They’re frequently portrayed in the press as a sort of electronic hive mind for mischief-makers, but the Internet hacking group known as Anonymous actually operates behind a social agenda — one component of which is the online pursuit of child pornographers. It’s the type of mission you’d think most people would easily agree on, but in one of the oddest news stories of the year, Anonymous is accusing Evanescence leader Amy Lee of shielding offenders in a “sick cover-up.”

Anonymous have called out Lee and her label, Wind-Up Records, in a news post calling them “targets” of an initiative to “expel from the Internet and systematically destroy” them both. The group claims to have unearthed information proving Lee and her agents used “corporate legal threats to hide evidence of child pornography and their own culpability in attempts to procure the suicide of a teenager” and hid “evidence of child molestors lurking on their official chat board.”

Aside from encouraging members to target a number of Evanescence-related websites, Anonymous announced plans to picket the band’s fall tour “in full masked gear” while reminding readers that “this is a peaceful protest” and cautioning participants, “Obey all laws, do not destroy any property, and do not do anything that could give law enforcement a reason to arrest you.”

As NME reports, the list of alleged violations is fairly grisly, and while the band has yet to issue an official comment, its online forum has been shuttered by management. It remains to be seen how Evanescence will attempt to deal with the first round of pickets, scheduled to begin when the band kicks off its UK tour in November.

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