Duitsland wil DoS-aanvallen inzetten tegen nazi-pages

In dit artikel op Wired kun je vinden welk wapen de Duitse regering wil inzetten tegen de diverse extreem rechtse sites op het internet. De minister van buitenlandse zaken, Otto Schily, wil de pagina’s plat leggen d.m.v. de omstreden DoS-attacks. Volgens de Duitse minister is dit geheel volgens de regels en zijn ook pagina’s die in het buitenland gehost worden doelwit. Eén van de leden van de Duitse hackersclub "Chaos Computer Club" heeft verbaasd en verontrust gereageerd. Volgens hem kan hiermee Duitsland wel eens in een heuse informatieoorlog terechtkomen, zeker wanneer ze doelen in Amerika gaan bestoken. De Duitse regering wordt met name onder druk gezet door voorzitter Paul Spiegel van de Joodse gemeenschap, hij eist harde acties tegen de betrokken sites.

The Germans are planning an attack. At least, that's the threat that Interior Minister Otto Schily has made, vowing the German government may resort to denial-of-service attacks as a way to shut down U.S. and other foreign websites that help German neo-Nazis.

"If I said something like this in public as a speaker of the Chaos Computer Club, I could count the minutes before I had an investigation against me," said Andy Mueller-Maguhn, a leader of Berlin's famed CCC hacker group -- and also Europe's representative on the ICANN board. "It might be that Mr. Schily does not know anything about infowar, but I know a lot of countries see attacks coming at their computers from other countries as an act of war. If even one country in the world were to start acting like this, it could lead to an open infowar that no one could win."

Schily believes right-wing websites, increasingly based in the United States, foment this violence. Last December, Germany's Supreme Court ruled that German law could be applied to material placed on the Internet and available in Germany, raising the possibility of German legal action against Americans sponsoring such sites.

Meanwhile, political pressure has built for the government to take strong action. As Paul Spiegel, head of Germany's Jewish community, said in response to the figures on escalating right-wing crime: "I hope now for a first effective step in fighting right-wing extremism." But in delving into such sensitive territory as a government sponsoring DOS attacks, Schily may stir up more controversy than he realizes.

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