Domain: efa.org.au
Stories and comments across the archive that link to efa.org.au.
Comments · 167
-
Re:Huh?Well, yeah, of course -- when you travel to Outer Slobberistan, US rules don't apply.
But enforcement in the US was the bulk of the nit that was being picked.
The EFF is an organization that is focused on American laws. Australia has its own EFA.
I suppose that, if they want to be overcautious, any EFF staffers traveling to Australia on EFF business should insure they are taking personal laptops rather than organization-owned ones, but it's really difficult to imagine any enforcement of this particular default verdict would actually occur inside Australia.
-
Re:Any effective opposition to this?
Re "Not that I think what you are saying is not possible, more that it will take the Australian government (and associated agencies) more coordination, competence and unity to reach such abilities. And I've never been witness to any such of the three stated capabilities."
Whats the hard part?
The tracking of people who speak out on political, anti war, environmental issues was seen during the anti Vietnam war efforts.
So the police interest in any protesters is expected as it was over decades..
The ip storage for 2 years is open to the police and courts. So the legal data logging side is in place ready for open court use.
The gov malware side and interest in Australian computers?
The Surveillance Devices Bill will widen the use of "data surveillance" warrants. So more legal support to install key logging devices.
https://www.efa.org.au/Issues/...
Australia now has the power to find an Australian ip, return the provider details months later and then seek more information from a users computer.
"Data retention will catch pirates" (30/10/2014)
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline...
"Illegal downloads, piracy - sorry, cyber crimes, cyber security." -
Re:Australia doesnt have Free Speech provisions
Farah (a footballer) has demanded new laws and the Prime Minister (a lawyer) and Attorney-General (also a lawyer) agreed. It took journalist John Birmingham to point out to them there are already laws against this: Section 474.17 of the Commonwealth criminal code creates an offense, punishable by imprisonment for three years, of using a carriage service, and yes the internet counts, in such a way that a reasonable person would consider it “menacing, harassing or offensive”.. People have gone to jail. What more do they want? http://m.smh.com.au/opinion/blogs/blunt-instrument/time-to-take-a-deep-breath-before-jumping-on-trolls-20120910-25o81.html
Free Speech is weak in Australia because there is no bill of rights and defamation laws are so tough you can't say anything bad about anyone which is a real problem if you are a journalist, let alone a twitterer.
https://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/defamation.html
http://www.thenewsmanual.net/Resources/medialaw_in_australia_02.html
http://www.law.uts.edu.au/comslaw/factsheets/defamation.html -
Re:That's not what it says at all...Wrong. All that has been said is one sentence in a discussion paper(pdf). Here it is:
Relevant Act: Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 Terms of Reference extract: 15. Modernising the Industry assistance framework a. tailored data retention periods for up to 2 years for parts of a data set, with specific timeframes taking into account agency priorities, and privacy and cost impacts
The details are sorely lacking. Here is Electronic Frontiers Australia's submission to the inquiry (pdf):
EFA is seriously concerned at the lack of detail provided by the Attorney-General’s Department in relation to this proposal, as well as the lack of any cost-benefit analysis or even a substantive justification for such a wide-ranging proposal that would affect all Australians. It is therefore very difficult to make meaningful comments on a proposal that lacks any substantive detail. EFA recommends that the Committee reject this proposal out of hand, and request that the Attorney-General’s Department provide a detailed proposal that includes an explanation of the justifications behind it and a cost-benefit analysis.
-
Re:Thanks, Australia!
Join Electronic Frontiers Australia, they'll keep you posted and are fighting the good fight.
-
Western Governments do this too
In the West jailing people for criticising the government would be unpopular, so they find more subtle but equally effective ways to do it. These silence not just bloggers, but journalists too: The easiest of these is libel laws. US Citizens are lucky that their Right to Free Speech is enshrined in the Constitution, but citizens in other supposedly liberal democracies have no such protection.
