A screen capture of the ACB website at 8:19AEST.
The website of the Australian Classification Board was hacked this evening. The identity of the individual or group responsible is unknown. At 8:19PM AEST the front page reads:
Welcome to the Classification Website
This site contains information about the boards that have the right to CONTROL YOUR FREEDOMZ. The Classification Board has the right to not just classify content (the name is an ELABORATE TRICK), but also the right to DECIDE WHAT IS AND ISNT APPROPRIATE and BAN CONTENT FROM THE PUBLIC. We are part of an ELABORATE DECEPTION from CHINA to CONTROL AND SHEEPIFY the NATION, to PROTECT THE CHILDREN. All opposers must HATE CHILDREN, and therefore must be KILLED WITH A LARGE MELONS during the PROSECUTION PARTIES IN SEPTEMBER. Come join our ALIEN SPACE PARTY.
I condemn this attack.
Hacking a website does nothing to bring about social change. Those who believe it does are mistaken. These attacks can potentially damage the hard work done by those campaigning to reduce censorship.
29 comments
Lillary says:
Mar 26, 2009
Oh FFS! This sort of thing doesn’t help the anti-filter cause one bit. Just when we might be seen to be making some rational and logical progress, nuff-nuffs like this show up. Grrrrr.
neil_mc says:
Mar 26, 2009
That would be funny on a satirical website.
Defacing the classification board website itself is very counter productive though. I can’t see any way that it’s helpful.
John Comnenus says:
Mar 26, 2009
Agree 100% with article and neil_mc (comment #1). Totally idiotic, makes C****y look good (which is the last thing our democracy wants!), and didn’t even get the “right” website! The ACB aren’t the ACMA!
Some people need to grow up…
gm says:
Mar 26, 2009
Cue pro-filter types saying that the filter would have prevented this in… 3… 2… 1…
prismatic7 says:
Mar 26, 2009
I disagree. It demonstrates a number of things: firstly, that our so-called masters don’t understand the technologies they seek to deny us. Secondly, that there is a community of politically engaged geeks out there who are willing to extend their objection to civil disobedience. You’ll notice that no other content on the website is affected – only the post on the front page. Thirdly, the content itself is pretty funny, and doesn’t descend into crudity. Even the namecalling is pretty tame. As a prank, I think this is excellent – and it should shake things up a bit!
Dylan says:
Mar 26, 2009
Woulda been funny if whoever it was put something ‘refused classification’ up there, and then submitted it to ACMA to classify (thus blocking the ACB if/when the mandatory filtering goes live).
Glenn says:
Mar 26, 2009
Australia may be the only country with an adult rating for games, but hacking into a website isn’t going to implement the rating.
drew says:
Mar 26, 2009
Well i’m anti-fliter I do not con this act.
There are better ways to make your point..
Censor board hacked — Hoyden About Town says:
Mar 26, 2009
[...] More at Somebody Think of the Children. [...]
Christie says:
Mar 26, 2009
It was just a small group of whirlpool users, been planning it for a few days to coincide with the ABC telecast.
Eddie says:
Mar 26, 2009
Can’t help but laugh and facepalm at the same time.
DodgeyBastards » Blog Archive » Aust. govt classification website hacked and Conroy’s notes from ABC’s Q@A tv show now leaked. says:
Mar 26, 2009
[...] reported here: http://www.somebodythinkofthechildren.com/australian-classification-board-website-hacked/, the classification board website has been hacked and defaced. As of this writing, the website is [...]
justin says:
Mar 26, 2009
I endorse this attack.
great. love it.
alphamone says:
Mar 27, 2009
not to mention that one of the things that is wrong with the filter is that the ACB is not involved with pointing out wether or not something would be potentialy RC, so realy, the ACB has very little to do with the filter at all.
tezza says:
Mar 27, 2009
I agree with prismatic7
Jarrod says:
Mar 27, 2009
I laughed myself to sleep after reading that after the Q&A show last night. i completly endorse that political minded hack.
The people in charge of censorship in this country the ACB and ACMA having been ignoring our concerns for long enough in regards to the lack of R18+ rating for video games, the inconsistency of video game ratings and this whole internet censorship scheme and the perpetrators of this hack made a fair comment.
They could have just as easily trashed the website completly, rather they chose to make a political statement, that many of us here share.
On the other hand if they were just defacing the site for the sake of it i would condemn the attck as much as some of you guys here have.
Stephen Moore says:
Mar 27, 2009
I, too, agree with prismatic7.
gozer says:
Mar 27, 2009
Pretty pointless when you take into account that as mentioned previously the OFLC has no connection to ACMA which is running the anti pr0n filter.
It would have been more effective to hack it in a manner that brought to attention to the fact that Australia has no ‘R’ rating for games, quite a few games have been denied a rating because of this.
Kyle says:
Mar 27, 2009
I don’t think it’s very good. The classification board or the ACMA have not really done anything wrong. Would have been funny if it was Conroys web page though.
JAck says:
Mar 27, 2009
LMAO!!!
Michael Smith says:
Mar 27, 2009
Sorry I disagree with this one, can you please explain specifically how this hack damaged our cause against censorship? I think it serves to embarrass the government further. Now if the website had been hacked and child porn or something places up there, that would be a different story.
But this made me feel good, it was a thump in the face to our dictators, it shows that on the internet, they don’t have as much power as in real life. The power imbalance between government and individual is significantly reduced on the internet.
Aik says:
Mar 27, 2009
The only people that are going to be upset about this are the people against the filter who think this will make us look stupid and the people on the pro-filter side that it does make look stupid. Everyone else will be amused by the prank and enjoy seeing the government look stupid.
So – stop worrying
SkinnyMathew says:
Mar 28, 2009
I’m in the UK, and without this kind of activity I would never have known this was going on in Australia (though the value of my knowing is questionable, of course). On the basis that it has raised awareness without causing lasting damage, I congratulate those who carried it out so amusingly.
Bob Bain says:
Mar 28, 2009
This website is still down and noting that http://www.oflc.gov.au directs to the classification website a snapshot of the site with some working links is available at
http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:CCGiRTH0SL4J:www.oflc.gov.au/+oflc&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk
From there it’s still possible to access
1) The Act
2) The Code
3) The Regulations
4) Film and Computer Games Guidelines
5) Publications Guidlines
which are on the http://www.comlaw.gov.au website
It is not possible at the time of posting to access any material from the classification.gov.au website (which includes the ability to search the online database..
http://www.classification.gov.au/content.html?n=44&p=155
Bob
11am 28th. March 2009
Only an hour? Man, we’re stingy with our memorials these days « An Onymous Lefty says:
Mar 28, 2009
[...] They did it for teh lulz. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)LET’S do something for OUR planet!Earth [...]
They did it for teh lulz « An Onymous Lefty says:
Mar 28, 2009
[...] 28 March, 2009 · No Comments Counterproductive, perhaps – but childishly funny. [...]
Joey B says:
Mar 28, 2009
“We are part of an ELABORATE DECEPTION from CHINA to CONTROL AND SHEEPIFY the NATION, to PROTECT THE CHILDREN.”
Oh, so true.
The hacked paragraph is pretty funny and I have to say, it sure is how I’d say the government is like. But he/she didn’t have to hack the site.
charles says:
Mar 29, 2009
Look it’s the Russians, the same Russians that Conroy claimed where responsible for hacking the sites that ended up on Conroy’s “secret” list.
The hacking highlights the stupidity of what Conroy is attempting to do. If the hackers had linked to the list of sights already banned by Conroy would this site have ended up on Conroy’s “secret” list also.
Bob Bain says:
Mar 31, 2009
The URL on the screenshot for the Website reads
http://www.classification.gov.au/special.htm
which means it was probably a single.htm file inserted in the root directory of the website. Removing it should be child’s play. Creating such a file isn’t that hard either.
Bob