Teen Hacks $84 Million Porn Filter in 30 Minutes

An anonymous reader writes "Tom Wood, a Year 10 Australian student has cracked the federal government's $84-million Internet porn filter in just 30 minutes. He can deactivate the filter in several clicks in such a way that the software's icon is not deleted which will make his parents believe the filter is still working. Tom says it is a matter of time before some computer-savvy kid puts the bypass on the Internet for others to use."

b-b-b-but

[Anonymous Coward]

They said it'd take at least 10 years because they used the same cryptography in Blu-Ray!!!

What an awesome photo on the news page

[Lt.Hawkins]

"We got Skynet by the balls now" sums it up quite nicely.

Motivated Youth

[Sponge Bath]

Keeping a teen from porn is like trying to keep Vervet monkeys out of the fields.
Unless you are willing to shoot them, it is a lost cause.

And the only reason it took 30 minutes...

[Southpaw018]

...was because all the other people were typing one-handed?

Tom Wood

[MyLongNickName]

Tom Wood sounds more like a porn star's screen name.

Re:Motivated Youth

[click2005]

I'd be prepared to shoot teens for the sake of morality.

those poor teens

[icepick72]

So now we find out the government has been secretly using teen workers as hackers. Not only is "teen workers" an irony but this could be constituted slave labor. They are faced with the proposed fear of work and so crack the filter as fast as they can. Oh wait ... it's a porn filter ... okay added incentive I admit.

Re:84 million dollars?

[sumdumass]

I agree.

I don't know why this kid is even allowed on the Internet. I mean, in my day if we did something against our parents wishes, we got our asses beat with a switch. This kid goes against their wishes to the point they have to install extremely expensive software and then watch him brag about rendering it useless. If there was ever a situation that warranted an ass beating this would be it. If I was his dad, not only would the Internet be pulled from his access, he would get his ass beat and grounded for a couple months. And if he wanted to defy our wishes again, he would get more of the same with some forced labor around the house.

Re:Motivated Youth

[FatSean]

I'm prepared to shoot moralizers for the sake of teens!

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:84 million dollars?

[ketamine-bp]

hmm, that smells like the great (fire)wall.

Re:Fucking morons.

[v01d]

Teens with "needs" are going to fulfill those needs for each other, not just individually.

Yeah, but every sperm that hits the keyboard is one that doesn't make a baby. So, isn't a porn filter likely to increase teen pregnancy? Assuming of course that the aforementioned sperm will go somewhere. Any other ideas where the sperm might go?

Re:Motivated Youth

[mulhollandj]

I strongly disagree. There are very effective ways to keep teens away from porn. They involve teaching a kid to respect themselves and others. It involves talking to your kids about these things. It involves teaching your kids correct principles when they are young and being a good parent. Is it possible to have your child never see porn? Probably not as there are many conspiring men who have their hearts set on addicting as many as they can but you can teach your kid never to go looking for it and what to do if he accidentally finds it.

Re:Here is the actual story, not blogger's article

[Xemu]

The summary: A 16 year old student wanted porn. He got it in 30 minutes. The government tried to fix the filter. The 16 year old student wanted more porn. He got more in 40 minutes. 16 year old says the porn filter is waste of money.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the government programmers are slashdot readers and are secretly supporting the teen's cause for free pr0n, so they aren't really making the filter hard to break. Just enough of a mental challenge for a horny 16 year old. (This may be why there are so few girl programmers. They don't have the right motivation.)

Re:I would like a porn filter...

[MyLongNickName]

A national database of naked children, duh!

Re:Motivated Youth

[thanatos_x]

"I'd be prepared to shoot teens for the sake of morality."

Yes! I mean, Who will think of the children?!

Wait a minu...

Re:What an awesome photo on the news page

[BlueParrot]

I think you just increased the chance of that page getting slash-dotted by a bit ; )

Re:Fucking morons.

[c]

> When are people going to accept that teenagers are sexual beings too.

Seeing as how these same lunatics haven't accepted that adults are sexual beings, I'm thinking "never".

c.

Dr. Cox quote....

[ZiakII]

I'm fairly sure that if they took all the porn off the Internet, there'd only be 1 website left, and it would be called Bring Back The Porn.

Filter Schmilter.

[Organic Brain Damage]

The problem of teen access to internet porn is self-limiting. The boy will eventually go blind and then what's he gonna do? Digitized braille porn?

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Perception

[jez9999]

Perhaps it took Tom Wood the 30 minutes to discover that the filter did in fact *consist* of the system tray icon, nothing more.

Re:Motivated Youth

[feepness]

Probably not as there are many conspiring men who have their hearts set on addicting as many as they can but you can teach your kid never to go looking for it and what to do if he accidentally finds it.

And if you can't teach your child not to go looking for it, at least teach them to be smart enough to never have to pay for it. I mean, sheesh, this is 2007 people.