Libel Law: "In theory, the objective of defamation laws is to balance protection of individual reputation with freedom of expression. In practice, defamation laws are frequently used as a means of chilling speech. A threat of (costly) defamation proceedings and damages, whether or not a plaintiff's claim is likely to be upheld by a court, is often used to silence criticism not only by a particular person or group but also as a threat to others."
https://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/defamation.html
The UK defamation bill will do little to stop corporations suing individuals and should include a public interest defence
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/jun/27/libel-reform-get-right-defamation-bill
UK Libel reform campaigners demand better public interest defence
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jun/27/libel-reform-campaigners-public-interest-defence
It doesn't affect only bloggers: Even journalists are restricted by what they can say:
http://www.thenewsmanual.net/Resources/medialaw_in_australia_02.html
Explanation of UK Libel Law
http://www.urban75.org/info/libel.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_defamation_law
The Australian Journalist's Defamation Checklist: Can you run this story?
http://www.hss.bond.edu.au/defamkit/
And if they report something embarassing to the Government, then it is jail time:
http://www.thenewsmanual.net/Resources/medialaw_in_australia_06.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_Secrets_Act
http://www.caslon.com.au/secrecyguide4.htm
The government redacted 90% of the recent proposal to snoop on Internet Usage. You would think the public have a right to know, but it's National Security if they say it is:
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/no-minister-90-of-web-snoop-document-censored-to-stop--premature-unnecessary-debate-20100722-10mxo.html -
Re:"Reading our email"? I don't think so...
http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Privacy/tia.html
For those who want a nice summary on the current laws. I haven't read through the lot yet, so I can't comment on the AC's claims -
National ID again?
So the coalition wants to give an electronic "pigeon hole" to every citizen which will allow communication from "government agencies and other related organizations". This sounds to me like a reboot of the National Identity system that the same government tried to create in 2006.
-
No kill switch? Ha.
This is the same government that wants to be able to blacklist any URL secretly.
The EFA AU said it best: http://www.efa.org.au/2011/02/03/conroy-not-fooling-anyone/
-
Action legal, but not the tools
Sadly, when it comes to tools for doing the circumventing, these are broadly banned, even where some limited uses might be legal. This appears to set up a situation in which an ACTA signatory could allow people to bypass DRM to make backups or exercise fair use rights, but could not allow distribution of the tools to help them do it.
That right there is the reason why we have to fight it. If they say "it's legal to circumvent DRM, but not to distribute tools to do it," then we'll have no ability to do so. We can circumvent DRM today, but only because other people have collaboratively written software to do so. This is equivalent to passing a law which says "it is legal to toast bread, but illegal to sell a toaster."
(Sorry to the US citizens who already have the DMCA
... I'm in Australia and we have enough problems without this to deal with.) -
Re:Won't somebody please think of the children!?!?
Nick Xenophon is far from useless. He withdrew all support for the filter. He was originally willing to support it in the hopes it would block gambling websites.
http://www.efa.org.au/2009/02/26/xenophon-opposes-mandatory-isp-filtering-but-fight-not-over-yet/ -
Re:Really hope they kick up as much fuss as China
In the meantime if you're an Aussie, don't forget the Electronic Frontiers Australia is accepting donations for their Open Internet campaign.
Tax deductible!
-
Really hope they kick up as much fuss as China
This news isn't on the scale of Google redirecting mainland Chinese search results to Google.cn but has more in common than Senator Conroy here in Australia would like people to think. Wait, no, that isn't even right, he's openly compared the proposed Great Firewall of Australia to the filters in China.
When Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Federal Labor won the last election and Barack Obama and the Democrats won the elections in the US, Australian newspapers reported their first meetings as being one with kindred spirits, in much of the same way as George Bush and John Howard. This filter is perhaps the first large(ish) crack in this relationship, and I'm really hoping the Americans kick up as much of a fuss about Australia's laws as China's if the filter in Australia goes through.
The problem for the voting public here is in our version of the two party system, the opposition are considered the more conservative party, and its new Christian far-right leader Tony Abbott has been fairly silent on the whole issue. One can imagine he supports it in spirit but doesn't want to seem as though he's agreeing with Labor. Either way, we're royally stuffed.
In the meantime if you're an Aussie, don't forget the Electronic Frontiers Australia is accepting donations for their Open Internet campaign.
-
Re:Oh come on now... Don't encourage them.
Protests are largely useless here, 200,000 (unsure on the number, but a very significant number) people protested Australia getting involved in the Afghanistan/Iraq wars and we still went. I doubt 200,000 Australians even know the Rudd Government wants to filter their Internets.
The EFA is working on this issue. I'd urge all Australian's to sign the petition they will be tabling to the Senate.
Reporters Without Borders condemning mandatory internet censorship.
