The Australian censor didn't have a g'day, mate - the Australian Broadcasting Authority, charged with upholding the country's controversial new online content laws, had its Web site hacked Friday by a cracker who put obscenities on the site and dared the authority to try censoring him or anyone.
The ABA was forced to take its site offline for six hours, says Wired, and they are investigating the hack. The new laws take effect Jan. 1.
The crack featured a rambling diatribe put at the bottom of the ABA homepage, with the hacker, calling himself only Ned R, taunting the authority.
"You can't %$#($ censor me. If a message wants to get out, it will," he ranted in the message. "People only now can get connectivity the USA has enjoyed for years. And now one of the greatest resources we gave for free speech and free learning will be stifled by a vocal minority with no understanding of the underlying technology."
Ned R ended by apologizing for typographical errors and bad spelling, because "I was high on methamphetamines and crack."
Australia's new online content law institutes a complaint-driven system of Web content regulation which gives the ABA the power to force content providers to take material from Australian servers down. After investigating, the ABA can ask the country's classification authority to rate the content, and if it's deemed excessively explicit sexually, or violent, or offensive, it can be ordered down if hosted in Australia.
Internet service providers will also be required to offer subscribers filtering software to block access to similar sites based outside Australia.
Free speech advocates say the new law is unworkable at best and part of a trend toward thought control at worst. The government says the law isn't perfect but needed as a step toward protecting children from the worst of the Internet.
Ned R's attack was the second major interruption to the ABA Web site in recent months by opponents of the new law. But Wired says the previous hit didn't force the ABA to take the site offline.
