner. You tear gassed us. You shot us with your weapons. You arrested us. You beat us. You also did this to our friends, and to our families. We watched as you cut budgets, cut our jobs, closed our schools, our parks, and our libraries, while leaving your own salaries alone. We laughed in disgust as Deanna Santana said she would need to speak to her attorney before discussing her pay cut. The people on this list are supposed to represent the best of what the City of Oakland has to offer. If they are the best, why is there so much trouble within the Police Department and in the City of Oakland?

(Cue creepy background sound effect)

We are shocked and disgusted by your behavior. Before you commit atrocities against innocent people again, think twice. You should have expected us.

(Cue "Inception" score. No not really, but that seems like an obvious next step.)

While Anonymous may at times be eyeroll-inducing, the group does have a history of serious online mischief, as Mastercard and former BART Spokesman Linton Johnson can certainly attest.

Check out Anonymous's memo to the City of Oakland in the video message below:

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Comments

[Toby Nixon]

07:55 PM on 03/15/2012

If it wasn't them at Anonymous it would have been me.

OAKLAND PD HAS KILLED ENOUGH PEOPLE.

[Salukeitis]

05:34 PM on 02/16/2012

Way to go Anonymous. I predict many more ways to pester and bonk the violent police and the 1%. It's only the beginning. Go OWS.

[freeetob]

02:11 PM on 02/15/2012

Interesting which citizens of the USA who will, on the word of Faux News, trash the Occupiers who are protesting the inequities imposed on taxpayers and the loss of voting rights to the wealthy who buy government representatives. These citizens dismiss Occupiers as "anarchists," "filty hippies," etc , and cheer on the police who beat and gas them. These same citizens will then gasp in horror and shake their heads while viewing newscasts of police and military in Egypt, Syria, etc as they beat, gas and kill their own people who are protesting the same inequities and government rule in their countries. Some citizens just don't get it, do they?

[professor]

09:36 PM on 02/14/2012

Anarchists:

Trashing the streets is a hopeless and meaningless act.

And, as in the 60s, it massively increases the backlash. And you don't want the backlash to the 60s. You are living in it right now. It is called Republican hegemony.

Anonymous is the modern way to trash. The Moral Majority are too clueless to have an opinion on it. Trash with Anonymous. It works@!

[yoda987]

08:27 PM on 02/11/2012

Anonymous is not special. The fact that they are able to retrieve this informatio­n shows how far behind our government is in demanding smart, rigorous, cyber security standards.

Did you know that China may very well be able to take out America's electrical grid within minutes at a time of their choosing? Guess how - cyber attacks using "logic bombs". If you do not believe it read the book "Cyber War" by Richard Clark. Its a fascinating, educating, and somewhat terrifying read.

[southingtonian]

01:43 AM on 02/13/2012

anonymous and other hackers may eventually be our only defense against China.

[Chaunce Stanton]

02:49 PM on 02/11/2012

Love, love, LOVE it!

[Portlyric]

09:29 PM on 02/09/2012

Good Job! Thanks Anonymous.

[bebub 21]

11:21 PM on 02/09/2012

I think this group is exactly what we need. Next place they need to bring to justice is the CPS groups, coming into homes an removing children on allegations alone. They remove kids from homes that have more kids so they get more money. Start in Hillsdale Michigan with the judge an CPS workers PLEASE

[DMSmith]

07:02 PM on 02/09/2012

I like Anonymous more every day.
I have decided to leave Oakland. When our home was burglarized of over $10,000.00 worth of possessions - the police would not come. They have stopped responding to home break-ins because of budget cuts, they have laid off 1/3 of the police - as violence in the city is famous and continues. Yet they spend MILLIONS to bring in 17 other jurisdiction's police to violently attack our citizens.
I've had enough. No more taxes paid to them. I'm going somewhere else - SOON.

[OIF2009]

01:28 PM on 02/09/2012

Today its a few people who disagree with the party. Tomorrow its the OWS protester who finds himself in disagreement with the majority surrounding him.

They released ALL of the personal information in existence on the families too! Dont anger a democrat or else they will farm out your childs social security number and post pictures along with info needed to kidnap him and hold him ransom.

This isnt an act of protest, its an act of war. Progressive youth are the last people on earth who should want a war. They cant win one. Their political enemies dominate the rural areas that grow all of the food. One dead kid as a punishment for having a political opinion not shared by democrats can and will be retaliated against by any reasonable person. Civil war means that progressives starve to death in progressive metro areas until they are willing to come out and fight their enemies on their enemies turf and terms.

