EU Parliament site hit by hacktivists
Thursday 26 January 2012 – by Andrew Hickley ![]()
The opposition is to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, an international treaty aiming to harmonise intellectual copyright protection standards across a number of industries. A parliament spokesperson said that the website had been hit by a “denial of access attack”, though it could not say who was behind the move or when access would be restored. The shutdown follows on from a day-long ‘blackout’ of internet sites, orchestrated by the likes of Wikipedia last week, where all of the site’s content was blocked in a move to voice its objection to the US Stop Online Piracy Act. Sopa, which proposed new anti-privacy legislation, would have expanded the ability of US enforcers to punish ‘pirate’ websites. Opponents argued that Sopa would have infringed upon freedom of speech rights. Before the 18 January blackout 80 congressmen supported Sopa, while 31 were opposed, according to investigate journalist site ProPublica. Just a day later, it said 65 were in favour but 101 had voiced their opposition. The House Judiciary Committee postponed plans to draft the bill until there is “wider agreement on a solution”. Send us your thoughts (in strict confidence) or submit an article in response: Email: [email protected]
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