Australia’s peak technology experts group SAGE-AU has condemned the Denial-of-Service (DOS) attacks on Government websites and servers that have taken place today.

While SAGE-AU believes that imminent Internet filtering legislation will fail to work, it has condemned DOS attacks as the wrong way to express disagreement with the proposed law.

SAGE-AU points out that the impact of DOS attacks is frequently felt less by government agencies than by System Administrators, many of them SAGE-AU members, who are responsible for managing websites and servers.

SAGE-AU members are professionals, bound by a code of ethics that commits them to maintaining the confidentiality and integrity of the computer systems they manage, for the benefit of all those involved with and affected by them.

As one member commented after a previous DOS attack on Australian government servers, the result was to “waste the time of long-suffering System Administrators who had to stay back at work after hours to clean up the mess.”

SAGE-AU believes the funds allocated for Internet filtering would be better spent on activities that are proven solutions to the problems identified by the Federal Government.

 1. Encouraging "family-friendly" ISP services: SAGE-AU proposes that the Government should support and promote the Family Friendly ISP (Internet Service Provider) program, under which ISPs have offered 'clean feed' services to customers who desire them for several years. These Family-Friendly ISPs build their brands around their filtering services.

2. Improved parent education: The Government should invest in ongoing education to assist parents to ensure their children are not exposed to objectionable material.

3. More rigorous enforcement: SAGE-AU supports increased budgets for ACMA and the Australian Federal Police to identify and remove illegal content from Australian hosts.

Media assistance

Donna Ashelford on 0401 714 350 or email mailto: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

About SAGE-AU www.sage-au.org.au

SAGE-AU is the not-for-profit professional organisation representing this country’s system administrators, the technology experts who keep computers and networks running