UPDATE 4:35 p.m.:
Shortly after news outlets started circulating the list and attributing it to Anonymous, a Twitter account claiming to be affiliated with the hacktivist group denied any involvement with the document dump:
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Speaking with TechCrunch, a Twitter user and hacker known only as Amped Attacks revealed he was behind the leaks and shared no affiliation with Anonymous or any other hacktivist group: "I am my own man that acts on my own accord." This individual claims to have worked for nine days to cross-reference the previously reported list before releasing it.
See original story below.
Hacktivist group Anonymous is currently making good on its promise to unveil the identities of an estimated 1,000 secret Ku Klux Klan members, dumping multiple lists containing a total of 57 phone numbers and 23 email addresses on Sunday. The surprise move comes just days before the group's previously announced Million Mask March, including a social media initiative centered on the KKK and occurring under the #HoodsOff hashtag. Among the first batch of names posted to Pastebin were multiple Republican officials, according to Heavy. As you might expect, many of those impacted by the release of this information have quickly rebuked any such affiliation.
"This allegation is false, insulting and ridiculous," Lexington, Kentucky mayor Jim Gray, whose name was included in the first document dump, said in a statement. "I have never had any relationship of any kind with the KKK. I am opposed to everything it stands for. I have no idea where this information came from, but wherever it came from, it is wrong." A Twitter account purporting to belong to the Militant Knights group responded with vitriol, suggesting they should hold a counter-protest "alongside those f******" in Anonymous.
Anonymous is expected to reveal the remainder of their promised 1,000 names by Thursday to coincide with the march, according to USA Today. This act of protest is intentionally timed to mark the first anniversary of the grand jury’s decision not to prosecute Darren Wilson in the shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, whose death in Ferguson inspired protests against police brutality all across the nation.