Google.au's views on their plan.
Many people and organisations are speaking out against this stupid idea, but the Rudd Government is actively ignoring them.
-
Re:Oh come on now... Don't encourage them.
Protests are largely useless here, 200,000 (unsure on the number, but a very significant number) people protested Australia getting involved in the Afghanistan/Iraq wars and we still went. I doubt 200,000 Australians even know the Rudd Government wants to filter their Internets.
The EFA is working on this issue. I'd urge all Australian's to sign the petition they will be tabling to the Senate.
Reporters Without Borders condemning mandatory internet censorship.
Google.au's views on their plan.
Many people and organisations are speaking out against this stupid idea, but the Rudd Government is actively ignoring them.
-
Re:Good news, but
Possibly because the law didn't say what the Attorney General said it did.
http://www.efa.org.au/2010/02/02/sa-electoral-amendments-and-anonymity-online/
From the article:
It also covers material on ‘radio or television or broadcast on the Internet’. ‘Broadcast’, at least as it is defined in Commonwealth legislation, covers audio or visual transmissions but not text and static images (see s 6, Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (Cth)). So this requirement would cover radio and television stations and probably podcasters as well.
It is important to note that this legislation does not require each commentator on a website to be named. It requires the publisher of the site (or a responsible person) to be named.
-
Re:Yarr
Even if you're not but care about censorship and IP related issues, sign up. Dont let people whose policies are dictated by industries who only have how much profit they can squeeze out as their only lobbyists on such issues.
There's already a group that is lobbying for us effectively on those issues - the EFA!
-
Re:yeah but look at the isp's
Read this for more info: http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/cens1.html
I have no idea what either of you are talking about.
-
Re:yeah but look at the isp's
Read this for more info: http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/cens1.html
-
Internet Rights & Principles Dynamic Coalition
Not sure if you'd heard of these guys:
http://internetrightsandprinciples.org/
They used to be the Internet Bill of Rights group but changed their name recently.
While many in this conversation have said we don't need to separate online/computer rights from general rights, this seems to only be the case in a "perfect world." Sadly, all too many countries pay lip service to the UN Declaration of Human Rights (if they bother at all) and even supposedly democratic & free countries butcher our rights in the online/communications world (Echelon, Australia's proposed Internet Filter, data retention acts in the UK & Korea, etc).
Between the efforts of the IRPDC and the Association for Progressive Communications (with their Internet Rights Charter as I mentioned previously in this discussion) there is work being done to raise awareness of our digital rights, not least of which is knowledge that we even have them let alone that they're being ripped from us.
-
Re:Never officially announced policy
No, Beazley announced a Labor policy of mandatory ISP-level filtering in March 2006. I remember writing to the party and saying "kiss goodbye to my vote forever".
-
Re:Huh? Ever heard of the EFF?
Erroneous Assumption. I give to the OZ Equivalent, http://www.efa.org.au/ And am heavily involved in Our Current fight against Proposed Internet Censorship Laws...
-
Re:Well
I suggest that you have a look at Electronic Frontiers Australia, Get Up!, or Whirlpool. They have been covering this for months.
-
Re:I am not an Aussie...
While you're at it, you (and the GPP) could throw a little money to EFA as well if you like.
-
Not out of the woods yet
I'm elated to hear that Senator Xenophon has withdrawn his support and I agree that this is a major blow to the (dis)honourable Senator Conroy and his cronies. However this is still far from over, as the EFA point out: http://www.efa.org.au/2009/02/26/xenophon-opposes-mandatory-isp-filtering-but-fight-not-over-yet/
However doomed, this is still government policy and it's entirely possible that Xenophon's vote could be won back if the government agrees to back other causes close to his heart. There's also the possiblity of Liberal senators crossing the floor, (the Liberals were the ones to introduce the "Black List" after all) or of Labor winning more Senate seats in the future to give them a more powerful standing in the senate.
Having said all that this is definitely the best news we've had for a while on the Aussie net censorship issue. In your face Conroy! -
Fight not over yet
While it is true that a mandatory filtering proposal is likely to require legislation to implement (especially without the support of the Internet Industry Association and a voluntary code of conduct), it is not clear that any future legislation is dead in the water just yet.
http://www.efa.org.au/2009/02/26/xenophon-opposes-mandatory-isp-filtering-but-fight-not-over-yet/
-
Re:Shadow Minister
As an Australian, its a laughable story, particularly given that the then (1999) Communication's Minister, and orchestrator of this mess, Senator Richard Alston, came from the same Liberal Party that is currently complaining about it from the opposition.
