As Operation “Occupy Wall Street” moved into the second week, some protesters are moving their activities online.
A group using the handle “CabinCr3w” posted personal information for Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein on the text-sharing site Pastebin on Sept. 28. The post included Blankfein’s age, recent addresses, details of litigation he has been involved in, as well as registration information for businesses. No financial information was disclosed.
The same group also released information about the New York police officer who sprayed pepper spray into the faces of women at Occupy Wall Street. There are various video clips available online showing Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna spraying women penned behind a police barricade net without any provocation. Bologna’s phone number, addresses, names of relatives and other personal data was released.
“To the people asking…we are part of anonymous [SIC] just a group of like minded people taking on the world,” according to a Twitter post by CabinCr3w.
Hundreds of people have camped out in New York’s Zuccotti Park and about a thousand protesters have joined in protests and street marches as part of “Occupy Wall Street,” which began Sept. 17. Publicized by hacktivist collective Anonymous, the movement calls for an end to the “monied corruption of our democracy.”
New York Police representatives claimed the pepper spray was appropriate and said the video was edited out to remove the scenes showing that the women had provoked the incident. Legal advocacy group USLaw.com denied any editing had been done to the video.
The pepper spray had been used only after the victims “confronted officers and tried to prevent them from deploying a mesh barrier–something that was edited out or otherwise not captured in the video,” Paul J. Browne, a NYPD spokesperson, told The New York Times.
The police have been criticized for using excessive measures against the protesters. About 85 people were arrested and 5 hit with pepper spray on Sept. 24, according to The New York Times.