Actually...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm surprised they've never tried to make a porn filter that blocks access based on whether you're typing one-handed.

I mean, they can detect cat-like typing, after all...

Solution to $hard_problem

[GuldKalle]

They should make a filter that required you to provide world peace, cure cancer or something. Put all that horny teen energy to some use

Re:b-b-b-but

[Anonymous Coward]

That's why they are so reluctant of allowing porn in Blu-ray. While all we get from breaking the lame DRM is hollywood crapiest, no one will be interested. Once there's porn to be seen, behind DRM...

Re:$84 million dollars???

[Vegeta99]

Dude, you think you could sling code with all them titties dancin' in your face all day? I mean, one or two pairs of bouncing boobies is OK, but once you start adding "pasties and leather" to the block list, it's just going to be impossible. For me, anyway. What were we talking about? brb, yo.

Re:Motivated Youth

[Iron Condor]

I'm prepared to shoot moralizers for the sake of teens!

I'm prepared to shoot teens for the sheer heck of it.

Re:Motivated Youth

[kennygraham]

So we should avoid something simply because it's pleasureful? Oh, wait, just saw your sig. That explains it. Carry on.

Surely you don't mean...

[mutube]

...but you can teach your kid never to go looking for it and what to do if he accidentally finds it.

Masturbate?

Re:84 million dollars?

[rk]

There needs to be a "+1 Painfully True" mod for posts such as these. :-/

Re:Motivated Youth

[UnrefinedLayman]

Reminds me of Family Guy, when Meg learned some boys she liked were eunuchs:

Boy 1: Hey, do you think that girl is hot?

Boy 2: No!

Boy 1: Me neither.

(high five)

Castrate your kids; save them from Internet porn.

Re:Surely you don't mean...

[Antique Geekmeister]

Go confess to their priest, who will explain that they should become choirboys and learn about the "eighthth sacrament" that only the most special choirboys get?

Re:Motivated Youth

[Bob Gelumph]

You really should have posted this AC.
Some guys are coming.

Re:Motivated Youth

[Anonymous Coward]

When I was a kid I didn't need porn and I didn't need to masturbate. All I needed was to visit my local priest and I could get a great BJ. So much for Christian morals.

Re:Motivated Youth

[KDR_11k]

Sounds like a particularly vile fetish.

Let's think of the children for once

[nEoN nOoDlE]

Seriously, people. Everyone here thinks that "thinking of the children" is a crappy excuse to take away our rights, but in this case it really is about the children! When I was 14 and wanted to masturbate, I had to actually close my eyes and imagine Sarah from Bio class in a short skirt with no panties on bending over as she drops her pen. Now it's just too easy for kids. They could get that image of Sarah (and MUCH more... oh so much more) just by spending a few minutes clicking on the computer. It's seriously ruining our children's imaginations. Without being able to close your eyes and envision naked girls with pinpoint accuracy, how will we expect our kids to grow up and solve problems in imaginative ways? So please, think of the children and make them work to get off.

Yer supposed to touch yourself, not just look!

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, you're supposed to touch yourself while you look at it!

Didn't your friends teach you how to do it?

Re:Motivated Youth

[Darth]

considering porn is a 6 billion dollar a year industry in the U.S. alone, it doesn't seem to be devaluing sex much.

Re:b-b-b-but

[notasheep]

Not sure if I should be in awe of your knowledge of so many of the porn DVDs, or somewhat disturbed... ;)

Re:Porn? Pleasure???

[pasamio]

So by that token an orgy also makes sex better?

Re:Motivated Youth

[Anonymous Coward]

>> masturbation [...] only hurt[s] the self

You're doing it wrong.

Re:Porn? Pleasure???

[king-manic]

Oh come on, this is slashdot, can't anyone come up with a car analogy? :P

Alright, Porn is like the 8 years old chevette you drove for years until you got a real job and could buy a decent car. Chevrolet Chevette is porn (cheap unfulfillable and causes chaffing), Ford Focus is a hand job from the easy girl in class (a bit rough, cramped and ugly), Honda Civic was the blow job from the first GF who was too scared to do it for real (good and fun but kind of common and everyone gets one), the Ford mustang will be your first time (quick, short lived, busted too early, and kind of ugly and messy), The BMW 3 series will be the first stable GF who puts out (not as good as advertised but adequate), a Lexus IS350 will be the hottest GF ever had (expensive but worth it), and a Dodge caravan is like a marriage (ugly, but feels like home. ), and finally a porche boxster is like the mistress you pick up at 50 (expensive, fun, and a sign you are past you prime but not mature enough to admit it).

better?

Re:b-b-b-but

[Jules Mercuri]

Wow I definitely should have posted that anonymously, now anyone Googling for my name gets LOL I LUV PORN HURR HURR. Thanks, Slashdot!