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Australian Internet Censorship Plan Torpedoed

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the take-that-old-people dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Australian Government's plan to introduce mandatory internet censorship has been scuttled, following an independent senator's decision to join the Greens and Opposition in blocking any legislation needed to start the scheme. Anti-Gambling Senator Nick Xenophon previously supported the filter because it could also block gambling web sites, but today withdrew support saying 'the more evidence that's come out, the more questions there are on this.' This week surveys found only less than 10% of Australians supported the censorship. Censorship Senator Stephen Conroy has consistently ignored advice from technical experts saying the filters would slow the internet, block legitimate sites, be easily bypassed and fall short of capturing all of the nasty content available online. Conroy expanded the list to block Adult R18+ and X18+ web sites, and this week said it would also block sites depicting drug use, crime, sex, cruelty, violence or 'revolting and abhorrent phenomena' that 'offend against the standards of morality.' Last week an anti-abortion website was added to the blacklist, and Conroy said he was considering expanding the blacklist to 10,000 sites and beyond."

6 of 308 comments (clear)

  1. Block The Internet by TheMeuge · · Score: 5, Funny

    Conroy expanded the list to block Adult R18+ and X18+ web sites, and this week said it would also block sites depicting drug use, crime, sex, cruelty, violence or "revolting and abhorrent phenomena" that "offend against the standards of morality".

    So the filter would block the Internet?

    1. Re:Block The Internet by MadDogX · · Score: 5, Funny

      I don't know about the rest of the internet, but by "abhorrent phenomena that offend against the standards of morality" I'm pretty sure they mean MySpace.

  2. Re:Censorship by MadDogX · · Score: 5, Funny

    By that definition they would be forced to censor censorship. The very concept is too mind-boggling for me to grasp.

  3. Re:Censorship by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is the third time in as many days we've had the self-referencing paradox.

    Please, won't somebody think of the causality?!

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  4. Re:Quick, somebody grab the cluestick! by VShael · · Score: 5, Funny

    Next, he'll find the only five or six sites on the web that depict bestiality!

    Exactly! There's so much bestiality on the net now, that if you google for "People having sex with goats on fire", google responds with "Too many results. Please specify type of goat."

  5. Re:I am not an Aussie... by blind+monkey+3 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Who can I send money to in order to get Conroy voted out of office ASAP?

    That's easy, you send your money to Conroy - you'd be surprised what politicians would do for money.

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    BM3