February 27, 2011 | Online

Anonymous takes down WBC

First came word that Anonymous, a group of computer hackers, planned to take down the Westboro Baptist Church.

Then Anonymous claimed that it wasn't interested in the WBC, and that the call to attack the church's websites was a hoax.

Then yesterday, Anonymous took down WBC's sites, including GodHatesFags.com.  What?

An Anonymous representative said the group decided to attack because of the church's belligerent response to the hoax letter, and some inkling WBC may have even been behind the initial hoax. "We had enough. We responded maturely. We said no, we don't want war," the Anonymous member said.

A note posted by Anonymous on the newly defaced WBC site yesterday morning said that the church's "recent antics to gain media attention," had caused the group to lose patience with the church. "Despite having the capability to hack your sites previously, we chose not to," the note said. Until now, that is.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, a spokeswoman for the church, said that it took Anonymous several days to pull off the stunt. "What they did was break into one server. They tried mightily for four days. They got nothing," Phelps-Roper argued.

The church has since taken its sites offline and are trying to improve security.

Anonymous's final message: “God hates fags: assumption. Anonymous hates leeches: fact.”

Check out the radio debate between the two groups discussing the conflict after the jump.