The internet attacks in support of WikiLeaks now have a Dutch face. The authorities say they were masterminded by a 16-year-old boy from The Hague who was arrested on Thursday. But is it fair to blame a single youth for all the attacks? And how important is the Netherlands for internet activists in general?

For the physical infrastructure of the internet, the Netherlands is an important hub. The country also plays a major role in the Domain Name System. It is one of only eight countries that host dot-com sites. It also hosts seven other top level domains. Over 90 percent of Dutch households are connected to the internet, the highest rate in Europe.

The Dutch, moreover, are well-educated, speak foreign languages and use the internet intensively, while the government encourages freedom of expression on the internet.

Wilbert de Vries, editor-in-chief of Tweakers.net, says that freedom of speech on the internet is highly valued in the Netherlands.

 “Over the past few years, Holland has created an environment that makes it a little easier to move around freely on the internet and participate as an activist. In the US, the authorities step in much quicker.”

Even so, Dutch internet activists also face legal limits. Wim de Bruijn, a spokesman for the Dutch public prosecutor, says the teenager detained in The Hague is suspected of organising attacks on MasterCard’s website:

“He organised it and others joined in. The dos [denial of service] attacks on several websites were divised by him. Saying he is the brain makes him too big. But he is certainly responsible.”

Such attacks involve hundreds, sometimes thousands, of computers trying to access a single website at the same time. Unable to handle so much traffic, the server then gets jammed. The attacks are relatively simple to carry out. People download a programme, chose a target and then send a command to open a website over and over.

Punishable It remains to be seen whether the arrested boy has breached Dutch law. Since 2006, denial of service attacks carry a maximum prison sentence of one year and a fine of 16,750 euros. Such attacks are also punishable when they are launched by means of a virus spread through a botnet, using computers of innocent third parties. Dutch computer crime law, however, is silent on instigating internet attacks. Another key factor is intentionality. People who tried to visit the attacked websites out of curiosity only enhanced the paralyzing effect of the attacks. But they did so unwittingly and are therefore not liable.

Anonymous
The internet community Anonymous is behind the latest attacks. Internet analysts estimate that 20,000 to 30,000 Anonymous activists are scattered across the world. A few hundred of them are Dutch.

The community has no clear leadership and, though its primary base is in the United States, it knows no borders. 

To see who may have been involved, Charles Arthur of the British newspaper The Guardian has been tracking how often the programme used for the attacks has been downloaded in the past few days.

The list is topped by the US (9,000 downloads), followed by the UK (3,000) and eight other countries (1,000 each). The Netherlands is in the latter group.

First, however, someone has to instruct the programme what sites to attack. The Dutch authorities claim the 16-year-old boy was the one responsible for that. But new media specialist David Nieborg of the University of Amsterdam says that is old-school thinking.

‘If I were the Dutch judiciary, I’d be really careful to blame a single person. It makes the Dutch judiciary look stupid. It might turn out the boy is just one among many who did the same thing.’

If this is the case, the Dutch authorities could end up with an egg on their face. The internet community, on the other hand, should not be too quick to criticize the Dutch authorities. The country has, after all, done a great deal to create an open atmosphere for internet users.