The prime minister's website has been hacked into in protest over proposed reforms of internet censorship.

 

The website, http://www.pm.gov.au, was brought down at about 1920 (AEST) on Wednesday night along with that of the Australian Communications and Media Authority, but both were back online about an hour later.

 

A message posted on the Inquisitor website by the hacker, known as Anonymous, stated that the action was in response to a federal government proposal to introduce mandatory internet filtering.

 

The posting complains that the proposal to introduce internet filtering would block legal content, and take censorship to levels like that seen in China.

 

"Not only will your rights be at stake, our Internet speeds will slow down by 70 per cent, be mandatory for all Aussies and will not protect us from evil AT ALL,'' the posting reads.

 

The posting, titled "Anonymous vs the Australian Government'', also gives a blow-by-blow account of the hacker's progress.

 

"In two minutes from when I type this, Anonymous is declaring war on the Australian Government over its decision to implement Draconian internet censorship,'' the posting said.

 

"Tick tick tick.

 

"Update: 7pm: and so it begins.

 

"7:05pm (AEST), Ministers page is slow to load, but still up.''

 

"7:11pm weve confirmed on site (via a source) that the sites due to be attacked have been taken down from the coordination page, possibly before the raid.''

 

"7:18pm pm.gov.au DOWN!

 

"7:21pm Kevin Rudd's page is down completely. Strike one to Anonymous.''

 

A spokesman for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said he had received reports of the hack but could not confirm whether the attack had been successful.

 

However, he said the people responsible were misguided, adding that the proposed filter would only be used to block illegal content.

 

"The campaign that they're mounting is erroneous and misinformed,'' he said.

 

"What the government is proposing is to filter refused classification content which includes imagery of child sexual abuse, rape and bestiality.

 

''The government has been conducting an internet filter trial which is expected to be completed soon.A report will then be presented to Senator Conroy from which an internet filter policy will be developed.

 

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/kevin-rudds-website-hacked-20090909-fhkt.html

 

Anonymous has decided its next "opponent" as such will be the Australian Government. I don't condone their actions but I expect this will get messy, as 4chan (a site they are related to) already is on the filter blacklist.

 

I'm going to give a run-down on what they're protesting: the Australian Government is proposing two tier filtering - one child-friendly, the other mandatory.

 

Stephen Conroy is going for preferably mandatory internet filtering of "illegal" and "inappropriate" websites.

 

"We are talking about mandatory blocking, where possible, of illegal material," he [stephen Conroy] told a Senate Estimates Committee.

 

Previously the net nanny proposal was going to allow Australians who wanted uncensored access to the web the option to contact their internet service provider and be excluded from the service.

 

http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,24569656-5014239,00.html

 

There has not yet been any word on what would "inappropriate" material would cover. On the leaked black list are porn, sites on controversial subjects such as anorexia and euthanasia, imageboards and the such. Opposing groups say it would limit freedom of speech.

 

You could also be fined for linking to material on the blacklist.

 

The move by the Australian Communications and Media Authority comes after it threatened the host of online broadband discussion forum Whirlpool last week with a $11,000-a-day fine over a link published in its forum to another page blacklisted by ACMA - an anti-abortion website.

 

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2009/03/17/1237054787635.html?page=fullpage

 

There are many other articles if you search for them.

 

The Leaked ACMA Blacklist (March 2009)

 

 

 

 

I thought this would make for a good discussion topic, as it is the internets, after all, and relevant to all. Thus, whether you are for or against, DISCUSS.

Well done /b/oys!

I wouldn't be surprised if there was moar from /b/ and Anon.

Brilliant. Usually /b/ is full of morons, but here they're doing something good for once. :thumbsup: