Anonymous strike Australian government websites over data retention policy

Members of anonymous have claimed responsibility for a spate of attacks on Australian government websites in protest to a proposed controversial data retention policy. Several websites operated by the Australian state of Queensland were defaced as a protest/warning to the Australian government not to proceed with the data retention bill.

The Australian data retention bill dictates that the government could store citizens social networking data for up to 2 years without their awareness or consent, all in the name of national security.

Anonymous claimed resposibility for the attacks in an email sent to news.com.au which has reported that the attack was timed in order to coincide with the appearance of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard in a Google+ Hangout.

Even though it is difficult to show that these attacks were actually performed by Anonymous, what is clear is that thousands of Australians are very angry at the prospect of such a bill getting through to become law. Back in 2010 a proposed Internet filter, under the guise of only being used to censor child pornography, was shot down in flames as protests and hacking incidents took hold.

The governments response to the widespread and growing concern over the data retention bill has been cautious. It has stated that the bill is currently still only a draft, and that the public will have until August the 6th to continue to voice their opinions on the bill should they not want it to be implemented.

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