Gov't Websites faces the ire of Islamic protesters

Muslim hackers have been persistent in their retaliatory assault over Danish websites in rage over the allegedly sacrilegious political cartoons that ran in Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper.

Hackers have been waging reckless attacks on the websites of two Danish ministries and several other institutes as a protest against a video broadcast that is viewed as demeaning Prophet Mohammad. Copenhagen Post newspaper's online site detailed the issue in its news piece on October 13, 2006.

In September 2006, TV2 channel, a Danish channel had aired excerpts from a video authored by members of the extreme-right DPP (Danish People's Party), ridiculing the holy Prophet. The footage incited protests and outrage all over the Muslim world. Hacker attacks on Gov. websites are seen as a culmination of such protests.

The attacked sites flashes messages targeting those westerners who the hackers feel play down upon religious sentiments of the Muslim world. A call for boycott of Danish products is a predominant message on the attacked sites. Hackers have vandalized Websites of a number of Danish establishments such as the University of Copenhagen, the Central Office of Registration as well as homepages of Danish citizens.

A disturbing peculiarity observed in these attacks is that not all of these are retaliatory attempts of 'angry kiddies'. Some of these attacks have been scripted by people who have resumed their attack since last year when the controversial cartoons had first appeared a year before.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister has been striving to avoid the issue from further worsening into a 'toon crisis' within the Muslim community. He has been attempting to mollify the protesters by asserting that the tasteless behaviour of the DPP is certainly not representative of how Islam is perceived by the Danish populace or youths.

Meanwhile new controversies have been brewing about boycotts of Danish companies by Muslim nations. There is news stating that Saudi Arabia has asked two Danish firms to withdraw their products. However, the Confederation of Danish Industries or any other companies have not confirmed any significant overall impact from the latest protests.

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» SPAMfighter News - 10/18/2006