TechZone

Waikato politicians are among the victims of a hacking group claiming to have taken over websites linked to the National Party in protest against the GCSB Bill.

Anonymous New Zealand uploaded a video on YouTube [warning: explicit language] in which they claimed they acted because Prime Minister John Key refused to listen to the protests and uproar over the ''despicable piece of legislation''.

It followed protests in 11 towns and cities at the weekend where thousands of people turned out to show their opposition to the bill which would extend the powers of the GCSB and allow it to spy on New Zealanders.

''It has come to our attention that the thousands that have marched against this bill has still not been enough to send John Key and Peter Dunne a message. John Key make no mistake the majority of New Zealanders oppose this bill. Due to your own arrogance and your unwillingness to listen to the people we have decided to take direct action.''

Anonymous said Key "should have expected us. We announced our solidarity with the GCSB protesters around the country".

The National Party's official website was online at 7.30am Tuesday although a number of others, including the websites of Waikato National politicians David Bennett and Louise Upston, were not.

Fellow Waikato politicians Tim Macindoe and Lindsay Tisch's websites were left alone, but John Key, Bill English, Gerry Brownlee, Michael Woodhouse, Judith Collins and Simon Bridges' sites were inaccessible.

They sites appear to have been hacked about midnight, based on posts on Twitter referring to the takedown.

The websites would remain offline until National patched its web servers or withdrew the bill and apologised to those it had affected, including Kim Dotcom, Anonymous said.

A National Party spokesman said it was working to identify and resolve the issue.

The bill is before Parliament and likely to pass with United Future MP agreeing to support it, giving Key the numbers he needs to get it over the line.