Video chat captures Anonymous 'spokesperson' being raided
Anonymous' unofficial spokesperson Barrett Brown was raided in the middle of a live online chat session after making threats against an FBI agent.
The former journalist was in the middle of a chat on Wednesday at around 8 p.m. in Dallas, Texas (6 p.m. PT), when his premises were raided. He was later taken into the FBI's custody.
During the chat, which has now been uploaded to YouTube, other participants saw Brown leave, and soon after heard him yelling in the background as he was arrested and taken into custody by the Dallas County Sheriff's Department.
The Dallas County Sheriff's Department told ZDNet's sister site CNET that no offenses were listed in the case report, and an FBI spokesperson said that there were no details on the case. However, Brown's attorney Jay Leiderman said that Brown is being charged with threatening a federal agent.
Brown had released a video earlier that day, during which he openly admitted he has "a case of the giggles" as a result of reducing the intake of drugs that he was using to deal with his former dependence on heroin, and is experiencing "physical pain and mental pain" as part of the side effects.
In the video, he threatened FBI agent Robert Smith, stating that he will ruin the agent's life, but he made it clear that it was not a death threat. He did, however, go on to threaten Robert Smith's children.
"When I say his life is over, I'm not saying I'm going to kill him, but I am going to ruin his life and look into his f***ing kids because Aaron Barr did the same thing, and he didn't get ratted for it," he said with a smile, referring to the former HBGary CEO, which Anonymous hacked. "How do you like them apples?"
Brown previously spoke to ZDNet earlier this year at the time of LulzSec hacker-turned FBI informant Sabu's arrest, saying that Anonymous had been crippled.
"A lot of people made a lot of mistakes, including myself. Just various day-to-day or larger tactical [or] strategic errors," he said at the time.