Three weeks ago I wrote about an implied denial of service threat I received from a belligerent moron who failed to convince me that taggers are not morons. I followed the advice I received and reported the threat to CERT, who responded the next day and advised me to report the threat to the AFP.
I did so, and waited. And waited… Three weeks later I received a brief response. Either they are very busy or they don’t know or care about providing any kind of customer service. Either way, I am not impressed with the three week wait or their advice, which is that making a denial of service attack threat is not a crime.
How can that be true? I thought making a threat to perform any crime is a form of blackmail that makes performing the threat itself a crime. Apparently not. So, according to the AFP, feel free to threaten any website publisher with a denial of service attack if they don’t publish your puerile comments.
They also don’t seem to understand the difference between an ISP and a hosting provider, which suggests they are ignorant and incompetent.
The complete email from the AFP is below:
Good Morning Brian,
Thank you for your correspondence to the Australian Federal Police (AFP).
The AFP is the primary law enforcement agency that investigates breaches of Commonwealth Law, of a criminal nature, that directly affect the Commonwealth of Australia.
Your information has been reviewed by High Tech Crime Operations (HTCO) and we advise the following:
-It is not an offence to threaten a DDoS attack.
-There is insufficient evidence to suggest that the call you received relates to the DDoS threat.
-Recommend you contact CERT Australia, which you have already done.
-HTCO further recommend you contact your internet service provider (ISP) and request to have protection placed on your site to minimise/reduce issues arising from DOS/DDoS attacks.As there has been no Commonwealth Offence identified, the AFP intends to take no further action.
Kind Regards,
OPERATIONS MONITORING CENTRE
AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE
www.afp.gov.au
Given the three weeks that have passed, and nothing further has happened, reporting the threat to my hosting provider seems pointless. As was asking for the advice of the AFP…
16 June 2012 at 11:30 am
Hello Brian.
When you shake the tree of corruption its first response is to do nothing. When you machine gun it will drop its rotten fruit. When you attack it with an axe and cut it down there is another one growing next to it. When you burn the forest you have a chance.
As with most legitimate inquiries by Australian citizens to the bodies who have been set up in our contemporary democratic society under the rule of law to protect us citizens, your enquiry is being ignored. You and the sight Fitzroyalty.com are considered insignificant by the players of globalization and economic rationalism and the fronts they have set up to make us feel comfortable.
The fact that you have concentrated your intelligence to where our society most needs it, that is in the development of micro economic systems that will be strengthened by local communities is not part of these peoples model of how a healthy society can develop because it goes against the cult of greed.
Communication on a local level is the seed for the development of micro economic reform that will make our communities strong and will allow us to weather the current global financial storm, a very important component of which is to make the government appointed authorities accountable and responsible to our needs.
I commend you on your site and on your efforts, remember you are not mad you are just standing at the base of the tree of corruption.
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19 June 2012 at 9:52 pm
Yeah, burn that forest of corruption, preferably using the petrol of righteousness and the kindling of wtf. Lol it down. lol it waaaaaaaaay down.
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16 June 2012 at 1:52 pm
I haven’t ever considered the AFP as “players of globalization and economic rationalism”.
That said, I think that the AFP would have acted (to some extent) if the DOS attack had occurred.
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20 June 2012 at 4:33 pm
Surely the AFP have more legitimate things to worry about than stopping lots of people visiting your website at one time.
Graffiti and tagging are part of Fitzroy and have probably been there longer than you have. So leave.
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20 June 2012 at 6:03 pm
You fail to understand web hosting. An attack on a single site is really an attack on the server hosting it, which may also host many other sites. The hosting provider and the owners of the sites may suffer financial losses as a result of the downtime caused by the attack. This is a serious threat that has far broader implications than just threatening one site.
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20 June 2012 at 8:11 pm
In that case, I would assume that you would more than cheerfully accommodate any requests made by taggers interested in tagging your private property.
Expressions of interest sought from taggers
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