THE INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT is already feeling the backlash from its censorship of the Internet, as hackers managed to vandalise the Indonesian information Ministry Website on Thursday.

The new legislative bill, passed on Tuesday, limits the Indonesian public's access to pornographic, violent or ethnically hostile sites and anyone caught sending out porn, 'false news' or racial or religious slurs on the Web could face six years of jail time or a 1 billion rupiah ($109,000) fine.

But the outraged Hackers decided to take a stand on the legislation and on Thursday, hacked into the information ministry's Web site. Once in, they posted a photoshopped picture of a government technology advisor, bare-chested and with a comment saying: "Prove that the law has not been made to cover government stupidity."

The Information Ministry quickly removed the offending picture and comments, but the screen-shots of the hacked page rapidly began to appear on several Web forums and news sites.

An official at the ministry, Gatot Broto, told Reuters that the government had passed the censorship laws to protect society from the negative influences of pornography and violence. But the country, which has an 85 per cent Muslim majority, has been bitterly divided over the subject for years. More stringent laws, forbidding "lewd public acts" such as kissing, are also awaiting ratification votes in the Indonesian parliament. The government better watch out for more hack attacks because, with all that pent-up frustration from lack of porn or public kissing, Indonesians are bound to find an outlet somewhere. µ

L’Inq
Reuters