Weev
Encyclopedia
Andrew Alan Escher Auernheimer 1 September 1985), also known by his pseudonym weev, is an American grey hat
hacker
and self-described Internet troll
who has been linked to several attacks on Internet
sites. He has identified himself as Escher Auernheimer to the media, although most sources correctly provide his first name as Andrew.
's services in April 2009 when many books on gay issues were reclassified as pornography.
Amazon claimed that Auernheimer was not responsible for the incident.
Even before the Amazon incident, several media publications profiled Auernheimer regarding his hacking and trolling activities, notably The New York Times
, in which he claimed to be a member of a hacker group called “the organization,” making $10 million annually. He also claimed to be the owner of a Rolls-Royce Phantom
. After the Times story on Auernheimer was published, reporters sought out Auernheimer for commentary on hacking-related stories. Gawker
published a story on the Sarah Palin email hack
ing incident and prominently featured Auernheimer's comments in the title of the story.
"http://security.goatse.fr/ that exposed a flaw
in AT&T
security which allowed the e-mail addresses of iPad
users to be revealed. The group revealed the security flaw to Gawker Media
after AT&T had been notified, as well as exposing the data of 114,000 iPad users, including those of celebrities, the government and the military. The actions of this group re-provoked the debate on the disclosure of security flaws. Auernheimer maintains that Goatse Security used common industry standard practices and has said that "we tried to be the good guys". Jennifer Granick
of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
has also defended the tactics used by Goatse Security.
The FBI
then opened an investigation into the incident. The FBI investigation led to a criminal complaint in January 2011.
Shortly after the investigation was opened, Auernheimer's house was raided by the FBI and local police. The FBI search was related to its investigation of the AT&T security breach but Auernheimer was subsequently detained on state drug charges. Police allege that, during their execution of the search warrant related to the AT&T breach, they found cocaine
, ecstasy, LSD
, and schedule 2 and 3 pharmaceuticals. He was released on a $3,160 bail
pending state trial. After his release on bail, he broke a gag order
to protest what he maintained are violations of his civil rights. In particular, he disputed the legality of the search of his house and denial of access to a public defender
. He also asked for donations via PayPal
, to defray legal costs.
In January 2011, all drug-related charges were dropped immediately following Auernheimer's arrest by federal authorities. The Department of Justice announced that he will be charged with one count of conspiracy to access a computer without authorization and one count of fraud. Although his co-defendant, Daniel Spitler, was quickly released on bail, Auernheimer was initially denied bail due to his unemployment and lack of a family member to host him before being released on $50,000 bail in late February 2011. Auernheimer was incarcerated in the Federal Transfer Center, Oklahoma City
in February 2011. A federal grand jury
in Newark, New Jersey
, indicted Auernheimer with one count of conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to computers and one count of identity theft in early July 2011. As of September 2011 he is free on bail and raising money for his legal defense fund.
s and keeps a LiveJournal
blog in which he offers commentary on racial and cultural issues. His views have proved controversial, causing Philip Elmer-DeWitt
to dub him "the ugliest computer hacker". Others have interpreted his work as deliberately offensive humor, with Fox News calling it "offensive and witty detail" and a Forbes
author telling readers to "think: Shakespeare's Puck
". This interpretation is in dispute, with an Atlantic magazine author calling the Puck reference "oddly generous".
Auernheimer is an advocate for free speech. He defended the satirical wiki Encyclopedia Dramatica
in a Ninemsn
interview which was cited as "rather brilliant" in an article about Australian internet censorship published in The Register
.
His actions have sometimes been described as hacktivism
. Australian media commentator Emma Jane has characterized him as a "celebrity hacktivist".
Auernheimer has shown support for the Occupy Wall Street
protest stating that he "had a strong decade of infuriating rich people."
, a group of organized trolls who take their name from the 1992 Danish movie Gayniggers from Outer Space
. Members of Goatse Security involved with the iPad hack are also members of GNAA.
Grey hat
A grey hat, in the hacking community, refers to a skilled hacker whose activities fall somewhere between white and black hat hackers on a variety of spectra. It may relate to whether they sometimes arguably act illegally, though in good will, or to show how they disclose vulnerabilities...
hacker
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
and self-described Internet troll
Troll (Internet)
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response...
who has been linked to several attacks on Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
sites. He has identified himself as Escher Auernheimer to the media, although most sources correctly provide his first name as Andrew.
