Anonymous Australia has celebrated Guy Fawkes Day by hacking Australian websites. However, it appears the attack is harmless and is publicising their opposition to the Australian Government’s proposed changes to federal police surveillance laws.
For those who don’t know, Guy Fawkes is one of the guys from the famous Gunpowder Plot. His name is also the name of the mask that was made famous by V for Vendetta and Anonymous. Today is the day they celebrate the plot’s failure.
It posted this warning less than an hour ago:
[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/Op_Australia/status/265266166690369537″]
“We want the Australian Government to answer Senator Ludlam and the Australian people on the US made TrapWire system as Anonymous puts forth proof of the connections between these private spy companies and the personal information of Australian citizens being misused and abused while these companies continue to deny the connections even after we have provided proof,” the group said on the pages that have been defaced.
TrapWire was recently revealed in Wikileaks leaks about the global surveillance industry and is said to be a network of surveillance cameras installed in most major cities at selected targets to detect “suspicious” behaviour. The Greens have been requesting since August about if the Government had installed TrapWire, or knows if it being used in cities across Australia.
“We call on the Government to confirm whether the TrapWire system is deployed anywhere in Australia; if Australian agencies have used information provided by foreign agencies using TrapWire; and if the Government has held discussions about acquiring TrapWire for use here,” Senator Scott Ludlam, who is the Greens’ communication spokesman, said.
It also included a list of demands, based on what they believe as their privacy principles:
- All information about individual citizens should be their own private property, while all information about governments and corporations should be public property.
- We should not be required to disclose information about ourselves unless there is prior public consent that the public interest in disclosing this specific information outweighs our right to privacy; while governments and corporations be required to disclose all information particular to themselves, unless there is public agreement that the public interest in withholding this specific information outweighs our right to see it.
- Each fact which we are required to reveal about ourselves should only be provided to the specific public body that requires this information; while each fact that governments and corporations are required to reveal should be made available to us all.
- No public body should pass information about any person to any other public body without that person’s prior informed consent; while no authorisation is required to exchange information about governments and corporations.
- All information about individual citizens should be destroyed when it is no longer required; while all information about governments and corporations should be retained indefinitely in public records.
So far, according to their Twitter feed, around ten sites have been defaced. Though, since it’s Guy Fawkes Day, it’s going to be one long day.