Anonymous loses one of its own following BART attack

Hacktivist group Anonymous lost one of its members in the wake of this month’s hack on San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train system, which led to the online posting of the personal data of BART users. Tech site CNET reported that many members of the collective did not approve of the group posting the personal data of “innocent people." “Over The Past Few Months Things Inside Anon Have Changed. I Am Mostly Talking About AntiSec And LulzSec. They Both Go Against What I Stand For (And What Anonymous Says They Stand For)," it quoted “SparkyBlaze" as saying. SparkyBlaze, who CNET described as a UK resident, questioned AntiSec if it had the right to post online “gig after gig" of innocent people’s information. He added “higher-up" Anons have thrown other members of the collective “to the lions," claiming that Anonymous’ campaigns and leadership have been ineffective and prey on “kids" to do their dirty work and risk arrest. When CNET asked SparkyBlaze if the BART operation was the last straw for him, he said, “That was one factor, mainly it was because I was just fed up with anon putting peoples data on-line and then claiming to be the big heroes." Also, he said he found it hypocritical that Anonymous claimed to be fighting for the BART users by putting their data online. The CNET report also said the departure of SparkyBlaze may have made waves within Anonymous, with the group’s “Commander X" suggesting he should be considered persona non grata. When asked about his involvement with Anonymous, SparkyBlaze said he supported a number of operations, “and some un-ethical ones that I am not proud of... but, I never exposed peoples data. I want to be clear on that." He said that while he was proud to be involved in attacks on sites run by Iran’s government, he was not so proud to have been involved in the Sony hack. “If I get arrested I will have to deal with it. I don’t care about what anon do now and I just want to say. Not all anon’s are bad only some... Some do want change, They are just going about it in the wrong way," CNET quoted him as saying. — TJD, GMA News