Andrew Alan Escher Auernheimer ( ; born ), best known by his

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

weev, is an American

computer hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...

and professional Internet troll. Affiliated with the alt-right, the

Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white s ...

has described him as being a neo-Nazi,

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...

, and antisemitic conspiracy theorist. He has used many aliases when he has contacted the media, but most sources state that his real first name is Andrew. As a member of the hacker group

Goatse Security Goatse Security (GoatSec) was a loose-knit, nine-person grey hat hacker group that specialized in uncovering security flaws. It was a division of the anti-blogging Internet trolling organization known as the Gay Nigger Association of America ( ...

, Auernheimer exposed a flaw in

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...

's security that compromised the e-mail addresses of

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating ...

users. When it revealed the flaw to the media, the group also exposed the personal data of over 100,000 people, which led to a criminal investigation and an indictment for

identity fraud Identity fraud is the use by one person of another person's personal information, without authorization, to commit a crime or to deceive or defraud that other person or a third person. Most identity fraud is committed in the context of financial ad ...

and conspiracy. Auernheimer was sentenced to serve 41 months in a federal prison, of which he served approximately 13 months before his conviction was

vacated A vacated judgment (also known as vacatur relief) makes a previous legal judgment legally void. A vacated judgment is usually the result of the judgment of an appellate court, which overturns, reverses, or sets aside the judgment of a lower court. ...

by a higher court. In 2016, Auernheimer was responsible for sending thousands of white-supremacist flyers to unsecured web-connected printers at multiple universities and other locations in the U.S. Since his release from prison, he has lived in a variety of locations in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

. In 2016, he told an interviewer that he was living in

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine. In 2017, it was reported that he was acting as

webmaster A webmaster is a person responsible for maintaining one or more websites. The title may refer to web architects, web developers, site authors, website administrators, website owners, website coordinators, or website publishers. The duties of ...

for the neo-Nazi website ''

The Daily Stormer ''The Daily Stormer'' is an American far-right, neo-Nazi, white supremacist, misogynist, Islamophobic, antisemitic, and Holocaust denial commentary and message board website that advocates for a second genocide of Jews. It is part of the al ...

''. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes him as "a neo-Nazi white supremacist" known for "extremely violent rhetoric advocating

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lat ...

of non-whites".

Early life and education

Auernheimer was born in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

in 1985. At age 14, in 1999, he enrolled at

James Madison University James Madison University (JMU, Madison, or James Madison) is a public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the institution was renamed Madison Coll ...

to study mathematics, and dropped out in 2000. Despite his neo-Nazi affiliations, Auernheimer's mother has stated that he "comes from a 'large, mixed-race family' with Native American heritage, and she has also stated that he most certainly has a Jewish lineage 'on both sides of his family.'"

Early hacking and trolling

Auernheimer claimed responsibility for the reclassification of many books on gay issues as pornography on

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

's services in April 2009. Amazon said that he was not responsible for the incident. Even before the Amazon incident, several media publications profiled him regarding his hacking and trolling activities, including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', 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 has used the Phantom name on full-sized 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&ndash ...

. After the ''Times'' story on Auernheimer was published, reporters sought him out for commentary on hacking-related stories. Gawker published a story on the

Sarah Palin email hack The Sarah Palin email hack occurred on September 16, 2008, during the 2008 United States presidential election campaign when vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal Yahoo! email account was subjected to unauthorized access. The hacke ...

ing incident and prominently featured Auernheimer's comments in the title of the story. In the New York Times magazine interview, Auernheimer claimed responsibility for harassing the author and game developer

Kathy Sierra Kathy Sierra (born 1957) is an American programming instructor and game developer. Education and career Sierra attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a major in exercise physiology and spent 10 years working in the fitness industry. She change ...

in response to her "touchy" reaction to receiving threatening comments on her blog. This included posting a false account of her career online, including charges that she was a former sex worker, along with her home address and Social Security number. The post instigated further harassment and abuse of Sierra, which led her to withdraw from online activity for several years. Author Bailey Poland calls the "highly gendered nature" of his attacks on women a form of "

cybersexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...

