Online hacking organisation Anonymous have targeted Evanescence singer Amy Lee, Lee’s manager Andrew Lurie and president of EMI sub-label Wind Up Records’ Ed Vetri, the label of which the band is signed to, on allegations of attempting to prevent the reporting of child pornography that was published on Evanescence fan forum EvThreads.
According to AnonNews – Everything Anonymous, Lee and her manager Lurie employed ‘corporate legal threats’ to cover up evidence of child pornography on EvThreads while also attempting to hide ‘their own culpability’ in regards to attempting to ‘procure the suicide of a teenager’.
As explained by NME, Anonymous have recently undertaken a new initiative titled Operation PedoChat. Via Operation PedoChat the infamous hacktivist group looks to ‘diminish if not eradicate’ child pornography in all forms from the internet. Now it seems that Lee, Lurie and Vetri, who AnonNews denounces as standing idly by, have became public enemy number one in regards to Operation PedoChat’s mission.
According to Forbes, allegations of the child pornography coverup involving EvThreads came to the attention of Anonymous by way of Member of Parliament John Hemming who addressed the UK House of Commons and presented a petition on July 17, 2012. Hemming claimed that Lee and Lurie had obtained the legal services of the ‘infamous corporate law firm Schillings’ (as phrased by AnonNews) and pressured a user of EVThreads named Sam Smith to sign a contract that rendered him unable to report on the numerous offenses present on the fan forum.
Excerpts from the Hemming’s petition read as follows:
the Petitioner believes that Schillings compelled the Petitioner to sign a contract that requires him not to report a number of alleged offences in relation to their website EvThreads.com, including drugs offences that have been expressly admitted by the alleged perpetrators
the Petitioner became aware that some of Amy Lee’s former employees had published online on a site other than EvThreads.com paedophile material including a story about sexual offences against a physically disabled male minor and cartoons with pre-teens in lawful poses but with sexualised captions, including sexual activity with animals and one caption regarding a toddler consuming human faeces
The Music Network notes that Anonymous are now calling on the ‘99%’ to do their part in bringing the allegations to light. With AnonNews listing the following avenues of legal protest available to the public:
For the good of our followers, for the good of mankind, and for our own enjoyment we shall expel from the Internet and systematically destroy Amy Lee and Andrew Lurie unless they agree to cease and desist their selfish and corrupt actions. Members of the collective are invited to take action against EvThreads.com, EvFanClub.com, Evanescence.com and WindUpRecords.com.
Evanescence are touring the UK in November and Anons are asked to picket their concerts in full masked gear. A list of dates and venues is linked to this release – http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/Evanescence-tickets/artist/857529 . Further reminders will be posted as the time approached. We Anonymous will be hitting the concerts on 06/11/2012 in Manchester and 09/11/2012 in London.
Remember, this is a peaceful protest. Obey all laws, do not destroy any property, and do not do anything that could give law enforcement a reason to arrest you. Comply with their demands and be sure to give citizens a positive image of anonymous. If possible, answer people’s questions in a polite fashion. Distribute propaganda whenever possible.
EvThreads has been removed and currently redirects to Evanecsence’s official Facebook page. At this point there are only allegations against Lee, Lurie and Vetri with no formal charges being made. If you have an additional or conflicting information on the matter please post in a respectful fashion with associated links.
