Teen hackers vow to prove patriotism

By Xu Shenglan

Young people that run a website claimed in an online statement that they will hack into and shut down all other sites deemed unfriendly to China to show their patriotism before the 60th National Day celebrations.

The post-90 generation teens that run 2009.90admin. com, wrote on their website, "We are not Internet attackers, we are just a group of computer fans; we are not mentally handicapped kids, we are the real patriotic youth. We'll target anti-China websites across the nation and send it as a birthday gift to our country."

The site was the subject of hot debate on the Chinese version of twitter but could not be viewed Tuesday. Efforts to reach the site's operators were unsuccessful.

The 500-word statement appeared over a red and black background decorated with a flying national flag.

Zhang Yiwu, a professor at Peking University and a literary critic, said although many believe young people are not as patriotic as previous generations, there are exceptions.

"The post-90s generation is undoubtedly passionate and patriotic, but their lifestyle and attitude is varied. The campaign of attacking anti-China websites shows their unstable and immature nature," Zhang said.

"Although their behavior is not worthy of praise, the unfair reports about China coming from many foreign media will encourage the youngsters to fight back."

Although it's not clear who was behind the now-closed site or whether they could actually do what they said, other hackers have conducted similar activities in the past.

Media in Taiwan reported that the official website of the Kaohsiung Film Festival was attacked Monday after its decision to screen a documentary about the exiled Uygur leader, Rebiya Kadeer, who was accused of masterminding the July 5 Xinjiang riots.

The homepage of the website said "Common Chinese", and it accused Rebiya of a crime.

Chinese hackers also attacked the website of Australia's Melbourne Film Festival with the same reason in August, reports said.

Hackers replaced program information with the Chinese flag and anti-Kadeer slogans and sent spam in an attempt to crash the site, according to Australian media.

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