Remember that $90 million we mentioned Howard is wasting on porn filters we mentioned would be a total failure? That we said ‘the kids’ would get past it without much effort? Good friend to you and me, 16-year-old schoolboy Tom Wood, (who could actually be a porn star with that name), managed to hack the security measure within 30 minutes of it going live, last Tuesday (21/08/07).
Not only did our hormone raging hacker get round the filter, he managed to preserve the status bar, indicating a functional security system. Not only is it possible for him to look at porn, he is able to deceive his parents into thinking he only ever uses the Internet to check New Scientist – the sneaky devil! And the story gets even better…The Australian government, understandably embarassed by the situation, attempted a remedy. A new filter called Intergrad was uploaded to central servers for domestic distribution. A whopping 40 minutes later, Tom rescued puberty-infested individuals across Australia once again.
Senator Coonan did the best she could to salvage the sorry situation… “Unfortunately, no single measure can protect children from online harm and … traditional parenting skills have never been more important.”
Yes, Senator Coonan has basically admitted that the whole exercise was doomed from the start, and that the only REAL way to protect kids is by being a good parent. So what were the filters all about, Senator? Political chicanery in an election year, mayhaps?
The flawed Internet filter is available as a free download here.
As for Tom, he even offers plenty of mindful advice to government on what they SHOULD be doing to educate kids on keeping themselves safe from real online threats. Clearly the guy is a dude, and you should add him as a friend to your Facebook account, tell him he rocks and ladies, get him laid; if his cyber security cracking skills do not impress you, what ever will? [Herald Sun] .