Anonymous hackers temporarily took down a handful of Japan’s government websites, most notably those of the Finance Ministry and Supreme Court, on Monday.
The attacks were in retaliation for a new, strict Japanese law that punishes people for downloading copyrighted content or backing up a DVD, Wired reported. Offenders can face up to 2 million yen (about $25,000) in fines or two years in jail. The law will go into effect in October.
Following its attack, Anonymous called the law the “wrong approach” to combating the growing problem of content piracy around the world.
“Japan, home to some of the greatest technological innovations throughout history has now decided to go down the path as well and cave into the pressures of the content industry to combat piracy and copyright infringement,” the hacktivists wrote in a statement.
While the denial of service attacks against the Japanese sites captured the attention of news organizations like the BBC, it looks like the only people Anonymous affected with their attacks were Japanese nationals. For example, Japan’s Ministry of Finance website is mostly full of tax, budget, and international policy information.
In other words, it’s going to take a lot more than just a temporary denial of service to have an impact against Japan’s technological infrastructure.
Photo via @op_japan