New Plymouth Council pays to recover website adress

New Plymouth District Council has paid thousands of dollars to the Korean man who hijacked the city's website address and linked it to a hard-core American porn site.

Mayor Peter Tennent confirmed that a fee of $US3500 ($8419) had been negotiated. He rejected the suggestion that the payment was tantamount to using ratepayers' money to give in to blackmail.

The Korean registered the site www.newplymouth.com when it was relinquished by an Idaho town also called New Plymouth.