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Will Australia Follow China's Google Ban?

gadgetopia writes "A news report in Forbes says that China has blocked Google with its great firewall; now the world waits to see if Australia's Minister for Censorship, Senator Stephen Conroy, will do the same following his outrageous attacks on Google."

12 of 280 comments (clear)

  1. Lol? Sif it will happen. by quarrel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Politics might be stupid in Australia, like lots of places. But no, it won't go the same was as China.

    We have transparency and rule of law.

    However fucked out Communications Minister might be.

    --Q

    1. Re:Lol? Sif it will happen. by copponex · · Score: 4, Insightful

      >>>rule of law.

      "What's that?" - leader
      "No clue." - other leader

      "Well, fuck off then." -voter in next election*

      *only valid in literate and civically active cultures

    2. Re:Lol? Sif it will happen. by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      At the risk of invoking Godwin's Law, I should point out that Germany before the 1930's was almost unquestionably the most academically and intellectually sophisticated country in the world. If you had went back to Germany in the 20's and told them that within 20 years, their country would elect one of the most intolerant demagogues and world history as dictator and begin systematically committing the genocide of a sizable portion of their population, they would have laughed at the thought. We always like to think that we're above devolving into brutality, oppression, and totalitarianism; but things can fall apart amazingly fast once you start heading down a certain road. I wouldn't just dismiss it so casually.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    3. Re:Lol? Sif it will happen. by BrokenHalo · · Score: 5, Informative

      ...but things can fall apart amazingly fast once you start heading down a certain road.

      They sure do, but it is still by no means certain this legislation will pass. The Australian Government needs the support of the Senate to get its legislation through Parliament, and it has already had several setbacks in that regard, hence the likelihood of a double dissolution election this year.

      Conroy himself is an arrogant little shit, and apparently Kevin Rudd is being equally so by leaving the asswipe in that portfolio. But we can hope that the Opposition's taste for obstructionism might yet be put to some worthwhile use.

    4. Re:Lol? Sif it will happen. by Mindcontrolled · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I am not sure if that is completely right. Sure, Germany in the 20s was on the one hand a academically and intellectually sophisticated country. On the other hand, it was a severely torn country, with large parts of the population not standing behind the transition from monarchy to democracy, a hugely polarized political scene with fighting between communists and fascists on the streets - a pressure cooker waiting for the lid to blow. That is probably actually one of the reasons for the vibrant cultural scene of the 20s, everything being overheated, everything being in overdrive. I am pretty sure that there was a significant percentage at least of the intellectual groups of Germany's society in the 20s who would not have dismissed your prediction, who felt that there was an explosion to come.

      --
      Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
    5. Re:Lol? Sif it will happen. by slimjim8094 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You're forgetting that the "tea partiers" are largely defined by Faux News. They are whatever Fox tells them to be.

      My favorite was Stewart's last-night moment of Zen - they had a clip from Fox with some woman going "well we need to fight this because he's a communist!". The commentator says "well, he's not a communist" and she says "well then he's a progressive which is the new code word for communist. Glenn Beck taught me that"

      I find it terribly hard to believe those people actually have any independent beliefs. If they really were annoyed about parliamentary procedures that circumvent the will of the people, how about the Bush tax cuts for big business that were done the same way?

      --
      I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
    6. Re:Lol? Sif it will happen. by copponex · · Score: 4, Interesting

      As any good democratic socialist, I believe that people will eventually arrive at the truth. Fox is damming a flood of people asking questions, and hoping that they will stick to the script. Throw in a few dark horses like Ron Paul, who doesn't toe the line on the narrative Fox likes to present, and Fox is only ensuring that they will be completely washed out once the dam breaks.

      The damage they are doing to our country in terms of the destruction of the middle class, our ability to manufacture our own goods, and our outright dependence on islamic fundamentalist states for our energy needs may end up catapulting the nation into a great period of misery. That's why I'm headed outside of the fallout line.

