INTERNET—An informal collective of hit men and for-hire hackers on the darknet issued a stern warning to #GamerGate stalkers, saying in an official press release posted to pastebin:
“The Black Knights have been monitoring several serial creeps for months, even before they latched on to #GamerGate, and we’ve only found more worthy targets to kill through their collaboration and community-building. They think that the only people who back up women on the internet are White Knights who post nice things because they want to get laid, and perhaps they think that the things they do on the internet have no consequences, that they are the only vigilantes in the world capable of hacking computers or ruining lives. We have a message for them: Many of their lives are already over, and when I say that, I don’t mean we’re going to make some evil prank calls or embarrass you. I mean we’re going to come into your house and kill you in your sleep, and we’re professionals.”
On the encrypted darknet, black markets such as the Silk Road allow users to trade bitcoins for drugs, weapons, and even hit men. The Black Knights allege to have previously carried out free murders for women suffering from serial online abuse.
One Black Knight, Sir Lancelot, posted the following:
“We don’t fool around with guys who might send out a comment or two to join in on some mean fun or murder men just because women tell us to, but we find the guys who are seriously addicted to harming women using the internet, addicted like a serial killer. Typically we’ll go after the type who send disturbing things to the family, friends, and employers of women to ruin their reputation or get them fired — and not just once, but again and again . . . I monitored one man for a year, and he ruined the lives of three women before I was sure enough to go after him. He’d hack a woman’s email account, her webcam, take some nude pictures, and send them around to her office. Except I was there, watching him do this on his webcam, masturbating especially when he watched her collapse into tears. I don’t make mistakes and I’m not an amateur, or I’d not be in the position to do pro bono jobs. His family and friends still think he committed suicide because I always do the job clean.”
Many supporters of #GamerGate promise that, to them, the controversy is all about corrupt practices in game criticism and that any harassment campaigns are at most an embarrassing offshoot, but as Sir Lancelot said, “Sure, there are a lot of clever and manipulative personalities in the mix with abusers who have managed to veil their twisted fun times with a cover story. They don’t have to worry about Black Knights, we’re professionals and can tell the difference. But the guys actively spreading that propaganda, we’re watching them with more interest.”
