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Rape is an ugly thing. Rape of the helpless, even uglier. You know what’s beautiful? Victory. It’s rare than an Anonymous operation can declare complete victory, but OpNullDenmark has earned the right. They have (with a non-trivial amount of help from a crusading politician and of course the court of popular opinion) won complete victory in their mission to declare animal rape illegal in Denmark.

Sex with animals had previously been legal in Denmark as long as there was no demonstrable harm to the animal, a standard that turned out to be much more subjective in court than it should have been. As of yesterday, sex between a human and an animal is banned completely in Denmark. Agriculture and Food minister Dan Jørgensen led the fight in the political arena, whipping up public outrage and forcing his sometimes squeamish colleagues to confront the stain the practice of zoophilia was putting on Denmark’s reputation internationally.

So, naturally Anonymous has set its sights on the rest of the world. Virginia, prepare thyself.

As OpNullDenmark morphs into the reborn OpBeast, we spoke with the people behind the operation to get their take on success, new goals, and past problems. Having interviewed @f0reverway, the founder of OpBeast, back in 2013 and noted the profound sense of discouragement and futility in the operation at the time, I was very interested to speak to the team behind the revived operation, and to discover why successes and public support were coming now, whereas they were noticeably absent two years ago. In retrospect, it may simply have been activist burnout, f0reverway having been heavily involved in animal rights actions for a long period of time. Then again, perhaps the world just wasn’t ready; or perhaps Denmark in this time and place simply turned out to be the perfect test case.

The Cryptosphere: How long has the op been going, focused on Denmark specifically?

OpBeast: The op has been going for about a year now. Was originally focused on Demark, not specifically about bestiality, but also for whaling at the Faroe Islands, and euthanizing “surplus” endangered animals in zoos. They also have a bad reputation for horrendous abattoirs. However, the bestiality laws needed updating [from “without demonstrable harm” to “not at all, nope”] and a lot of focus was directed towards that.

I know that there have been actions against various states in the US who don’t ban bestiality.

These actions occurred prior to our re-engaging the op [#OpBeast was begun in 2013 by @F0reverWay, who has been active in numerous animal-rights ops, but the initial effort stalled]. The current team had nothing to do with the previous efforts under the original #OpBeast.

What is the source of your opposition to acts of zoophilia? In Denmark they previously banned sex with animals if physical harm resulted; now they ban it altogether. What is the philosophical reason you oppose bestiality? Is it that animals cannot give informed consent? Is it that harm occurs even if there is no physical harm? Is it something else?

Regardless of physical harm, is emotional harm possible to gauge? In what study were these tests conducted, where sex with an animal occurred and physical harm was not detected?

We are against zoophilia in all forms that take place beyond the boundaries of one’s cranium.

Who’s the next target?

Several European countries are up next, more info coming soon.

In my opinion OpBeast didn’t take off before in significant part because of peoples’ belief that “oh, it’s a sickness, those people are to be pitied and given therapy and I suppose it’s an outlet for them.” In other words, as with OpDeathEaters, people believed it was essentially a sexual preference, or a mental illness for which the zoophile/pedophile could not be held responsible. OpDeathEaters has been successful at changing this public perception so that increasingly pedophiles are not cast as “child lovers” but as “child abusers.” Do you think that the resurrection and increasing success of OpBeast owes something to this shift of opinion in the public?

I can’t speak for the public. All I can say is that although we agree that it’s a mental illness (as is pedophilia), there is a distinct difference between being sexually attracted to entities other than the norm, and being unable to control one’s actions and choices. Those who suffer from this sickness but choose to get therapy and to fight any urges they have are not a target.

Those who choose to rape can expect us.

In short, our sexual preferences are separate from our ability to control ourselves. My love of women does not create an uncontrollable urge to rape them, whether they suffer physical harm or not!

Why do you think it didn’t take off before? Is this the right time for it?

As I was not a previous participant of the original #OpBEAST, I can not gauge or comment on the success of the previous op. From what I remember, there were some great doxes of deviant web hosts etc. Perhaps animal rights ops were less accepted in #Anonymous back then.

What actions did you take against Denmark? Were they designed to change the public’s opinion, to influence the media, to punish the guilty, or to pressure the government?

We started off with a general tweetstorm about the situation. For over a year, the supporters have been tweeting every Monday with aim to getting more support and to get people to sign a petition to pressure the government to update the laws. Others took it upon themselves to launch various attacks from time to time. Also, multiple sites have been removed by simply reporting content on the domains to the hosts.

What is the long term goal for OpBeast, and how do you expect to get there?

It’s early days. The team are still researching the wider global perspective on the subject to form a list of regions. It’s open season on any country that has similar loopholes. However we will be focusing on specific regions so that each period of action has a great impact.

How many people do you think participated in hacks, ddos, defaces, tweetstorms, and the rest of OpNullDenmark? What percentage of actions were things people risk jail for, like defaces?

There have been a lot. Too many for me to remember them. People feel very strongly about a loophole in the law that makes Denmark a potential destination for bestiality sex tourism. In fact, it’s been difficult to remind everyone involved of the importance of #opsec. This op particularly has had it’s fair share of enthusiastic but reckless little helpers. To these people I say thank you, but for obvious reasons we had to ignore and delete your direct messages!

And to those who just DO without need for attention or recognition, I say thank you & #respect.

What do you have to say to zoophiles?

Have you tried tits? http://global3.memecdn.com/tits_o_594977.jpg Consentually, of course.

Seriously tho, get some cognitive therapy, or just find a quicker way to take yourself out of the gene pool rather than trying to mate with a goat.

What do you have to say to the general public?

Thank you for continuing to support Team #OpFunKill and associated ops. Every single voice makes us stronger. Please help us to keep up the pressure on our targets, and never give up spreading awareness and changing perceptions. Things do change, but it’s a slow, gradual process.

Categories: Activism, Anonymous, Breaking, Cyber, Hackers, Hacktivism, Interviews, News, OpBeast, OpFunKill, OpNullDenmark, Ops