Uncle
Banned
Hackers bring down PM's website
So much hate against the Labor party.
The rest is TL;DRThe prime minister's website has been hacked in protest over a federal government proposal to introduce a mandatory filter to censor internet content.
The pm.gov.au website was brought down at about 1920 (AEST) on Wednesday night along with that of the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
There was also an apparent attempt to bring down the website of the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy.
A check confirmed the prime minister's website was down at 2000 AEST.
The cyber attack is apparently in response to the proposal to introduce mandatory internet filtering.
A message posted on the Inquisitor website by a person claiming to be the hacker 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 hacker calls for Senator Conroy to resign and also posted a link which is purported to be a list of websites on the banned content list.
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 we've 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."
The hacker then suggests in a subsequent message posting that the attack may have failed.
However, a check of the prime minister's website more than an hour after the attack began confirmed it was down.
A spokesman for Senator 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.
AAP
So much hate against the Labor party.