Reprinted with permission from AlterNet.
During former Imperial Wizard of the KKK David Duke’s recent appearance on Vice News Tonight‘s Charlottesville episode, he tried to explain the “oppression” he was experiencing as a white supremacist. In response, the cyber-hacking group Anonymous has taken matters into its own hands and doxxed Duke, releasing all of his personal information for the world to see.
“Doxxing” is the vigilante practice of finding out one’s personal information and releasing it on the internet. Typically, this has been a tactic used by so-called men’s rights activists to torment feminists online. However, following the events of Charlottesville, Virginia, people began to spread the faces of white nationalists and supremacists alike online with the intent to reveal their identities and workplaces. Some attendees of the “Unite the Right” rally have since been fired from their jobs or forced to resign.
Former KKK leader Duke is known as a white supremacist, Holocaust denier, anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist, and concerningly, a politician. Duke ran for president thrice, and for the Senate countless times, in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. Though many runs were unsuccessful, Duke did serve as a Louisiana state representative. He was also a founder and prominent user of the online bulletin board StormFront, a platform known for promoting white nationalism, white supremacism, neo-Nazism and hate speech. StormFront is considered the predecessor of the Daily Stormer, the neo-Nazi publication recently booted off its U.S. domain for its role in Charlottesville.
Along with Duke’s information, Anonymous released the email addresses, phone numbers, physical addresses and birth dates of Duke’s ex-wife and two daughters.
Jennie Neufeld is a junior writing fellow at AlterNet. She has previously worked for the Observer, the Wild and Nylon Magazine. Follow her on twitter @jennieneufeld.
