Internet Service provider (ISP) ‘Three' is believed to have used Internet filters to block British access to the site of German-based Internet hacking group called Chaos Computer Club (CCC). That's the claim being made by digital rights advocacy campaigners, Open Rights Group.
Filters can accidentally block many sites, with many web browsers being denied access to sites containing sexual health and drug abuse information and advice.
And while there is no evidence to suggest that blocking the CCC's site was done on purpose, CCC spokesman Dirk Engling says there is always a temptation to block content for political reasons.
"When these filters were introduced, their abuse was imminent… We are shocked to learn that they not only block access to our site, but also to our conference," he said. "We see this as proof that censorship infrastructure — no matter for which reasons it was set up, and no matter which country you are in — will always be abused for political reasons."
According to a statement from the group "It may very well be that the CCC is considered "extremist," judged by British standards of freedom of speech."
What are hackers? And what do they do?
The Chaos Computer Club's website says that the group is Europe's largest association of hackers, and provides "information about technical and societal issues, such as surveillance, privacy, freedom of information, ‘hacktivism', data security and many other interesting things around technology and hacking issues."
Tom Chen, professor in cyber security at City University London, points out that there is often a lot of confusion about what being a ‘hacker' means, and the definition has changed over time.
"Maybe in the past it referred to a more innocent stereotypical teenager, like in Hollywood movies. These days it is much more complicated to discuss because there are a wide range of ‘actors' in cyber space, from ‘script kiddies' [unsophisticated, basic computer attackers] to nation states [government and defence agencies], to industrial espionage to organised crime."
Despite the debate and confusion surrounding the term, it is generally accepted that a ‘hacker' is someone who tries to exploit weaknesses in a computer system or network, regardless of the damage caused or information stolen.
Should hackers be outlawed?
According to the Computer Misuse Act 1990, accessing and exploiting a weakness in a computer system or network is illegal in the UK and punishable by imprisonment and fines. Regardless of the laws, Andy Phippen, Professor for Social Responsibility in IT at Plymouth University says the high skill level of many hackers would make it almost impossible to enforce legislation aimed at blocking hacking group websites. Online filters can often be avoided by simply entering the direct ISP address of the particular website in question.
"The very nature of hackers means that they will try to exploit flaws in software systems for all manner of reasons — financial gain, to show there's a problem, to impress their mates — and unless software suddenly becomes flaw-free then they will always do it," he said.
Professor Phippen doesn't believe filtering pornographic or extremist material is an effective way of trying to stop people spreading access to that type of content, and he says he has concerns about the government's influence over ISPs.
"What might be next? Anti-government content? Any content someone in the cabinet doesn't agree with? We do seem to be sleep-walking into accepting something that, in actual fact, doesn't even work for what it's intended for."
Professor Tom Chen from City University believes a general principle of Internet freedom, similar to freedom of speech should apply to the online world, and agrees that there is a concern over this "grey area" of sites that are deemed to have offensive content.
"Personally I would favour leaving web filtering to parents to decide what is ‘objectionable' for their children, or for companies to decide how to restrict their employees' online access individually, and not let the government decide what should be filtered for everyone. The technology is not perfect but can be used by parents to decide.
Benefits of ‘hacking'?
Many hackers and others within the industry often highlight the benefits of hacking as a means of either trying to make political or social statements, or contributing to improvements in overall computer security.
Recent high-profile information-sharing incidents involving individuals and groups such as Edward Snowden, Anonymous and WikiLeaks has led many to champion the benefits of ‘hacktivism' in potentially uncovering previously unreleased governmental or organisational wrongdoing for political reasons. The Centre for Investigative Journalism has just held a three-day Logan symposium at London's Barbican to explore the synergies between investigative journalism and ‘hacktivism'.
Meanwhile other cases, such as the Celebrity hacking scandal, which saw many intimate pictures of Hollywood stars released to the public, and the Sony hacking scandal — whereby a group claimed to have obtained and released some of Sony's internal files — has highlighted the dangers of illegally obtaining online information.
Richard King, project manager from the Open Rights Group believes that intentionally breaking into computers to cause harm is, and should be punishable by law. But he says there should be some legal leniency for online security research.
"Computer security research sometimes needs to explore the boundaries of the law in order to be effective. This must be done responsibly and ethically to avoid causing damage to third parties. The law should regulate behaviour, rather than the technology used," he said. "Laws need to have appropriate exceptions for responsible research. People who are not causing harm to others should be allowed to get on with their lives and call themselves hackers if they wish," he added.
Professor Phippen cited the case of criminally-convicted hacker turned security analyst Kevin Mitnick, who tests products and online systems for the IT sector, for the greater good.
"We certainly have a rich history of poorly written and badly tested software, and the threats of attack are a reason that testing and security is a far bigger deal than it used to be.
"However, that isn't to say by any means that hacking is always a good thing. It's just that we can learn a lot from hackers, and surely demonstrating the flaws in irresponsible software developers codes can be a valuable public service?"
While the British government increasingly attempts to pressure ISPs to block access to content that is deemed dangerous to the public, the battle for cyber security and freedom of the Internet continues.
As recent high-profile information and content leaks have shown, the practice of hacking doesn't look like going away anytime soon, and with attempts to track and ban groups seemingly futile, governments will need to beat hackers at their own game if they are to protect their systems and keep classified information to themselves.
