The website of Australia's Classification Board has been hacked by an unknown individual in opposition to plans to "control and sheepify the nation".
The site's regular introductory text was replaced with a satiricial message likening the Board's conduct to that of the Chinese government and threatening the Board's critics with death by "A LARGE MELON(S)", among other things, and remained on the website for several hours before the site was closed for "maintenance".The entire message can be seen below:
Australia's Classification Board, responsible for classifying all forms of media including video games and movies, has recently come under widespread public criticism for its attempts to introduce a mandatory ISP-level internet filter. The hackers were prompted to attack due to the leaking of a top-secret "internet blacklist" from parachute organisation ACMA (Australian Classification and Media Authority), which somewhat incongruously listed an online poker site, an art gallery and a Queensland dentist amongst various websites hosting legal and illegal content. The list confirmed the suspicions of anti-censorship advocates who had long claimed that the filter was an attempt by the Australian government to unreasonably dictate what information can and cannot be accessed by the public.
Investigations into the viability of the proposed filter by both the government and the country's leading ISPs have consistently proven it to be highly unreliable and a crippling detriment to Australia's somewhat primitive internet infrastructure. The latest tier of ISP-level filtering, in the works since 2007, has cost the taxpayer $89 million and is a replacement for the previously-announced $116 million home filtering software that was famously disabled by a young child in a matter of minutes during a press release.
Attacks like these are an effective means of bringing media attention to the argument, but serve as little more than validation to the radical conservatives and Luddites who are pushing for such censorship measures against the mainstream wishes of the Australian public. We gamers might be emotionally-stunted children with an insatiable lust for depravity and gore but I'm sure we're capable of just a little tact.
[source abc.net.au]
Comments 7
Those flaming galahs!
Australia = China. Have you ever noticed that if you dig a massive hole in the ground you always get to either Australia or China?
That's kinda cute, kinda funny and kinda sick.
That is amazing, and I praise the guys that did it.
It still won't help the "mature gaming" war going on at the moment though.
@Dazza
Great use of Australian Slang.
Well the screencap above is pretty humorus like death by a huge melons ?
Okay pretty straing form of death.
I woudent be suprise if the next attact if any would involve our earwax eaton prime minister with the fact that he's speaks mandrin.
Then again I like articles that's around at this time of year.
Anarchy is not the same as freedom, crackers.
.;Imagine if it becomes a game that gets somewhat rated by the ACB.
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