Anyone old enough to remember the police drama on TV, “Hill Street Blues,” will remember the line, “Let’s be very careful out there.” There’s another reason for police to be “very careful out there” these days: if you’re identified as a police officer who has been abusive to protestors, you may find your personal details and those of your family exposed on the Internet.
We saw it with OccupyWallStreet, where a police inspector was caught on camera as was his badge. He, as well as one other inspector, are now under investigation, but in the process of naming and shaming the first inspector, details about his family were also revealed. And another officer may also have been incorrectly identified as being abusive.
Now we’re seeing it in OccupyDenver, too. Caleb reports:
Over the past months, persons who align themselves with the “anonymous” movement or “idea”, have participated in “Occupy” protests that began in NYC, on Wall street, with a protest started by Adbusters, a Canadian group. Today, at an Occupy in Denver, called OccupyDenver, cops allegedly physically assaulted several “anons”, and protesters at the Occupy. One of these protesters was a lady who goes by the online nick name, “Emmi Einstein”, and has close ties with Anonymous.
According to a user by the nick name “Jackal”, (@JackalAnon) at 10PM EST, he spoke with Emmi, who told him that an officer by the name of Ethan Aldridge had physically assaulted her. Following this tweet, Jackal announced that a group he has long been associated with, the “Cabin Cr3w” would be releasing the personal information of Ethan Aldridge. Shortly-there-after, Jackal told Ethan to head home, and even posted (mockingly) a picture of Ethan’s home.
About an hour later, the CabinCr3w released the home address, date of birth, names of family members, and previous addresses of “Ethan Aldridge” who it is alleged, had beaten up Emmi today at the Occupy. Also, the purchase price, and specs’ about the house were included in this dump of personal information also known as a “d0x”. This information can be found on stickypaste, at stickypaste.com/view/84437673.
In a short interview at press time, the owner of the well known “anonyops” website, anonyops.com told us “that if a police officer insists on physically damaging someone that is not being violent, they deserve to be penalized for it; and I know that we can’t rely on our justice system to do it, so I guess our only hope is the cabin.”
The CabinCr3w, which we have featured several times on this website, has been responsible for the personal information dump, of well known bankers, and Anthony Bologna who pepper sprayed women at OccupyWallStreet.
Going after abusive police is one thing. I like that people are using crowdsourcing to identify rogue police so that they can be investigated, but note that accusations are not the same as a conviction and we risk repeating incorrect allegations that could ruin someone’s reputation. But going after their family members crosses a line that I don’t thinks should be crossed.
So yes, use networking and skills to identify what/who needs to be investigated, but give some thought to respecting the privacy of uninvolved others. I don’t think we really want to abandon “innocent until proven guilty,” do we? And do we really want to punish others for the actions of a family member?