A high level history is available via the Electronic Frontiers Australia site.
If you look deeper, however, the joke is ironic because the Liberals only introduced the Bill to buy Independant, Senator Brian Harradine's, vote on the GST Tax Bill that they were so desperate to push. The sting in the tail being that Harradine voted against both the GST and Internet Censorship Bills because he felt that the Censorship Bill was too soft.
See the Report to members for Annual General Meeting 1999;
This was the year that the Federal Government sacrificed the future of Australian e-commerce and its reputation as an Internet early-adopter by attempting to censor the Internet from the bunkers in Canberra. The Broadcasting Services (Online Services) Act 1999 was a transparent inducement to Senator Brian Harradine to pass the Government's GST and Telstra legislation, the Government feigning a sudden interest in "adult" material online. It failed to achieve its political purpose - Harradine voted against both bills, and milder legislation later passed with the support of the Australian Democrats. However, the Government, and Senator Richard Alston in particular, were so captured by their own rhetoric that the censorship bill proceeded into law as an exercise in political muscle. Last-minute amendments urged on the Government by the Internet Industry Association have made an unworkable law even more uncertain, arbitrary and unfit for its stated purpose of protecting children from unsuitable material.
Australian's let us rejoice
.. -
Re:Shadow Minister
As an Australian, its a laughable story, particularly given that the then (1999) Communication's Minister, and orchestrator of this mess, Senator Richard Alston, came from the same Liberal Party that is currently complaining about it from the opposition.
A high level history is available via the Electronic Frontiers Australia site.
If you look deeper, however, the joke is ironic because the Liberals only introduced the Bill to buy Independant, Senator Brian Harradine's, vote on the GST Tax Bill that they were so desperate to push. The sting in the tail being that Harradine voted against both the GST and Internet Censorship Bills because he felt that the Censorship Bill was too soft.
See the Report to members for Annual General Meeting 1999;
This was the year that the Federal Government sacrificed the future of Australian e-commerce and its reputation as an Internet early-adopter by attempting to censor the Internet from the bunkers in Canberra. The Broadcasting Services (Online Services) Act 1999 was a transparent inducement to Senator Brian Harradine to pass the Government's GST and Telstra legislation, the Government feigning a sudden interest in "adult" material online. It failed to achieve its political purpose - Harradine voted against both bills, and milder legislation later passed with the support of the Australian Democrats. However, the Government, and Senator Richard Alston in particular, were so captured by their own rhetoric that the censorship bill proceeded into law as an exercise in political muscle. Last-minute amendments urged on the Government by the Internet Industry Association have made an unworkable law even more uncertain, arbitrary and unfit for its stated purpose of protecting children from unsuitable material.
Australian's let us rejoice
.. -
Move! Take Action Now!
Taking part in the protests is the first (and very important step). Here is the list of places where protests will be held:
Melbourne:
Saturday 13 December
State Library
12pm-5pm
Sydney:
Saturday 13 December
Town Hall
11am-4pm
Brisbane:
Saturday 13 December
Brisbane Square
11am-3pm
Adelaide:
Saturday 13 December
Parliament
12pm-4pm
Hobart:
Saturday 13 December
Parliament Lawns
11am-1:30pm
Canberra:
Saturday 13 December
Garema Place, Civic
12pm-2pm
Please also consider taking the following actions:
1) Call Senator Conroy's office on 03 9650 1188. Do not be rude, do not swear, just in a very reasoned and rational voice, express your disapproval, and in a few short sentences, say why you disagree. It matters a lot.
2) Write a letter to Senator Conroy, make sure it's between half a page to one page (no more than 400 words). Again, in a polite tone (that doesn't have to be formal, and doesn't have to have letterhead, etc., just your name and address) let him know why you disagree with him. His address is:
Senator Stephen Conroy
Level 4, 4 Treasury Place
Melbourne Vic 3002
3) Write a letter to your local MP. It doesn't matter what party he/she is from, Liberals will use your letter to back up their claims in Question Time, which gives publicity to the whole issue and will bring it to mainstream media's attention. Labor members will also express their criticism, privately, to him. This specially matters if your local MP is a Minister and serves in the Cabinet. To find out who your local MP is click here.
