Twelve celebrities and politicians are victims of a hacker who posted information about their finances online, including their Social Security numbers, credit-card information, and mortgage amounts. Michelle Obama, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Hillary Clinton, Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, Mel Gibson, Ashton Kutcher, and Joe Biden are among those who were hacked.
The site, which bore an internet suffix originally assigned to the Soviet Union, remained active Monday evening and had garnered nearly 70,000 hits, according to a ticker on the homepage.
It did not state how the information was obtained or why the 17 people targeted on the site were selected, describing the records only as "secret files."
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Several of the pages, to which we are chosing not to link, featured unflattering pictures of the celebrities or government officials whose information was posted.
While government officials often have to disclose details on their finances – and celebrity divorces sometimes feature public financial data – the information posted online exceeds those disclosures.
The LAPD and FBI are both investigating the incident, according to TMZ.
Okay, Beyoncé didn't simply perform The Star Spangled Banner, she...let's just let Caity over at Gawkerdescribe the performance:
"The initial moments of Beyoncé's inauguration performance were fraught with confusion, after she opened her mouth to sing the national anthem and everyone realized that God had replaced the artist formerly known as Beyoncé with an actual living angel whose voice was more heavenly than a thousand Hallelujah choruses."
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"Then all of a sudden, in the middle of the song, something crazy happened: Beyoncé went rogue.
If you take a look above right around the 1:45 mark, you'll notice that Beyoncé casually removes her earpiece, mid-line, without missing a beat. It was later reported that she was plagued by audio problems throughout the song.
At this point in the performance, Beyoncé is, as they say, "singing blind." She no longer has any way to tell if she is singing on key, except for the fact that she is Beyoncé and "off-key" is the one note that exists beyond her range."
In the video above, it's about the 1:35 mark when the earpiece comes out.
"Anonymous" has a beef with the media, and in a video message uploaded to Youtube says "You should have expected us."
The hacktivist group blasts all forms of media for "brainwashing" people with "propaganda," and says "No more" reports on Whitney, the Kardashian's marital woes, Beyoncé's baby, Jeremy Lin or Charlie Sheen's drug problems.
The video goes on to explain that Operation Occupy the media will be an "ongoing operation" that will "liberate" people from meaningless news.
A full transcript of the video message follows:
We are Anonymous.
We have been watching those of you who call yourselves the Media with great disdain as you fail to meet our expectations at doing what the people demand: reporting news. For too long, the media has given power to those who do not deserve it and did not rightly earn it. By reporting about the luxurious lives of movie stars and billionaires, you have knowingly and carelessly given power to those who do not care about anything else but their own egotistical lives. By being exposed to such narcissistic and pompous behavior through the media, many have been brainwashed by your propaganda into believing that these insignificant and meaningless stories are "news". We are here to say, no more.
No more shall the media pick and choose what the people hear as news. No more shall we allow you to report on Whitney Hudson when Syrian rebels push towards a civil war. No more shall we allow you to report on Jeremy Lin when the tension in the Middle East is mounting. No more shall we allow you to report on the Kardashians's marital problems, Beyoncé's baby drama, or Charlie Sheen's drug problems when countries around the world are facing devastating financial bankruptcy. These Entertainment time-wasters have proven to be no more than a distraction to the people, as important news and headlines never get the justice they deserve. We are Anonymous and we are here to say, you can no longer choose what is front-page material.
Operation Occupy the Media is an ongoing operation supported by Anonymous members all around the world to liberate the people from the distraction of major news media and the entertainment news that occupy the front pages of your websites, newspapers, and magazines. We shall be targeting all of your social media outlets and discussion boards to bring attention to actual issues that should be priority news. We will make it our duty to report the vital news while you, the ones in charge of informing the people, report on trivial, insignificant nonsense. We are tired of being misinformed by the Media. We are tired of people having a deceiving sense of the word "beautiful". We are tired of the people focusing more on entertainment than their own rights and privileges which are being taken away slowly but surely. And we are tired of people having a false sense of priority through the reports by the Media.
We are Anonymous.
We are legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
To the Media, you should have expected us.
