A notorious neo-Nazi hacker troll has taken responsibility for sending an anti-Semitic flier to college printers around the country, including three at Cal State Long Beach.
Andrew Auernheimer, who goes by “Weev” and sports a large swastika tattoo on his chest, tells Worcester Magazine (via Motherboard) the stunt was “a brief experiment” and “a lesson in how positively hilarious the [Internet of Things] will be in the future.”
The Internet of Things refers to devices connected collectively, including the printers at Long Beach State, USC, UC Berkeley, Brown, Princeton, UMass Amherst and others that Auernheimer targeted.
He claims to have used an online scanning service that searches for open access to computers and devices.
Known as a “black hat” hacker (though he may more accurately be termed a “brown shirt” hacker), Auernheimer was featured in a documentary the Weekly reviewed in 2014. He’d been arrested two years earlier for hacking crimes, but he reportedly does not believe his latest hate attack will result in charges.
“Nah, this is a pretty righteous case to fight,” he said. “I committed no crime.”
The FBI says it has taken the lead investigating the breach, however.
The flier—which is addressed to “white men,” disparages Jews and promotes white supremacy—showed up on the Long Beach State printers last Friday, March 25, prompting university President Jane Close Conoley to issue this statement:
This kind of publication is contemptible and has no place on our campus. Civil discourse among our many ethnic, racial, religious, and political groups is a top priority of our campus. We will not tolerate calls for domination of one group over another. Our campus and our democracy are enriched by the diversity of our community.
Conoley followed that up three days later with this tweet that included a link to a New York Times story on Auernheimer’s stunt:
Here is the full flier:
