This week, Anonymous announced that they would be doing a full-fledged attack on Donald Trump for April Fool's Day. However, this attack is rumored to be nothing foolish after they released what is allegedly Donald Trump's phone number and social security number among other sensitive data on Thursday.
Like most of the Internet, I have screenshots of the hacked data, but will not be posting it here out of respect for privacy.
Recommended for you
Yes, that's right, guys.
Respect for Donald Trump's privacy.
Yes, he's a wildly famous, billionaire reality TV Star and businessman. Yes, he's poised to be the Republican presidential nominee in the 2016 general election. Yes, he says some things I don't like, some racist things, some sexist things, some things that are just flat-out mean. He has characteristics that I never want to see in a president.
But, just like you and me, he is a human being. And though Anonymous has done this before with other public figures who have made questionable statements, it doesn't make the release of his personal information an acceptable thing to do.
Anonymous is well known. Had they simply announced their plan to attack Trump on April 1 with data that would expose him as a liar or a criminal, they would have gotten the general public's attention. They likely would have been trusted when they released that data, especially with much of the Internet's general dislike for Trump. Anything that would have changed the course of election would have been accepted with glee.
But they didn't release anything game changing. Instead, to humiliate Trump, to stoop to his own level, they (allegedly) released his phone and social security numbers. For anyone, even someone with .0001 percent of the fame Trump has, this would be a dangerous situation. Multiple it by a thousand, and that's what you have here.
Remember when Trump read off Senator Lindsay Graham's phone number to his supporters on national television in July? His sole purpose in that moment was to humiliate the senator after he felt insulted by some remarks Graham had made. Many ridiculed Trump as childish, and it was one of the first of a slew of moments that made much of the general public wary of Trump's run for president.
That sure sounds like an awfully familiar situation.