Keep it up, you will get what you want as soon as something like this leads to a family being harmed, but you wont be happy with the outcome.

[DMSmith]

07:03 PM on 02/09/2012

"Dont anger a democrat..."
This is NOT Democrats. Please pay attention. You say way more about YOU than about anyone else by making such a silly claim.

[soli11]

03:33 AM on 02/10/2012

Surely decades of Republican wars have harmed no families whatsoever, be it at home or abroad.

[OIF2009]

08:37 AM on 02/10/2012

You think there are only two camps to belong to? This is what makes progressives so vile. To progressive youth anyone who is not with them is against them and anyone who is against them is a republican soldier.

At no point did anyone ever target the families and private lives of progressives. This tactic used on a domestic basis belongs only to progressive youth. You are targeting the rest of us by way of trying to have our families harmed when we disagree with you. Any cop who arrests a democratic soldier is now a target along with his children if this story is accurate.

[OIF2009]

08:42 AM on 02/10/2012

If it is war you seek it is war you will get. Let it be known that your enemy wont fight it with laptops, we will force you to fight our way and on our terms. You have the constitutional right to demand war, but do not assume that there is any hope of a positive outcome for you. It will be like any other war, logistics will determine the outcome. You have no access to farming land or even wild game, no hunting skills, no land nav skills, etc...

You are up against common working class adults who are more hardened than you. Our generations didnt have it so easy and we do not grant you a pass when you target the private lives and families of innocent people who only do their jobs or dare to disagree with you.

[pixeloid]

07:20 AM on 02/09/2012

Thanks again Anonymous! Those balaclava masks the police and terrorists like to wear don't hide their identity on the internet.

[OIF2009]

01:21 PM on 02/09/2012

You wont be thanking them if you are ever discovered to have a disagreeable opinion. It will be your personal information listed on the internet for all of your enemies to use against you. This includes information on your kids so your enemies can target them for kidnap, rape, and probably murder. Cool huh?

Terrorists are just so cool. Without them we wouldnt have identity theft, looted bank accounts, and families in danger when we dare to speak our own minds and offend a twenty nothing year old democrat with a laptop. We should be thankful for such things of course. You cant make for an economic disaster without working people waking up to emptied accounts, a stolen identity, and kidnapped children.

[pixeloid]

09:56 PM on 02/09/2012

We disagree about who the terrorists are. Abusive corporations, the government and it's militarized thugs have been terrorizing people for years. If groups like OWS and Anonymous can level the playing field just a tiny bit, then I'm all for it.

Do you really think there are armies of rapists, kidnappers, and murderers out there with nothing to do, who are just waiting to get the home addresses of some government/corporate criminals before they act? You're worried about the financial damage that a couple of hackers with laptops might possibly do after what the banks already did to us? Unbelievable.

[Anonmouse33]

05:42 AM on 02/09/2012

hello officers, nice to meet you -- welcome to the community!

don't be stranger's now, ya hear?

[BluesManStew]

02:35 AM on 02/09/2012

Remember, remember, the 5th of November. Back in the day, newspapers would routinely pick this kind of stuff up and run with it....it's sad that we are being reduced to this. Is this a harbinger?

[bigfootphd]

05:47 PM on 02/08/2012

A lot of opinion listed in what I had assumed was a hard news article.

[BelindaSmith]

06:44 AM on 02/08/2012

anonymous just posted a video message to the citizens of Oakland on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7NnpwrOl-0&feature=colike - to get the latest anonymous updates go to www.onlineroar.com

[Andrew Nutra]

10:28 PM on 02/07/2012

OWS is theater. This is the age of instant fame through blogging, Facebook, reality shows, etc. Everyone now wants to be on the spotlight. OWS' main goal is to get themselves written and talked about. The attention they get makes them feel all warm and tingly inside, relieves some of the boredom, white middle class guilt and envy they harbor for successful Americans. Who cares if they have no leader, or if they're about too many things (many contradict­ory), or up to this point haven't decided if they should harass, threaten or alienate other 99% non - OWS people. Are drumming and squatting really the most effective use of their energy and the most sustainable way to bring on a new world order? It's not the point. As long as they get attention, they're going to keep doing what they're doing. Ultimately, OWS will just be another form of speech. Some people speak, some write, some vie for attention by theater.

[Rjchinook]

08:35 AM on 02/08/2012

What a lame analysis.

[vampbella09]

11:47 AM on 02/08/2012

No doubt. Brother Anderw seems to be missing the point.

[charlottequinn]

02:12 PM on 02/08/2012

Yeah, we sure have your attention!