Hacking
Auernheimer claimed responsibility for the disruption to AmazonAmazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
's services in April 2009 when many books on gay issues were reclassified as pornography.
Amazon claimed that Auernheimer was not responsible for the incident.
Even before the Amazon incident, several media publications profiled Auernheimer regarding his hacking and trolling activities, notably The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, in which he claimed to be a member of a hacker group called “the organization,” making $10 million annually. He also claimed to be the owner of a Rolls-Royce Phantom
Rolls-Royce Phantom
Rolls-Royce has used the Phantom name on luxury cars over the past century:* Rolls-Royce Phantom I, 1925–1931* Rolls-Royce Phantom II, 1929–1936* Rolls-Royce Phantom III, 1936–1939* Rolls-Royce Phantom IV, 1950–1959...
. After the Times story on Auernheimer was published, reporters sought out Auernheimer for commentary on hacking-related stories. Gawker
Gawker.com
Gawker is a newsmagazine/blog based in New York City that bills itself as "the source for daily Manhattan media news and gossip" and focuses on celebrities and the media industry....
published a story on the Sarah Palin email hack
Sarah Palin email hack
The Sarah Palin email hack occurred on September 16, 2008, during the 2008 United States presidential election campaign when the Yahoo! personal email account of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was subjected to unauthorized access...
ing incident and prominently featured Auernheimer's comments in the title of the story.
AT&T data breach
Auernheimer is a member of the group of computer experts known as "Goatse SecurityGoatse Security
Goatse Security is a loose-knit, nine-person grey hat hacker group that specializes in uncovering security flaws. It is a division of the anti-blogging Internet trolling organization known as the Gay Nigger Association of America . The group derives its name from the Goatse.cx shock site, and it...
"http://security.goatse.fr/ that exposed a flaw
Vulnerability (computing)
In computer security, a vulnerability is a weakness which allows an attacker to reduce a system's information assurance.Vulnerability is the intersection of three elements: a system susceptibility or flaw, attacker access to the flaw, and attacker capability to exploit the flaw...
in AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
security which allowed the e-mail addresses of iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
users to be revealed. The group revealed the security flaw to Gawker Media
Gawker Media
Gawker Media is an American online media company and blog network, founded and owned by Nick Denton based in New York City. It is considered to be one of the most visible and successful blog-oriented media companies. , it is the parent company for 11 different weblogs: Gawker.com, Fleshbot,...
after AT&T had been notified, as well as exposing the data of 114,000 iPad users, including those of celebrities, the government and the military. The actions of this group re-provoked the debate on the disclosure of security flaws. Auernheimer maintains that Goatse Security used common industry standard practices and has said that "we tried to be the good guys". Jennifer Granick
Jennifer Granick
Jennifer Stisa Granick is an attorney at ZwillGen PLLC. Prior to joining ZwillGen in 2010, she held the position of Civil Liberties Director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation from 2007-2010. Prior to that, she served as the Executive Director of the Center for Internet and Society at...
of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
has also defended the tactics used by Goatse Security.
The FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
then opened an investigation into the incident. The FBI investigation led to a criminal complaint in January 2011.
Shortly after the investigation was opened, Auernheimer's house was raided by the FBI and local police. The FBI search was related to its investigation of the AT&T security breach but Auernheimer was subsequently detained on state drug charges. Police allege that, during their execution of the search warrant related to the AT&T breach, they found cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
, ecstasy, LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
, and schedule 2 and 3 pharmaceuticals. He was released on a $3,160 bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
pending state trial. After his release on bail, he broke a gag order
Gag order
A gag order is an order, sometimes a legal order by a court or government, other times a private order by an employer or other institution, restricting information or comment from being made public.Gag orders are often used against participants involved in a lawsuit or criminal trial...
to protest what he maintained are violations of his civil rights. In particular, he disputed the legality of the search of his house and denial of access to a public defender
Public defender
The term public defender is primarily used to refer to a criminal defense lawyer appointed to represent people charged with a crime but who cannot afford to hire an attorney in the United States and Brazil. The term is also applied to some ombudsman offices, for example in Jamaica, and is one way...
. He also asked for donations via PayPal
PayPal
PayPal is an American-based global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to paying with traditional paper methods, such as checks and money orders....
, to defray legal costs.
