Ku Klux Klan members
Hacktivist collective Anonymous has promised to reveal the identities of up to 1,000 alleged KKK members on the first anniversary of the Ferguson protests Reuters

Anonymous has published dozens of phone numbers and email addresses allegedly belonging to members of the Ku Klux Klan. The contact details were released late on Sunday (1 November) as part of Operation KKK in order to coincide with the first anniversary of the Ferguson protests.

A Twitter account commonly used to deliver news about Anonymous operations posted links to four separate databases containing 57 phone numbers and 24 emails of alleged KKK members, together with the message: "There is no place for racism now we're more connected, the time to cooperate and better the world is now."

Up to 1,000 more contact details are expected to be published by Anonymous, with a countdown website suggesting that the bulk will be released on 5 November. A video released by the amorphous online group also claimed that websites belonging to the KKK had been infiltrated.

Operation KKK, referred to online as #OpKKK, first began late last year during the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, after a local chapter of the KKK warned protesters that "lethal force" would be used against them. In response, Anonymous took control of the KKK's main Twitter account and published personal information of alleged members of the white supremacist group.

More about Anonymous

Last week a faction of Anonymous revealed that it was planning to reveal the identities of 1,000 members of the KKK on the anniversary of the protests. The group claimed that it had gained access to another KKK Twitter account, which had enabled more contact details to be uncovered.

"We are not attacking you because of what you believe in as we fight for freedom of speech," Anonymous said in a statement released last week. "Ku Klux Klan, We never stopped watching you. We know who you are. We know the dangerous extent to which you will go to cover your asses. Originally, we did not attack you for your beliefs as we fight for freedom of speech. We attacked you due to your threats to use lethal force in the Ferguson protests.

"We took this grudge between us rather seriously. You continue to threaten anons and others. We never said we would only strike once... The aim of this operation is digital. Another cyber war trist, nothing more. We are not violent. We will release, to the global public, the identities of up to 1000 klan members, Ghoul Squad affiliates and other close associates of various factions of the Ku Klux Klan across the Unites States."

Anonymous