". In the same interview, Auernheimer "held forth on the

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

and about Jews" for "several minutes" during his first introduction with journalist Mattathias Schwartz. He is a member of the Gay Nigger Association of America, an anti-blogging trolling group who take their name from the 1992 Danish movie '' Gayniggers from Outer Space''. Members of Goatse Security involved with the

hack are also members of GNAA. He was also formerly GNAA's president.

AT&T data breach

Auernheimer was a member of the hacker group known as "Goatse Security" that exposed a flaw in

security in June 2010, which allowed the e-mail addresses of

users to be revealed. The flaw was part of a publicly-accessible URL, which allowed the group to collect the e-mails without having to break into AT&T's system. Contrary to what it first claimed, the group revealed the security flaw to

Gawker Media Gawker Media LLC (formerly Blogwire, Inc. and Gawker Media, Inc.) was an American online media company and blog network. It was founded by Nick Denton in October 2003 as Blogwire, and was based in New York City. Incorporated in the Cayman Isla ...

before AT&T had been notified, and also exposed the data of 114,000 iPad users, including those of celebrities, the government and the military. The group's actions rekindled public 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 Stisa Granick (born 1969) is an American attorney and educator. Senator Ron Wyden has called Granick an "NBA all-star of surveillance law." She is well known for her work with intellectual property law, free speech, privacy law, and othe ...

of the Electronic Frontier Foundation has also defended the methods used by Goatse Security.

Investigation

The

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

opened an investigation into the incident, which led to a criminal complaint in January 2011 under the

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 (CFAA) is a United States cybersecurity bill that was enacted in 1986 as an amendment to existing computer fraud law (), which had been included in the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984. The law pro ...

.United States District Court — District Court of New Jersey, Docket: MAG 11-4022 (CCC). Filed with the court January 13, 2011 Shortly after the investigation was opened, the FBI and local police raided Auernheimer's home in Arkansas. The FBI search was related to its investigation of the AT&T security breach, but Auernheimer was instead detained on state drug charges. Police alleged that, during their execution of the search warrant related to the AT&T breach, they found

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...

, ecstasy,

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

, and Schedule 2 and 3 pharmaceuticals. He was released on a $3,160

bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required. In some countrie ...

pending state trial. After his release on bail, he broke a

gag order A gag order (also known as a gagging order or suppression order) is an order, typically a legal order by a court or government, restricting information or comment from being made public or passed onto any unauthorized third party. The phrase may ...

to protest what he maintained were 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 PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper ...

, to defray legal costs. In January 2011, all drug-related charges were dropped immediately following Auernheimer's arrest by federal authorities. The

U.S. Justice Department The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United States ...

announced that he would 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 because of his unemployment and lack of a family member to host him. He was incarcerated in the

Federal Transfer Center, Oklahoma City The Federal Transfer Center (FTC Oklahoma City) is a United States federal prison for male and female inmates in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice, and ...

before being released on $50,000 bail in late February 2011. A federal grand jury in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.identity theft Identity theft occurs when someone uses another person's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. The term ''identity theft'' was c ...

in July 2011. In September 2011, he was freed on bail and raising money for his legal defense fund.

Trial

On November 20, 2012, Auernheimer was found guilty of one count of identity fraud and one count of conspiracy to access a computer without authorization. On November 29, 2012, Auernheimer wrote an article in ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...

'' entitled "Forget Disclosure – Hackers Should Keep Security Holes to Themselves," advocating the disclosure of any zero-day exploit only to individuals who will "use it in the interests of social justice." In a January 2013

TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American online newspaper focusing on high tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately $ ...

article, he likened his prosecution to that of

Aaron Swartz Aaron Hillel Swartz (November 8, 1986 – January 11, 2013) was an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, writer, political organizer, and Internet hacktivist. A prolific programmer, Swartz helped develop the web feed format RSS, the tech ...

, writing Auernheimer was found guilty of identity fraud and conspiracy to access a computer without authorization. Before his sentencing hearing, Auernheimer told reporters, "I'm going to jail for doing arithmetic". He was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $73,000 in restitution. Just prior to his sentencing, he posted an "Ask Me Anything" thread on

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...

