E-mail, Twitter accounts of former Czech PM hacked to spread racist slogans
Someone has hacked the e-mail and Twitter accounts of Vladimír Špidla, the former Czech prime minister and current shadow environment minister for the Czech Social Democrats (ČSSD) and used them to spread racist messages. Špidla blames right-wing extremists for the hack and has yet to regain control of his accounts.
The former PM is considering legal action. "Those jerks took over my address and my Twitter account and I can't get in there," Špidla confirmed to the Czech News Agency.
Seven brief messages were Tweeted from his account at about 6 AM today. One involves racist attacks against the Roma and refers to the former concentration camp for Romani people at Lety by Písek, while the other six include links to texts or videos targeting ethnic and sexual minorities.
"These were racists, right-wing racists, because understandably I aggravate them," Špidla said, adding that he is convinced the hackers are able to send out e-mails in his name as well. He is expecting to have both accounts back under control within several hours.
The former PM reportedly became the target of a similar attack six months ago but never managed to determine who the perpetrators were. "We can see they are really good at this. Last time, when we tried to track them down, the last place we got to was Moscow," he said, adding that he will resolve his technical problems so that no more attacks will be possible in future.
Vladimír Špidla is not the only person who has been hacked by racists in recent weeks. Most recently the Facebook profile of the Změna ("Change") movement, which is running candidates in the upcoming elections to the lower house, was hacked by them.
Prior to that hack, racists accessed the e-mail accounts and Facebook profiles of individuals and groups who have long spoken out against neo-Nazism and racism. The e-mail and Facebook accounts of journalist Saša Uhlová, news server Deník referendum, Amnesty International Brno, the "Let's Block the Marches!" (Blokujeme!) platform and the "Nothing But Opinions" (Nic než názor) group were all broken into.
It seems the attack on Špidla is once again linked to the racists involved with the White Media internet server. The current wave of hacking was called the "Week against Anti-Racism" (Týden proti anti-rasismu) by the right-wing extremists on their website and the hacks were originally meant to last until 6 October but are evidently continuing.
The neo-Nazis posted links to the racist White Media internet server on most of Facebook profiles that were previously hacked. That militant website includes commentary stating, for example, that Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik is a hero.
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