Sea Shepherd website hacked

The normal Sea Shepherd index page and related content was replaced by a page titled 'Sea Shepherd Pirate Society Australia'. It featured pictures of a cow and pig being slaughtered and butchered from http://www.slaughterhousecam.com on a jollyroger background. The only writing on the site is "HOW ARE YOU GENTLEMEN ALL YOUR ASS ARE BELONG TO BASE" and "Copyright © 2008 Sea Shepherd Pirate Society Australia. All rights reserved."

The hack was visible for perhaps an hour or two before being replaced by an Apache 2 webserver Test Page.

In the last week two Sea Shepherd activists boarded a Japanese harpoon ship to deliver a message, and then were held hostage for 3 days before the Australian ship Oceanic Viking acted as intermediary to return them to the Steve Irwin. The incident provoked enormous international media coverage and focus on whaling, much of it positive for Sea Shepherd, and thus a target for hacking.

Shortly after the two crew members departed the Yushin Maru No 2 in an Australian Customs inflatable, Sea Shepherd launched another harassment raid on the Yushin Maru No 2, with activists throwing foul smelling bottles of butyric acid on the deck from an inflatable.

The transfer of the two crew members held hostage from the Oceanic Viking to the Steve Irwin allowed the whaling fleet to escape from the Steve Irwin.

Meanwhile, the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza is still shadowing the Nisshin Maru. They were later joined by the Yushin Maru No 2.