In January 2011, all drug-related charges were dropped immediately following Auernheimer's arrest by federal authorities. The Department of Justice announced that he will be charged with one count of conspiracy to access a computer without authorization and one count of fraud. Although his co-defendant, Daniel Spitler, was quickly released on bail, Auernheimer was initially denied bail due to his unemployment and lack of a family member to host him before being released on $50,000 bail in late February 2011. Auernheimer was incarcerated in the Federal Transfer Center, Oklahoma City
Federal Transfer Center, Oklahoma City
The Federal Transfer Center , located on the western edge of Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is an administrative facility of the Federal Bureau of Prisons that houses male and female holdover offenders....
in February 2011. A federal grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
in Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, indicted Auernheimer with one count of conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to computers and one count of identity theft in early July 2011. As of September 2011 he is free on bail and raising money for his legal defense fund.
Political views and critical reception
Auernheimer has published a number of podcastPodcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
s and keeps a LiveJournal
LiveJournal
LiveJournal is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary. LiveJournal is also the name of the free and open source server software that was designed to run the LiveJournal virtual community....
blog in which he offers commentary on racial and cultural issues. His views have proved controversial, causing Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt is an American writer and editor. He was Time 's first computer writer—producing much of the magazine's early coverage of personal computers and the Internet -- and for 12 years its science editor. He is currently a contributor to Fortune magazine, which publishes his online...
to dub him "the ugliest computer hacker". Others have interpreted his work as deliberately offensive humor, with Fox News calling it "offensive and witty detail" and a Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
author telling readers to "think: Shakespeare's Puck
Puck (Shakespeare)
Puck, also known as Robin Goodfellow, is a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream that was based on the ancient figure in English mythology, also called Puck. Puck is a clever and mischievous elf and personifies the trickster or the wise knave...
". This interpretation is in dispute, with an Atlantic magazine author calling the Puck reference "oddly generous".
Auernheimer is an advocate for free speech. He defended the satirical wiki Encyclopedia Dramatica
Encyclopedia Dramatica
Encyclopædia Dramatica was a satirical open wiki that used MediaWiki software. Launched on December 10, 2004, it lampooned both encyclopedic topics and current events, especially those related or relevant to contemporary internet culture. It was frequently utilized by a socially fluid and dynamic...
in a Ninemsn
NineMSN
ninemsn is an Australian 50/50 joint venture between Microsoft and Nine Entertainment Co.. It effectively acts as the website for both the Nine Network and MSN, and is one of Australia's most popular websites...
interview which was cited as "rather brilliant" in an article about Australian internet censorship published in The Register
The Register
The Register is a British technology news and opinion website. It was founded by John Lettice, Mike Magee and Ross Alderson in 1994 as a newsletter called "Chip Connection", initially as an email service...
.
His actions have sometimes been described as hacktivism
Hacktivism
Hacktivism is the use of computers and computer networks as a means of protest to promote political ends. The term was first coined in 1994 by a member of the Cult of the Dead Cow hacker collective named Omega...
. Australian media commentator Emma Jane has characterized him as a "celebrity hacktivist".
Auernheimer has shown support for the Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street is an ongoing series of demonstrations initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters which began September 17, 2011 in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district...
protest stating that he "had a strong decade of infuriating rich people."
Trolling
Auernheimer is a member of the Gay Nigger Association of AmericaGay Nigger Association of America
The Gay Nigger Association of America is an anti-blogging Internet trolling organization that takes their name from the 1992 Danish movie Gayniggers from Outer Space. They have trolled several prominent websites and Internet commentators, including members of the blogosphere, Slashdot, Wikipedia,...
, a group of organized trolls who take their name from the 1992 Danish movie Gayniggers from Outer Space
Gayniggers from Outer Space
Gayniggers from Outer Space is a 1992 short film, directed by Danish filmmaker Morten Lindberg. The film is a satire of the blaxploitation and science fiction genre...
. Members of Goatse Security involved with the iPad hack are also members of GNAA.
See also
- Gay Nigger Association of AmericaGay Nigger Association of AmericaThe Gay Nigger Association of America is an anti-blogging Internet trolling organization that takes their name from the 1992 Danish movie Gayniggers from Outer Space. They have trolled several prominent websites and Internet commentators, including members of the blogosphere, Slashdot, Wikipedia,...
- Goatse SecurityGoatse SecurityGoatse Security is a loose-knit, nine-person grey hat hacker group that specializes in uncovering security flaws. It is a division of the anti-blogging Internet trolling organization known as the Gay Nigger Association of America . The group derives its name from the Goatse.cx shock site, and it...
- Hacker (computer security)Hacker (computer security)In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
- Troll (Internet)Troll (Internet)In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response...