The hacktivist collective Anonymous said it has disrupted access to the New Zealand Parliament website to protest against the country’s new three-strikes copyright law.
In a message sent to media and posted on YouTube, Anonymous said it was “disappointed with many of [the New Zealand Government’s] actions” and that it won’t sit around watching people getting their Internet freedoms and rights taken away.
The Parliament site was operational but access to it has been sporadic over the past two days.
Anonymous said it was protecting the citizens of New Zealand and sending a message to the Government in the form of a protest by attacking the website.
The hacktivists said they would continue to take down the Government website unless the copyright law was repealed.
The new law - due to come into effect in September - assumed internet users who received infringement notices for downloading copyright-protected media were guilty.
After users received three notices users could be taken to a Copyright Tribunal by rights owners.
Account holders would have to prove that they were not guilty of copyright infringement and, if they failed, faced fines of up to NZ$15,000 ($11,000).
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