      China is scooping up every bit of available raw resources, and we're patting ourselves on the back for innovations like facebook and the iPad and air conditioned seats. Rome will fall, but how hard and how fast is largely dependent on how long people continue to delude themselves.

  2. Re:In the name of the Greatest US President ... by ivan_w · · Score: 4, Funny

    Do you mean *Bing* it on ?

    (I know.. sorry.. you may mod me down as appropriate).

  3. Re:I would by MozeeToby · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What about censorship of political, religious, and controversial viewpoints? This is about Freedom of expression and Freedom of communication more than it is about any single issue. If the blocking were voluntary so that people could decide individually if their internet should be censored, I could understand. If the black list were publicly available so that people inside and outside the country could audit what is being blocked, I could maybe understand. If the previously leaked block list hadn't included material that they had claimed wasn't going to be blocked, I could maybe, just possibly agree with you.

    As it stands, you have a government organization which will have the ability to block any website that they want without warning or explanation. There will be no way for people inside the firewall to know what is and what isn't being blocked. And said government organization has already been shown to be either incompetent or nefarious regarding what is being added to the blacklist. It's a bad situation, and it in fact does trample on human rights.

  4. specifically by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Insightful

    when your economy is trashed by greedy speculation then fear and hysteria. that's what sent germany to the dogs: the great depression, the collapse of the financial world

    aka, what the world just experiences in 2008 (on a much smaller scale, true)

    but this historical parallel leads us to four observations:

    1. the angry tea partiers, with their brick throwing and insane murderous anger, IS kristallnacht, on a smaller scale

    2. intolerant deluded propagandized fools hording guns in the woods are the seeds of fascism, NOT our protectors from fascism

    3. we need strong government regulation in the financial sector, and the assholes (greenspan and co) who dismantled the 1930s era (irony) protections need to be grilled a la congressional hearings and roundly castigated for their dangerous irresponsibility

    4. hopefully the world, and the usa, can weather this horde of angry morons out of work, the seeds of fascism, without them crystallizing around some modern day hitler-like demagogue and mounting a political (and visceral: they love guns) challenge to civilization. and then let the retards fade away into history

    interesintg note: many tea partiers receive government benefits (unemployment, medicaid)... while they rail against government aid. they go to tea party rallies... instead of looking for work. fucking ignorant hypocrites

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/us/politics/28teaparty.html

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  5. Re:Senator Stephen Conroy == Senator Joe McCarthy? by MozeeToby · · Score: 4, Informative

    Even if you grant that he was right (which I absolutely 100% do not) what he did was still horrible. He ruined people's lives out of idle suspicion, with little to no evidence to back it up. He split the country and indeed the world on how to handle communism and communist sympathizers and probably damaged his own goals at least as much as he helped them. Anyone who disagreed with him was immediately investigated and accused, regardless of how flimsy the evidence was. The man who called him out on the senate floor (Joseph Welch) was an American hero who showed real courage and could have just as easily have found himself being accused next.

    As for the communists being 'everywhere', research has shown that of the more than 150 people accused by McCarthy evidence against them exists for only 9 of them. A significant minority of the people would have come back clean enough on a background check that they would have been granted security clearances. Finally, your assertion that communists took over one of the major parties I can only assume is idle trolling, I will simply respond by saying that if soviet controlled militant communists controlled 50% of the government for the past 40 years history would have turned out rather differently.

  6. that's right! by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Funny

    there's no fascism in somalia for example. it is a utopia of people free of government living in happiness and prosperity. unlike socialist european countries with their silly concern for the common good, mired in poverty and misery

    and i am sorry for smearing the tea party the way i do. clearly, i have absolutely zero evidence of any tea party anger. it's a meek polite debate society of highly intelligent philosophers. all of their language and actions is something out of '60s love in. and i have absolutely zero, zero! proof to the contrary. i apologize deeply for my horrible misunderstandings

    pfffffffffft

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it