30 Jan 2014

Whale Oil site back online

10:11 pm on 30 January 2014

Blog website Whale Oil is back on the internet after being taken down by a cyber-attack on Tuesday.

The attack happened shortly after Cameron Slater's site published an article about a West Coast man who died in a car crash on 24 January carrying the headline "Feral dies in Greymouth, did the world a favour".

A post on the site says it knows who is behind the attack, but does not have enough evidence to prove it in court. It says the attack is part of a prolonged effort to silence Whale Oil.

Many calls to MP

West Coast MP Damien O'Connor says he has been flooded with calls from constituents over the headline.

Mr Slater says he has received death threats since the article was posted and has laid a complaint with police.

Mr O'Connor says he does not condone death threats, but Mr Slater has brought this upon himself and called him a schoolyard bully.

Canterbury University media law lecturer Ursula Cheer says bloggers need to be regulated the same as news media as recommended by a Law Commission New Media report in 2012.