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Nation-Wide Internet Censorship Proposed For Australia

Posted by timothy on from the unarmed-populace dept.

sparky1240 writes "While Americans are currently fighting the net-neutrality wars, spare a thought for the poor Australians — The Australian government wants to implement a nation-wide 'filtering' scheme to keep everyone safe from the nasties on the internet, with no way of opting out: 'Under the government's $125.8 million Plan for Cyber-Safety, users can switch between two blacklists which block content inappropriate for children, and a separate list which blocks illegal material. ... According to preliminary trials, the best Internet content filters would incorrectly block about 10,000 Web pages from one million."

18 of 424 comments (clear)

  1. Always remember: by cosmocain · · Score: 5, Funny

    Your local government knows best.

    This bill was brought to you by your local censors.

    1. Re:Always remember: by Lachlan+Hunt · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's sad that this is happening. As an Australian, I'm appalled that this is happening. Although I'm glad for many reasons that we finally got rid of little Bush Jr. (John Howard) and replaced him Kevin Rudd, it's a disaster that they now want to impose this crap on everyone.

      Personally, I think the whole idea of content filtering to protect the children, as they claim, is bogus. Regardless of whether the filtering is done by the parents on their own computer or by the ISPs on the whole internet, I think it's bullshit.

      Kids don't need overly restrictive blocks in place to prevent them getting access to porn, bomb making instructions or whatever else is deem inappropriate; nor do they need any kind of punishment if they do get access. Rather, they need good parental guidence to let them know what they should and should not look at, and be taught to be responsible with whatever they do get access to.

      Besides, if some 13 or 14 year old boy looks up some porn, good for him. I did when I was that age, as did almost everyone else I knew back then, and it did me no harm at all. (Also, letting kids get porn for free from the internet is better then letting them resort to stealing porno mags that they're not allowed to buy legally)

      --
      By reading this signature, you hereby agree with the content of the above comment.
  2. WTF?! by Bifurcati · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Okay, seriously, can anyone with sources verify if this is real? I mean, I might expect this from Liberals - but from Labor? Who decides on the black list? What sort of appeals process is there going to be? Is there 24/7 tech support?

    I want answers, damnit! I'm Aussie, and not used to fighting these sort of things - Americans, what's the best way forward to make my voice heard?!

    --

    Physicist, consultant, science communicator
    1. Re:WTF?! by srjh · · Score: 5, Informative

      This is very real, and very scary.

      http://nocleanfeed.com/

      I'm not sure why you think we're immune from this stupidity in Australia, or why Labor would be any better in this regard. Australia's censorship laws are some of the worst in the Western world.

    2. Re:WTF?! by plankrwf · · Score: 5, Funny

      We are sorry, no appeal is possible. You see, in order to verify that your website - cnn.com - is actually 'safe', we would have to visit it. However, as the black list is of the 'no opting out' type, we are unable to do so, as temporarely removing it from the black list is not an option: think of the children! Kind regards, your government.

    3. Re:WTF?! by james.mcarthur · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.

    4. Re:WTF?! by wrmrxxx · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

    5. Re:WTF?! by theaveng · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Tell your legislator that you are watching them very closely on this issue, and if they vote in favor of it, they won't be your legislator for much longer, because you will organize a campaign to de-elect them in two, four, or however many years it takes. Add that you won't allow your right to free speech to be trampled. That written speech should NEVER be censored no matter what it might be, and that anybody who supports censorship of webpages deserves the label "book burner" and include a picture like so: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/1933-may-10-berlin-book-burning.JPG/250px-1933-may-10-berlin-book-burning.JPG

      Here in the States there are certain persons who want to block internet downloads of "Huckleberry Finn" because they think it's racist. Well, anybody who's actually read the book knows it is the exact opposite of racist, and in fact teaches a lesson about how blacks are no different than whites. Fortunately for us, our government agrees and does not censor Mark Twain's greatest novel.

      Unfortunately for Aussies, your government doesn't have the common sense God granted a jackass. They are the 2000-era equivalent of book burners.

      --
      FOX NEWS.com should be BANNED from television and internet. Have the Congress take it over and give us Truespeak.
    6. Re:WTF?! by QuoteMstr · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So what if Huckleberry Finn were a racist book? That wouldn't be a reason to censor it either. Nothing should be censored, ever.

    7. Re:WTF?! by MindKata · · Score: 5, Informative

      "Coherent arguments against filtering also greatly welcome."

      I would start with Article 12 from this... http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
      i.e. "Article 12 : No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks."

      As for governments trying this sort, the UK is probably in the lead :( ...
      http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/15/2222209

      Its interesting how so called free countries are rushing towards censorship, control and out right Big Brother, faster than so called bad countries. The power seekers in each country seem to be treating technology as their dream come true. They can use it to fight for powers previous generations of power seeking leaders couldn't have dreamed possible.

      We all need to speak out against this sort of thing before its to late...
      http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=997305&cid=25397001

      --
      There are 10 kinds of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.
    8. Re:WTF?! by omeomi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Its interesting how so called free countries are rushing towards censorship, control and out right Big Brother, faster than so called bad countries.

