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Australia's Vast, Scattershot Censorship Blacklist Revealed
mask.of.sanity writes "Australia's secretive Internet filter blacklist held by its communications watchdog has been leaked, revealing the government has understated the amount of banned Web pages by more than 1000.
Multiple legitimate businesses and Web sites have been banned including two bus companies, online poker sites, multiple Wikipedia entries, Google and Yahoo group pages, a dental surgery and a tour operator.
Andrew Twaits, CEO of Betfair, a billion-dollar business blocked by the blacklist, was furious the government has potentially annexed tens of millions of dollars in revenue after the Betfair.com gambling site was blacklisted.
The blacklists were reportedly leaked by a Web filter operator to wikileaks which has published the full list of banned URLs.
Outraged privacy advocates say the government has effectively lied about the amount of URLs included in the blacklists, totaling more than 2300, and the type of content which it would ban.
The leak follows a series of attacks on the watchdog in which irate users successfully lobbied for web sites to be banned, only to be threatened with an $11,000 fine for publishing the link contained in the PR response. It was also revealed the watchdog can ban Web sites at a whim, with no accountability."
Then I typed the word "Goat" - I saw the .cx variation - well, at least they're making some attempt at saving the populace from the horrors of the web.
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i took a quick look at the blacklist and found some porn sites that i didn't know about. awesome! it's like a pre-filtered list of quality porn links! they saved me a lot of surfing time!
The blacklists were reportedly leaked by a Web filter operator to wikileaks which has published the full list of banned URLs.
These numerous government blacklists have proven to be a boon to porn and gambling industries. There are Web sites that I never would have even thought to go to if it weren't for these black lists. I want to thank the government of Australia for helping to open my eyes and my mind to the vast unseen Internet.
[Bookmarks] -> [Bookmark This Page] -> [Done]
Australia's Secret Internet Filter: Your one-stop shopping for porn!
Never confuse movement with action. --Hemingway
It's just funny cat pictures
Well, it's understandable why they blocked it - it's kitty porn. /me ducks.
I thought it was just pussy pics...
/me ducks
Emerald Astrology
Senator Stephen Conroy would like to recall the message: "ACMA Blacklist - see attachment".
It'll only be good if the audience is armed.
I agree with NevarMore. Anti-abortion sites can have some stomach-turning pics. But that's not the real problem. The real reason why that one was blacklisted is pre-term porn. Yep, it's a growing evil. All those nekkid pictures of poor defenceless foetuses: Pre-term porn, a social disaster just waiting to happen. http://vmlojwclog.blogspot.com/2009/03/official-concern.html
I'll be in the audience. Suggestions on the most effective way to point out flaws in the proposed censorship regime welcome. :)
Throw a shoe at him.
A remote controlled flying penis would be the ultimate graphical representation of the futility of their efforts.
... I didn't get one valid link out of about five or six I clicked.
The links work, it's just that they've been Slashdoted.
Neilette: 'We put all our politicians in prison as soon as they're elected. Don't you?'
Rincewind: 'Why?'
Neilette: 'It saves time.'
"It doesn't cost enough, and it makes too much sense."
Shouldn't it be easy enough to find out if its fake. If someone from OZ clicks a bunch of the links, and they can't access them, its real, if they can....its fake....or am I missing something?
There could be a severe punishment for anyone dong this. They could even be transported to Britain.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?