Daily BrewWikileaks-style exposure of neo-Nazis includes dozens of alleged Canadian white supremacists
A controversial effort to expose neo-Nazis in Europe has spilled over into Canada, revealing the names of dozens of alleged Canadian white supremacists.
The CBC reported the names were revealed on the web site nazi-leaks.net, which has since been taken offline but apparently still shows up on mirror sites.
The hacker group Anonymous took responsibility for leaking the names, a move that has caused a furor over the ethics of the action. The site revealed emails, secret web sites and blogs, along with photographs of children giving Nazi salutes at a U.S. gathering.
Anti-racism advocate Helmut-Harry Loewen welcomed the Wikileaks-style leak.
"We can now begin to piece together a more accurate picture in terms of the distribution of these types of racist groups across Canada," said Loewen, a University of Winnipeg sociology professor and member of the Canadian Anti-Racism Education and Research Society.
The leak included the names, addresses, emails and passwords of 74 Canadians, alleged to be members of the Volksfront and Blood and Honour, as well as emails from people who had used Blood and Honour's Canadian online forum.
Three alleged members of the group were arrested in Vancouver in December for attacks on members of visible minorities, including setting a man on fire, The Canadian Press reported.
The CBC said the names of two of the accused, Alistair Miller and Robertson De Chazal, appear on the hacked material.
"[These organizations] are going to have to be even more careful in terms of who they trust, who they associate with," said Loewen. "They're going to have to look over their shoulders. The police will have access to this info once it becomes more widespread. Employers, neighbours and so on."
The leaked names included Bill Noble, convicted in 2008 in a B.C. court of willfully promoting hatred. Noble said he's upset thousands of emails about his views and his personal life were exposed.
"If it can be determined that any of these individuals carried out these acts, because they were fully aware that they were interfering with the survival of an endangered race, then they should indeed be exterminated," Noble told CBC.
The hackers' methods have caused a stir in Europe.
The German newsmagazine Der Spiegel reported earlier this month that the German Federation of Journalists criticized the group's methods.
The group Net Against Nazis condemned the leaks.
"The intention is a good one but I think this is the wrong way to act," Simone Rafael of the anti-Nazi web group told BBC News.
"Putting the addresses and names of people onto the internet is the wrong way to do this. This is a lot of data, but there are already some names where it's clear the people are not right-wing extremists."