      Well, 9-11 9-11 9-11. 9-11 9-11 9-11, 9-11. "9-11". Fear, 9-11. Uncertainty, 9-11. Doubt, 9-11.

      --
      ZuluPad, the wiki notepad on crack
    9. Re:WTF?! by digitalchinky · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I've seen a lot of posts from you, I guess it's your sig that I remember. Anyway, you're pretty hard line, I'd consider you as someone at the extremities on most topics. Don't be offended though, it's just an observation gleaned from a few hundred lines of text and subject to stereotype and various inaccuracies.

      I'm happy you are all for censorship (which is really to say that I don't care either way), and I'll defend your right to do whatever you please so long as it doesn't affect me. If you want to censor my own inane disgruntled rantings as a former secret 3 letter agency worker drone, then I'll be more than happy to censor your.... (insert whatever it is you hold most dearly)

      If you want to protect me from the ogrish of the world, don't bother. I don't need it. I'm big enough to handle my own affairs and sane enough to give my baby girl a happy and balanced childhood filled with pony's, daffodils, geek, and a sense of place and purpose within society. I can do this without the help of the government, so thanks anyway, but censorship is not for me.

    10. Re:WTF?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So you're ok with child porn then ?

      The images themselves? Fine, as long as I don't have to look at them. Keep them where they will only be found by those actually looking for them.

      As for the production of said images - that's a completely different matter, not related to censorship at all.

      You might disagree on it being a different matter, but look at other crimes. Hitting people with baseball bats are a crime. Showing footage of someone hitting people with baseball bats on the news is not. Outlawing that would be considered
      censorship by most people.

      Photographic evidence of a crime is not the same as the crime.

      Or your bank details appearing on the web ?

      No, because they are my business only. But if you wanted your bank details to appear on the web, they should not be censored for you. See the difference?

      Now, there is a relation between those two questions other than the censorship. The person in those pictures might not want them out there. However, them being out there does not harm said person (as opposed to abusing the bank details), only the knowledge of them being out there. However, censorship does not solve this point. The pictures are still out there, the knowledge that they exist are just the same. If you know or think that pictures were taken, you know someone somewhere is jacking off to them. If you are not aware that pictures were taken, you don't go looking for them.

  3. 10,0000? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is this some new scheme to confuse use by putting commas in the wrong place?

  4. As a parent... by PinkyDead · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I would not be in favour of this at all.

    The system we have in our home is simple, the computer is in the kitchen where everyone else is. To my mind that is the only sensible way to keep your children safe on the Internet. If they come across something that is unsuitable then we talk about it. That means they know what's dangerous and how to deal with it, and we know what they're getting involved in.

    Blocking access is just wrapping your kids in cotton wool - and when you can't do that any more, they suddenly become very vulnerable.

    --
    Genesis 1:32 And God typed :wq!
  5. Follow orders: bend over & spread 'em by AliasMarlowe · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This bill was brought to you by your local censors.

    So Aussies can look forward to a rabid reaming by prurient hypocrites, and the undoubted pleasure of being billed for it, too. The details of the public reaming will also be off-limits, of course (for the public good: can't have people witnessing such lurid acts).

    Due to the shotgun nature of blocking filters, there will be many pages wrongfully blocked. Based on the blocking policies enforced at some workplaces, entire domains may be blocked on account of just a single objectionable page in a single user's subdomain. Whole domains may also be blocked wrongly, through ambivalent ignorance or a mere typo.

    Whole communities might find themselves wrongfully off-limits, as happened a few years ago, when the alt.binaries.pictures.astronomy usenet group was blacklisted by a large US ISP. The ISP did not block all alt.binaries.pictures groups, but chose to lump the astrophotography group in with the porn groups. That's what misinterpretation of phrases such as "heavenly body", "images from last night", "multiple exposure", "open truss", "polar mount", "white dwarf", "full moon" and the like can cause. I doubt if anyone involved in the decision to block the group actually looked at the images being posted there - I never saw an inappropriate image in several years of regularly reading that group.

    Presumably, all anonymizing services will promptly find themselves on the blacklist, lest anyone use them to bypass the filters and look at unapproved pages. Expect also, that anyone acting as a freenet node will be dealt with appropriately (ISP cutoff, or legal action).

    --
    Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
    1. Re:Follow orders: bend over & spread 'em by Daimanta · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Whole communities might find themselves wrongfully off-limits, as happened a few years ago, when the alt.binaries.pictures.astronomy usenet group was blacklisted by a large US ISP. The ISP did not block all alt.binaries.pictures groups, but chose to lump the astrophotography group in with the porn groups. That's what misinterpretation of phrases such as "heavenly body", "images from last night", "multiple exposure", "open truss", "polar mount", "white dwarf", "full moon" and the like can cause."

      I don't want to know

      --
      Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
    2. Re:Follow orders: bend over & spread 'em by Talla · · Score: 5, Insightful

      > Wow, a couple of networks may at some point be wrongly blocked by mistake for a short period of time till the mistake is identified.

      You REALLY believe these mistakes will happen seldom and be fixed quickly? You must be new here.