4) Write a letter to Prime Minister Rudd. Let him know that when the Australian people voted him in office last year, they didn't know "Education Revolution" means censorship. Rudd's address is:
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
5) Donate or become a member of Electronic Frontiers Australia . Right now the EFA is the sole organisation fighting this. They need all the help they can get.
6) Write a letter to your ISP. It doesn't matter if it's the Evil Telstra; on this, we're all together. They are fighting the battle for us right now, but it would help them to know that what they are doing is a good business practice, that you expect them to fight this to the end.
Don't just sit around and do nothing and then complain about how evil governments are. We, the citizens are the ones who allow governments to become evil, by our political apathy. Move! Take Action! Now! -
Re:Kinda makes you wonder...
I don't know what happens in the UK and the rest of Europe, but I know here in australia they have already passed an amendment to the freedom of information act to *exclude* the internet blacklist from any FOI requests.
http://www.efa.org.au/2008/11/15/filtering-pilot-and-acma-blacklist-not-just-illegal-material/Yep, thats right. The AU govt is planning on increasing the blacklist of banned websites by an order of magnitude (that they will admit to, but now it will be difficult to tell), and they have taken steps to make sure there can be no oversight
We all know how well this works, don't we.
That scares me more than the actual censorship.
-
Plug for EFA
If you are concerned about this legal action and the federal government's plans for compulsory filtering, you might like to consider supporting Electronic Frontiers Australia, either by joining or donating.
-
Re:Will EFF intervene ?
The EFA is not affiliated with the EFF but it does much the same thing and the two often collaborate.
-
Re:Will EFF intervene ?
We have an EFA instead. The
.au brand of the US based group.
Their site is exactly where you'd expect it. -
Re:It needs a clue first
actual the greens and some independents including Fielding have the balance of power in the senate.
The greens are against the bill and all of the sentors not in the oposition would have to suport this -
Take Action Now!
If you are an Australian, please take action:
1) Call Senator Conroy's office on 03 9650 1188. Do not be rude, do not swear, just in a very reasoned and rational voice, express your disapproval, and in a few short sentences, say why you disagree. It matters a lot.
2) Write a letter to Senator Conroy, make sure it's between half a page to one page (no more than 400 words). Again, in a polite tone (that doesn't have to be formal, and doesn't have to have letterhead, etc., just your name and address) let him know why you disagree with him. His address is:
Senator Stephen Conroy
Level 4, 4 Treasury Place
Melbourne Vic 3002
3) Write a letter to your local MP. It doesn't matter what party he/she is from, Liberals will use your letter to back up their claims in Question Time, which gives publicity to the whole issue and will bring it to mainstream media's attention. Labor members will also express their criticism, privately, to him. This specially matters if your local MP is a Minister and serves in the Cabinet. To find out who your local MP is click here [aph.gov.au]
4) Write a letter to Prime Minister Rudd. Let him know that when the Australian people voted him in office last year, they didn't know "Education Revolution" means censorship. Rudd's address is:
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
5) Donate or become a member of Electronic Frontiers Australia . Right now the EFA is the sole organisation fighting this. They need all the help they can get.
6) Write a letter to your ISP. It doesn't matter if it's the Evil Telstra; on this, we're all together. They are fighting the battle for us right now, but it would help them to know that what they are doing is a good business practice, that you expect them to fight this to the end.
Don't just sit around and do nothing and then complain about how evil governments are. We, the citizens are the ones who allow governments to become evil, by our political apathy. Move! Take Action! Now! -
Wake up! Take action!
The only reason a government can get away with this is if we, the citizens, don't act, and let our liberties gradually slip away.
If you are an Australian, please take action:
1) Call Senator Conroy's office on 03 9650 1188. Do not be rude, do not swear, just in a very reasoned and rational voice, express your disapproval, and in a few short sentences, say why you disagree. It matters a lot.
