Phelps versus Phelps versus Anonymous?

It was widely reported last week that Anonymous sent an open message to Fred Phelps and his family at Westboro Baptist Church last week. The hacker collective supposedly put the Phelp clan on notice.

Anonymous letter is here. A piece:

We will target your public Websites, and the propaganda & detestable doctrine that you promote will be eradicated; the damage incurred will be irreversible, and neither your institution nor your congregation will ever be able to fully recover. It is in your best interest to comply now, while the option to do so is still being offered, because we will not relent until you cease the conduction & promotion of all your bigoted operations & doctrines. The warning has been given. What happens from here shall be determined by you.

On the Anon news channel there is a post stating that the Phelps made up the Anonymous threat as a publicity stunt.

We know that YOU in fact posted the Open Letter supposedly from Anonymous.

We know that you thrive on attention.

We know that you are short of money.

We know that this is a trap.

We know how you work. You don’t give a flying fart about what your God thinks. But you know that putting God and Fag in a sentence together is guaranteed to make someone angry. You push it. You really push it. But you stay within the law. And then when some poor fool snaps, you sue them for infringing upon your rights.

Some of Anonymous thinks you’re the worlds greatest Trolls. This is bollocks. You’re in it for the money.

No doubt some of us will fall for it. But know this: most of us don’t give a damn. You are shamelessly riding on the /b/and wagon after Anonymous’ recent mass media coverage in order to get more publicity and more idiots to sue.

The Phelps sent out a response taunt – if the Anon message is correct, it’s a sock puppet taunt to their own letter. It is below the fold: (via: Christian Nightmares)

Update: The denial of service attack on the Phelps websites appear to be the work of a US patriot hacker called The Jester. An updated post is here.