The monsters at the Westboro Baptist Church have posted their intentions to spew their hate at the funerals of the twenty children killed in the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
The computer hacking collective known as Anonymous yesterday released the personal and professional contact information for members of the WBC on the internet. Now there is an opportunity and a means to communicate one’s thoughts directly to those people who take pleasure in desecrating the funerals of soldiers killed in battle and murdered children.
That information will not be posted by this diarist and no recommendations for action are made here, but civic-minded individuals might find this link of interest.
The Supreme Court of the United States held that the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits states from imposing a penalty on the press for publishing accurate information obtained from a public record (Cox Broadcasting v. Cohen, 420 U.S. 469 (1975)). This protection has been interpreted since as extending to non-traditional journalists and other online publishers. Since the information under discussion here has been already published on the (very public) internet, those with access to this information might consider using it as their conscience dictates.
Those who wish to bone up on the legalities involved in making personal information public may find this useful reading at this link.
Kudos to the Connecticut State Police for making the extraordinary decision to assign a trooper to each of the victims' families to shield them from further torment and protect their privacy.