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Interesting...
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"A so-called "terrorist" Maori hacker has forced an Internet forum
associated with international toymaker Lego offline.
Though Lego had buckled to pressure and agreed to stop using Maori words in
its range of Bionicle toys, the BZPower Bionicle website and its fans
continued using the original names.
The hacker, identified only as "Kotiate", e-mailed website administrators
last week, giving them 24 hours to remove the site's e-mail forum "and
discontinue the abusive use of the Maori culture, customs and history".
The hacker demanded that the site announce to Lego and the international
media its "remorse and desire to begin an active campaign against the abuse
of indigenous cultures".
"Failing that it's open season," the e-mail said.
When the administrators failed to comply, the site was swamped with
automated e-mails till its Internet provider closed it down.
The site promotes the Bionicle toys and Internet game, but includes a
disclaimer saying Lego did not "sponsor, authorise or endorse" the site.
The original Bionicle toys included spiritual people called Tohunga (Maori
for priest), face masks called Kanohi (face), a stone warrior called Pohatu
(stone) and a tunnelling character called Whenua (earth).
BZPower administrator Kelly, who would not give her surname, said the
hacker's attack had exploited a weakness in BZPower's server software.
"At its height, BZP was pummelled by tens of thousands of garbage server
requests per hour," she said.
BZPower's position was that the hacker's demand was "unreasonable and
insulting" and would not be met.
"BZPower has never abused or encouraged the abuse of the Maori culture, or
any culture or people, despite the opinions of some few radicals."
The site would continue to use words like Toa, Mata Nui, Pohatu, Whenua, and
Tohunga.
"We also staunchly defend the right of any person to speak their mind and
defend their point of view, which a Maori terrorist has taken away."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2108154a10,00.html
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