At 4:02 a.m. Thursday, a misspelled post appeared on a website called Rain Forest Daily: “Please don’t trash The Kingsley Estate near Gatwick Airport.”
The red-and-white brick house is the home of Rowling, known in her adopted hometown of London as L.C. The website, which does not appear to be affiliated with Amazon, reported that Rowling’s address appeared in an age-out list for a property on the uppermost floor of the 13-bedroom property. As the story spread online, other domains had their addresses targeted as well.
The gate to the individual’s home. While it can be easily assumed who did this, it is also plausible that someone wants to trace Rowling and her family to their individual addresses.
According to The Daily Telegraph, a spokesperson for the popular Harry Potter writer denied the allegation that she had allowed the site to be created. The spokesman also described Rowling’s home as being “very secure” and “extremely well guarded.”
Rowling was in Los Angeles for a few days this week to receive an award at the 31st Britannia Awards, where she was nominated for Best Novel for “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” which is set 19 years after the last book in the series. Before that, she began the job of writing the screenplay for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a film that is set largely in New York’s Five Points neighborhood.
Earlier this month, multiple site domains containing Rowling’s name were leaked. Most of the sites required a credit for access, though some, like Trekmovie.com, featured the author’s picture on the front page and offered refunds if the person who set it up was found. That site was linked to a site named piratelink.com, which helped users locate and download movies and television shows. It also allowed viewers to request copies. The website for that site was shut down, though other pirates maintain the business has moved beyond the United States.
Rowling was not involved in that hijacking.
That took place while Rowling’s social media accounts had fallen victim to cyber-attackers after she announced she would donate proceeds from the sale of her “Fantastic Beasts” merchandise to care for threatened peregrine falcons in Britain. Rowling had previously said she would auction the first 500 peregrine falcon eggs. The falcons hatched on a British government bird recovery unit and are used to release new peregrine falcons into the wild.
Rowling posted a video on her Twitter account saying that she was “flabbergasted” and “surprised” that the eggs had been taken and that the person or persons responsible would be “captured and punished,” but not before a legal battle had been sparked. Her tweet leading up to the egg auction was removed from the site.
Rowling wrote a number of “Harry Potter” novels, beginning with the first published book, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” in 1997. She also was the focus of a leading role in the movie series, and has now published eight books and two spinoff films in the Potter series.