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Australian Government Backing Down On Censorship

Posted by kdawson on from the won't-work-won't-scale-but-besides-that dept.

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.

4 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. I laugh at politics by Sparx139 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's so funny to watch a government make a huge mistake, and then try to back down from the decision without saying "sorry guys, we screwed up"

    --
    Our culture doesn't get smarter, it just finds new ways of being retarded.
    1. Re:I laugh at politics by inject_hotmail.com · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Make no mistake, this was all about lining the pockets of the companies that were involved, nothing else.

      How could they not know this would fail? Fiasco was written all over it.

      Canada had the gun registry that failed miserably. It was supposed to cost about $120mil, but ended up costing the (now poor) tax payers $2 billion. Yep. 2. Billion.

      My question is - who got paid...someone did...a lot. Every man, woman and child alive today would have to register two guns for this money to be recuperated.

      The same can be found in any government large enough to force tax collection, but the obviousness of it really bothers me.

    2. Re:I laugh at politics by TapeCutter · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Not picking on you personally but the average slashdotter is pretty gullible when it comes to machiavellian politics. This was no mistake, politicians often adopt a cause in order to kill it. Conroy deliberately killed the trails and legislation by including Fielding's anti-abortion supporters on the blacklist. I and many other Aussies predicted this outcome, not because we are particularly astute, mearly because we saw the same thing happen with the last government.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  2. Balance of Power by novakreo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is why Westminster-style governments should never have a senate majority.

    --
    O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!