2) Write a letter to Senator Conroy, make sure it's between half a page to one page (no more than 400 words). Again, in a polite tone (that doesn't have to be formal, and doesn't have to have letterhead, etc., just your name and address) let him know why you disagree with him. His address is:
Senator Stephen Conroy
Level 4, 4 Treasury Place
Melbourne Vic 3002
3) Write a letter to your local MP. It doesn't matter what party he/she is from, Liberals will use your letter to back up their claims in Question Time, which gives publicity to the whole issue and will bring it to mainstream media's attention. Labor members will also express their criticism, privately, to him. This specially matters if your local MP is a Minister and serves in the Cabinet. To find out who your local MP is click here
4) Write a letter to Prime Minister Rudd. Let him know that when the Australian people voted him in office last year, they didn't know "Education Revolution" means censorship. Rudd's address is:
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
5) Donate or become a member of Electronic Frontiers Australia . Right now the EFA is the sole organisation fighting this. They need all the help they can get.
6) Write a letter to your ISP. It doesn't matter if it's the Evil Telstra; on this, we're all together. They are fighting the battle for us right now, but it would help them to know that what they are doing is a good business practice, that you expect them to fight this to the end.
Don't just sit around and do nothing and then complain about how evil governments are. We, the citizens are the ones who allow governments to become evil, by our political apathy. Move! Take Action! Now! -
Re:What is going on?
The EFA (Australia EFF) are. see: http://nocleanfeed.com/learn.html
http://www.efa.org.au/censorship/mandatory-isp-blocking/ -
Re:Come on already
I have written to Senator Conroy, 1 email and 1 letter to each of his 3 offices. I got a very long winded fob off from Belinda Dennett, who did not address any of my concerns, rather do what Conroy has done all along... Completely ignore what you have said and continue on with whatever agenda he is trying to push. I have met him in person and discussed in a public forum things about the proposed broadband upgrade, of which filtering was not mentioned.
Letter writing info (plagiarised links from one of my mailing lists)
http://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/lobby.html and http://www.actnow.com.au/Tool/How_to_write_a_letter_to_a_politician.aspx -
Re:How can we stop this?
Yes, there is. Here
-
$125.8 million (63 million Euro) for what?
Ignoring everything else for a second. That kind of money would allow you to hire more than 3000 people working full-time at a yearly salary of 20.000 Euro (that's more than I make), or 52 people full-time for most of their working life (60 years) at the same salary.
I couldn't quickly locate any budgets and only found a press release by Hon Stephen Conroy stating that:
The Government's cyber-safety funding will provide $49 million [24 million Euro] to law enforcement, ensuring that the Australian Federal Police (AFP) Child Protection Operations Team can expand its capacity to detect and investigate online child abuse, with 91 additional AFP members dedicated to online child protection by 2011.
And another factoid (not related to this specific plan perse) from the Electronic Frontiers Australia that:
Filter vendor's claims about the suitability of their product need to be treated with extreme caution given filter vendors stand to make a very large amount of money if their product were to be selected for a government mandated system. Of the estimated $33 million per annum cost (as at 2004) stated in the Government report, $14.3 million per annum was the cost of filtering software licences that would be paid to filter vendor/s.
-
Games rating system foreshadowed this.
We've previously discussed the issue with Fallout 3. It was a real eye opener to learn they didn't have a +18 game rating. But after learning that I can't say I'm surprised something like this came up. This all seems like a throwback to the mid 90's to me. As an American I clearly remember the big sigh of relief I received when the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Decency_Act was shut down. I also dug up an old article pointing to the ruling and it mention's as far back as June of '96 that Australian's were still under this type of threat. http://www.efa.org.au/Publish/PR960613.html
-
Re:WTF?!
It's a real plan alright. It was an election promise/threat made shortly before the federal election last year, but it got surprisingly little attention. At the time I figured it was just an empty attempt to look tougher than the Liberal party (with their taxpayer funded filters for everyone's PC) program, and I hoped it would go the way of most election promises. Here's an EFF article about this from the beginning of the year, including links to Stephen Conroy's media releases: http://www.efa.org.au/2008/01/02/media-release-efa-attacks-clean-feed-proposal/ .
My understanding is that this has progressed as far as some technology demonstrations. I'm still hoping that technical infeasibility and resistance from ISPs will win out, but it's a worry that it has gone this far.
-
Re:WTF?!
You been living under a rock since the last election? It was a Rudd policy for ages. Now they're in power they're going to implement their scheme.
Have a look at http://www.efa.org.au/ for some more background.
-
Re:Australia Card?
