More Canada protest donor data leaked
Transparency collective Distributed Denial of Secrets, known for leaking private data of conservatives, claims to have obtained even more information about those who donated to the protesting truckers in Canada than initially thought, and is now offering it to journalists for “research.”
On Tuesday, DDoSecrets announced on its website that some 5GB of data from the Christian fundraising site GiveSendGo had been hacked and leaked to them, including the personal information of those who had donated to the Ottawa truckers, who have been protesting against Canadian Covid-19 restrictions and mandates since last month.
The latest data leak allegedly includes donor info for the ‘Adopt a Trucker’ and ‘Freedom Convoy’ fundraising campaigns – specifically MySQL database data and information from the payment processing service Stripe, among others. DDoSecrets is offering the personal information – which could be used to identify those who donated to the campaigns – to journalists and researchers.
Tuesday’s dump was merely the latest in a string of leaks from GiveSendGo to DDoSecrets. On Sunday, the website boasted that it had obtained 30MB of data, including the names, email addresses, and zip codes of those who had donated to one of the trucker fundraising campaigns. Earlier this month, DDoSecrets also announced that it had obtained over 1,000 identification card files, including driver’s licenses, birth certificates, and passports, from GiveSendGo. Like Tuesday’s leak, the website offered the information to journalists and researchers.
GiveSendGo issued a statement on Tuesday, claiming that no credit card information was exposed in the hack and no money was stolen. “We are in a battle,” the statement read. “We didn’t expect it to be easy. This has not caused us to be afraid. Instead, it’s made it even more evident that we cannot back down.”
— GiveSendGo (@GiveSendGo) February 15, 2022
Despite claiming to “avoid political, corporate or personal leanings,” DDoSecrets has consistently leaked the personal information of conservative and right-wing individuals and organizations. Previous targets have included alternative social networks Gab and Parler, Brexit donor Arron Banks, right-wing militia The Oath Keepers, and former Italian deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini – with the website labeling many of its targets as “fascists.”
The Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), which receives government funding, is just one of the news organizations that has been given access to the GiveSendGo data by DDoSecrets. Critics publicly condemned the CBC this week for publicly identifying some of the people listed in the leaks.
One staffer for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario was reportedly fired after being identified as a minor donor to the protesters in Ottawa.
After GoFundMe shut down a successful fundraiser for the protesters, the alternative GiveSendGo campaign raised another $8 million for the cause. The donations were subsequently frozen by an Ontario court, with the Canadian government taking further measures to crack down on financial support for the protesters.
