So yesterday I posted an entirely throw-away item that made the rounds like wildfire over the weekend. It's a screenshot of a woman's public Facebook profile, on which she seems to have accidentally written a rather detailed messsage that was ostensibly supposed to have remained private, describing a particularly good sexual encounter (specifically, being mounted by a "strong and powerful man").
Well, like all good stories, there's a twist. Turns out the whole thing is the work of the merry pranksters at 4Chan.org -- many of whom were also responsible for the "Anonymous" internet attacks on Scientology back in February of last year -- and was aimed at embarrassing various fundamentalist Christian Facebook users.
From The Next Web:
"It seems as though some of message-board site 4Chan.org’s elite has managed to acquire a list of Christian Facebook users and quite possibly their passwords too. In doing so, they’ve hacked a number of accounts, posted a number of extremely embarrassing photos and messages to Facebook walls, and then continued to comment under the shares – pretending to be the actual account owner.
...
It has been confirmed that at least one Christian university has had their server hacked and usernames and passwords stolen. It’s quite likely that many of these passwords are the same passwords used on Facebook, making it very easy for hackers to access the site.
...
The list of leaked usernames and passwords is real and we have a copy. The list contains a list of email addresses and their passwords. Incidentally, the list appears to have originated from a Christian dating website.
...
We managed to get hold of a folder full of similar screenshots of not just Facebook profiles, but email accounts and other social network profiles too. 4Chan, or whoever is definitely responsible, really went to town here. Some of the images posted are incredibly graphic and the language used used awful. There’s definitely some elements of humor involved, it is 4Chan after all, but many people are going to have a lot of explaining to do."
A look at some more of what 4Chan's been doing with the information it swiped reveals that it included sending e-mails to the family members of its Christian victims, supposedly from the person targeted, declaring that he or she has turned gay and is abandoning God. Oh, and ordering sex toys.
See for yourself.
I'm never sure what to make of the 4Chan kids. On the one hand, I've so far loved almost every high-profile internet prank they've pulled and agree with who it's been aimed at.
But, man, would I ever want to get on their bad side?
Hell no.
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