; his comments, such as "I hope they give me the maximum, so people will rise up and storm the docks" and "My regret is being nice enough to give AT&T a chance to patch before dropping the dataset to Gawker. I won't nearly be as nice next time", were cited by the prosecution the next day in court as justification for the sentence. Later in March 2013, civil rights lawyer and George Washington University Law School faculty

Orin Kerr Orin Samuel Kerr (born June 2, 1971) is an American legal scholar and professor of law at the UC Berkeley School of Law."Faculty , UC Berkeley School of Law"Orin Kerr faculty profile/ref> He is known as a scholar in the subjects of computer crim ...

joined Auernheimer's legal team, free of charge.

Imprisonment

Auernheimer was serving his sentence at the

Federal Correctional Institution, Allenwood Low The Federal Correctional Institution, Allenwood Low (FCI Allenwood Low) is a low-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Gregg Township, Union County, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Allenwood Federal Correctional Complex (FCC ...

, a low-security federal prison in Pennsylvania, and was scheduled for release in January 2016. On July 1, 2013, his legal team filed a brief with the

Third Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts: * District of Delaware * District of New Jersey * E ...

, arguing that his convictions should be reversed because he had not violated the relevant provisions of the

. On April 11, 2014, the Third Circuit issued an opinion vacating Auernheimer's conviction, on the basis that the New Jersey

venue Venue is the location at which an event takes place. It may refer to: Locations * Venue (law), the place a case is heard * Financial trading venue, a place or system where financial transactions can occur * Music venue, place used for a concer ...

was improper, since neither Auernheimer, his co-conspirators, nor AT&T's servers were in New Jersey at the time of the data breach. While the judges did not address the substantive question on the legality of the site access, they were skeptical of the original conviction, observing that no circumvention of passwords had occurred and that only publicly accessible information was obtained. He was released from prison on April 11, 2014. In a letter to the Federal government the following month, he demanded compensation for his jailing to be awarded in bitcoin. He referred to three men, including Oklahoma bomber

Timothy McVeigh Timothy James McVeigh (April 23, 1968 – June 11, 2001) was an American domestic terrorist responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people, 19 of whom were children, injured more than 680 others, and destroyed one-third ...

, as being among "the greatest patriots of our generation" and wished to use the compensation to build memorials to them. The other men were Andrew Stack and

Marvin Heemeyer Marvin John Heemeyer (October 28, 1951 – June 4, 2004) was an American automobile muffler repair shop owner who, following a dispute with town officials, demolished numerous buildings with a modified bulldozer in Granby, Colorado, on June 4, ...

, two men who had also died in violent incidents. (Stack flew his plane into a building in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

; Heemeyer also took his own life, in his case after using a bulldozer to demolish many buildings in a Colorado town.) Auernheimer told a journalist from ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character t ...

'': "I honestly think we need to build statues of them just to piss off federal agents really."

After prison

Following his release, Auernheimer lived for a time in Lebanon, Serbia, and Ukraine. In 2016, he told an interviewer that he was living in

(SPLC) reported Auernheimer to have left Ukraine in 2017 for

Tiraspol Tiraspol or Tirișpolea ( ro, Tiraspol, Moldovan Cyrillic: Тираспол, ; russian: Тира́споль, ; uk, Тирасполь, Tyraspol') is the capital of Transnistria (''de facto''), a breakaway state of Moldova, where it is the th ...

, the capital of

Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...

Alt-right affiliations

In early October 2014, ''

'' published an article by Auernheimer in which he effectively identified himself as a

and neo-Nazi. He is known for his "extremely violent rhetoric advocating genocide of non-whites", according to the SPLC. "Hitler did nothing wrong", he tweeted in March 2016. Auernheimer's

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account was banned the following December. In incidents occurring in March and August 2016, Auernheimer sent flyers adorned with racist and anti-Semitic messages to thousands of unsecured printers across the United States; flyers bearing swastikas and promoting ''The Daily Stormer'' were sent to multiple universities. He claimed responsibility for 50,000 flyers sent to printers across the U.S. by using a tool to scour the Internet for unsecured printers, and described in a blog post, finding over a million vulnerable devices. In an interview with ''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughou ...

