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Australian Government Backing Down On Censorship

Combat Wombat sends the news that the government in Australia has begun waffling on whether country-wide Internet censorship will be mandatory. "The Rudd Government has indicated that it may back away from its mandatory Internet filtering plan. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy today told a Senate estimates committee that the filtering scheme could be implemented by a voluntary industry code. ... [The shadow communications minister] said he had never heard of a voluntary mandatory system. ... Senator Conroy's statement is a departure from the internet filtering policy Labor took into the October 2007 election to make it mandatory for ISPs to block offensive and illegal content." The censorship plan, which has been called "worse than Iran," was bypassed even before trials started. A minister's defection may have effectively blocked any chance of implementation.

6 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Could someone invite that guy over to Germany? by Mountaineer1024 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Tell you what, on behalf of a vast majority of Australians I invite you to keep him.

  2. Re:Who didn't see this coming? by AnalPerfume · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Things that live under rocks on the floor of the Pacific Ocean knew it would happen"

    Citation required. How many were polled, what was the species make up and how many were just sheltering from predators when the clipboard people came to call and were just answering the questions to avoid drawing the "outsider" tag and being forced outside?

  3. Re:Could someone invite that guy over to Germany? by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Funny

    If we lock him up in Germany, I'm sure the average politician IQ in both countries would suddenly increase dramatically.

    Say what you want, but he at least had the smarts to realize when he makes a huge blunder. The German government didn't achive that evolution step yet.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  4. Re:Could someone invite that guy over to Germany? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    [quote]New Zealanders moving to Australia increase the IQ of both countries![/quote] - Robert Muldoon, former New Zealand Prime Minister.

  5. Re:!victory by goose-incarnated · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, yeah ... if you can't be bothered to swim 5 feet to safety, why should you live?

    :-)

    --
    I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
  6. Re:!victory by kylben · · Score: 2, Funny

    Agreed. There was no need for it in the first place.

    Yeah, cause if there was a need for it, it would've been just fine. No censorship without a pretty good reason, that's what I always say.

    --
    Insightful and funny are really the same thing, except one has a punch line.