There is no scheme, legislation or proposal in Australia or any of its states for a national ID card.
There is no scheme now, but only since the 2007 election. The Howard government proposed a de-facto national ID card. It is now scrapped.
This was definitely at least a proposal, see eg The Office of the (Australian Government) Privacy Commissioner. It got far enough that there was an "Office of the Access Card" set up (since closed down, url of www.accesscard.gov.au no longer active). -
Re:Australia Card?
They may have been referring to the Access Card which was blown out of the water when Labour won the last election. Had they not, your replacement medicare card would had a chip in it with your details including a colour photo.
So, on to the debate as to whether the UHI (universal health identifier) is another crack at it...
-
Mod parent down - Access Card
Mod parent up. The summary is (as usual) inflammatory and misinformed. There is no scheme, legislation or proposal in Australia or any of its states for a national ID card.
Next time, do your research before replying.
Ah, and, captcha: repress
How.. appropriate. -
Re:What??? You talking about???
I didn't understand who has a population density 5 to 10 times larger than Brazil
You do. So does the UK, and Germany. Specifically, 10 times that of Brazil.
Italy: 197 people per square km, Gini = 36
UK: 246 people per square km, Gini = 34
Germany: 230 people per square km, Gini = 28.3
United States: 31 people per square km, Gini = 47.0
Brazil: 22 people per square km, Gini = 56.6
I understand that poverty can often sadly lead to crime.
And just to give you an idea of how poor the poorest people in Brazil are, I've provided Gini numbers for each country. These numbers are a measure between the poorest and richest residents of a country, where higher numbers indicate a larger divide. You will notice that in Europe, where the poor are not all that poor and the population density is high, crime is not a problem. In the US, things get worse, but are not completely out-of-hand. In Brazil, the situation is a nightmare compared to Europe.
About Germany I think people should always remember which horrible things the nazism did but should stop blaming german people that actually live in Germany and have nothing to do with it, because let's face it now it's history and most of the people of that historic period are dead or very old now.
The rest of the world stopped blaming the Germans years ago, including myself. The only people blaming the Germans are the Germans themselves. I mean, really, what other free democracy in the world makes it illegal to form a group or have a webpage promoting hate speech or more specifically, neo-Nazis? They're completely stuck in the past. -
Re:Get a warrant for one computer, get a warrant f
A similar law has already been passed in Queensland. If police suspect a person of looking at child-porn they are not required to get a warrant to search a persons computer. http://www.efa.org.au/Publish/efasubm-agd-tiactreview2005.html
-
Re:This is a good thing.I was with you up until Rudd-Labor in bold to emphasise that this wasn't a problem under the Liberals, who had a realistic approach based on educating children, which was very successful If you're referring to the ridiculous "scare everyone" ad campaign I saw pre-election, I would hardly deem that successful. It was more a laughing stock. If you're referring to the original "everyone gets a free filtering product", I would hardly deem that successful. It had basically no one using it. And Howard tried several times to get industry-wide filtering adopted, but was rebuffed each time by ISPs telling him it simply wasn't feasible.
Examples:
Howard endorsing ISP-level filtering last year - http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22224981-11949,00.html
Communications Minister Richard Alston contemplating mandatory filtering software in 2003 - http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/03/04/1046540188131.html
The original filtering software a failure in 1999 - http://www.efa.org.au/Publish/PR990730.html
You may not personally agree with the Labor party, but trying to claim Howard and the Liberals were the party of sense regarding Internet censorship is either duplicitous or naive. Both pander to the "think of the children" brigade. -
Re:Censorship Is Never Necessary
- I voted the other way.
- I'm going to be paying for something I have no intention of using. - Even if/when I had/have kids, I'd rather educate and monitor my children, not burden the government with my responsibilities.
- I'm going to be paying for yet more lazy people who are just going to get lulled into a false sense of security.
- It's going to effect, restrict and decrease the value of other services I'm paying for.
- We already paid millions of dollars for something that only a few thousand use (Especially relevant to your last line of text)
- My privacy is going to be at risk because of the opt-out nature of this censorship
A couple of quotes from http://www.efa.org.au/censorship/mandatory-isp-blocking
However, approximately 90% of those parents do not install filters for reasons other than "cost and poor computer literacy" Households without children under 15: 2.772 million Households with children under 15: 1.621 million Total: 4.393 million