'', founder of ''The Daily Stormer''

Andrew Anglin Andrew Barret Anglin (born July 27, 1984) is an American neo-Nazi and conspiracy theorist, and editor of the website ''The Daily Stormer''. Through this website, Anglin uses elements of Nazism combined with Internet memes originating from 4cha ...

gave his approval of Auernheimer's actions concerning unsecured printers. In the second unsolicited flyer printing incident in August 2016, Auernheimer called for violence against individuals he considered non-white: "the hordes of our enemies from the blacks to the Jews to the federal agents are deserving of fates of violence so extreme that there is no limit to the acts by which can be done upon them in defense of the white race." He "unequivocally" supported the killing of children. The

speculated that motivation for the attack was the then imminent trial of

Dylann Roof Dylann Storm Roof (born April 3, 1994) is an American white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and mass murderer convicted of perpetrating the Charleston church shooting on June 17, 2015, in the U.S. state of South Carolina. During a Bible study at Ema ...

(later convicted for the Charleston church shooting). Auernheimer wrote of Roof: "I am thank thankful icfor his personal sacrifice of his life and future for white children." At the same time, he praised Anders Breivik who was responsible for the

2011 Norway attacks The 2011 Norway attacks, referred to in Norway as 22 July ( no, 22. juli) or as 22/7, were two domestic terrorist attacks by neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik against the government, the civilian population, and a Workers' Youth League (AUF) ...

in which 77 people died in two attacks. "He is a hero of his people, and I cannot wait for his liberation from captivity at the hands of swine," ''Newsweek'' in April 2016 quoted Auernheimer as saying of Breivik. He claimed to be in contact with a network of thousands of nationalists: "We all love and support him unconditionally. His lawsuit and Roman salute have only increased sympathy and appreciation for him." An email leak by '' BuzzFeed News'' in October 2017 revealed that Auernheimer was in contact with Milo Yiannopoulos, who had asked Auernheimer for advice on an article about the alt-right. Yiannopoulos asked his editor at ''

Breitbart ''Breitbart News Network'' (known commonly as ''Breitbart News'', ''Breitbart'', or ''Breitbart.com'') is an American far-rightMultiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * syndicated news, opinion, and commentary website founded in mid-2007 b ...

'' in April 2016 for permission for Auernheimer to appear on his podcast, an option which was rejected since editor

Alex Marlow Alexander Mason Marlow (born January 24, 1986) an American media executive who is currently the editor-in-chief of ''Breitbart News''. Marlow began his career as Andrew Breitbart's editorial assistant, a position which he held for four years. He ...

did not want Breitbart to associate with a "legit racist". In 2017, Auernheimer was reported to be working as the webmaster for ''The Daily Stormer''. An SPLC analyst described Auernheimer and Anglin as "primary innovators" in the use of online trolling by right-wing extremists.

Other data releases

In October 2015, Auernheimer published the names of U.S. government employees who were exposed by the Adult FriendFinder and

Ashley Madison Ashley Madison, or The Ashley Madison Agency, is a Canadian online dating service and social networking service marketed to people who are married or in relationships. The site has been widely condemned for being a "business built on the back of ...

data breaches. He told

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

: "I went straight for government employees because they seem the easiest to shame." Auernheimer has also been involved in the release of the undercover Planned Parenthood videos, which were under a temporary restraining order. ''The Washington Post'' quoted him as saying he did it "for the lulz."

References

External links

weev's LiveJournal blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weev 1985 births Living people Alt-right Alt-right writers American neo-Nazis Hacking in the 2000s Internet trolls People associated with computer security People from Fayetteville, Arkansas Hacking in the 2010s American people of Jewish descent American conspiracy theorists Hackers Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government American expatriates in Serbia American expatriates in Lebanon American expatriates in Ukraine American expatriates in Moldova American Internet celebrities Neo-Nazis of Jewish descent