Oz Pirate Party Tells the Elderly How To Bypass the Net Filter

mask.of.sanity writes "When Exit International discovered it was earmarked for Australia's Internet filter blacklist, it wanted to ensure its members could access its pro-euthanasia material, but its members share an average age of 70 — not exactly from the tech generation. So Exit International turned to the filter-hating Pirate Party of Australia, which supplied a 'hacker' who taught a crowded room of grandmas and grandpas how to use proxies and advanced VPN tunnels to access Exit International's material — which the Australian government thinks breaches the moral compass of society. Computerworld has the presentation."

Comments

It sure feels odd

[Arancaytar]

It'd feel odd to teach a group of old people how to access information about killing themselves.

But that's the point of the freedom of information - anyone should have the right to seek it out and access it.

Re:It sure feels odd

[anarche]

Yep, crazy world we live in.

Mind you, these people all want to have their life's options explored. They are not all for killing themselves now, just may not want to be vegetable burdens in the future, much like many of us.

How long until Capt. Kevin makes it a crime to either
a) bypass the filter
b) assist others to bypass the filter
c) both of the above.

bloody stupid steve!

Re:It sure feels odd

[mcvos]

It'd feel odd to teach a group of old people how to access information about killing themselves.

But that's the point of the freedom of information - anyone should have the right to seek it out and access it.

Whether a controlled and dignified end to you life should be a moral right may be open to discussion, but at least people should be able to inform themselves on the issue, right?

Re:It sure feels odd

[Arancaytar]

Maybe he can license some filtering technology from China.

Re:It sure feels odd

[ultranova]

Whether a controlled and dignified end to you life should be a moral right may be open to discussion, but at least people should be able to inform themselves on the issue, right?

If people are able to inform themselves on an issue, they might make a choice that's contrary to your moral stance. This is especially likely if your moral stance can be summarized as "people should suffer greatly for my peace of mind". That's why places like Australia, China, Britain, Finland etc. want to restrict their citizens ability to access information.

Re:It sure feels odd

[x2A]

You're obviously missing the point of what Australia's doing here. Their internet firewall is for blocking child pornography, this is what they said and this is what it was sold as. Obviously then blocking this website reduces child porn... I mean, with sufficient amounts of people taking up this option, it does mean that children will become a larger % of the population, which means they're even more of a target!!!

If you think people should be allowed access to information about getting "youth in asia" to old people in Australia, then you're a pedophile.

Re:It sure feels odd

[CharlyFoxtrot]

You're obviously missing the point of what Australia's doing here. Their internet firewall is for blocking child pornography, this is what they said and this is what it was sold as. Obviously then blocking this website reduces child porn... I mean, with sufficient amounts of people taking up this option, it does mean that children will become a larger % of the population, which means they're even more of a target!!!

If you think people should be allowed access to information about getting "youth in asia" to old people in Australia, then you're a pedophile.

Maybe Exit International should make a page called "Euthanasia for Child Molesters." That'd help reduce cp AND provide pro-euthenasia info, right ?

Re:It sure feels odd

[totally bogus dude]

I don't think it really matters. It's already illegal here to assist people to die, so it doesn't apply. No medical professional is going to assist a teenager or divorcee to end their life, and people who would assist with that aren't going to in any way be deterred by a censor.

If someone wants to kill themselves, there's plenty of ways to do it and trying to deny access to anything that discusses it is going to be about as effective as denying sex education to kids in the belief that they'll not have sex if you don't tell them about it.

Re:It sure feels odd

[ScrewMaster]

breaches the moral compass of society.

Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't ... and besides, the end of a life is not a situation where you can apply too many absolutes.

More to the point, however, I'd say Australia's government has been breaching their society's moral compass for some time now. So has mine, for that matter, and I'm American.

Re:It sure feels odd

[Trepidity]

In fact, it's such a heinous crime against the moral compass of society, it should probably carry the death penalty.

Re:It sure feels odd

[penix1]

How about if it was a group of recent divorcees or depressed teenagers?

What about them? The whole idea that society should protect you from yourself has led to many an invasive, ineffective and inane law. Let me ask you, if a person is bent on suicide, do you really think a law is going to stop them? If someone is that committed to killing themselves then no amount of banning, blocking or outlawing information is going to stop them.

Re:It sure feels odd

[athe!st]

Comrade Kevin is only doing what is best for peace and harmony in the People's Republic of Australia

Re:It sure feels odd

[NotOverHere]

In fact, it's such a heinous crime against the moral compass of society, it should probably carry the death penalty.

But, if you're looking to reach a website to kill your self... and doing so carries the death penalty... oh... Ooohh!
You're goooood!

Re:It sure feels odd

[mdarksbane]

Personally I'm worried about the following dilemma.

As long as enough of my brain and body is functioning to be capable of taking action, I'd probably prefer to be alive. As long as I can talk or type and listen or read there are plenty of useful things I could set myself to.

Once I lose that ability, I'd really rather just off myself.

The problem is... at that point, I doubt I'd be very able to handle it myself. So you'd essentially be asking someone in your family and friends to go to jail for murder.

Personally I'm leaning toward some kind of old folks home suicide pact, where we all agree to kill each other when the time comes. Because, hey, when you're getting close, what's the worst they can do to you?

I watched my grandfather on his death bed beg his God to kill him for over a year. We need to stop this bullshit clinging to lives that aren't ours and allow people to die with dignity.

What is Australia thinking?

[pspahn]

Do they just want everyone to live forever? I'm not sure if I, for one, would welcome our new immortal, large-knife wielding overlords.

Re:What is Australia thinking?

[thijsh]

I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your highlander.

Re:What is Australia thinking?

[TheLink]

Too bad, there can only be one subscriber.

Re:What is Australia thinking?

[Smidgin]

That's not a knife...now that's a knife!

No it's not, that's a spoon.

Yes, I've played knifey-spoony before.

As an Australian, I find it rather depressing that most Americans' "knowledge" of Australia is limited to that single Simpsons episode...

Re:What is Australia thinking?

[PopeRatzo]

As an Australian, I find it rather depressing that most Americans' "knowledge" of Australia is limited to that single Simpsons episode..

I'll have you know that I got my knowledge of Australia from The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

And a fine film it was.

Also, I've been to Outback Steak House on numerous occasions.

DEBtastic

[mdsharpe]

We may soon need similar lessons here in the UK when we want to access those filtered sites suspected of potentially hosting copyrighted material. Damn, that sounds sad.

Re:DEBtastic

[mdwh2]

Note that we already have web censorship (like Australia, allegedly for "child pr0n" - but see the Wikipedia case for how that works out in practice).

But yes, it is particularly mad that any pretence of "only child pr0n" is being dropped, and now all it'll take is copyright infringement to get on the blacklist.

Is this even possible?

[xulfer]

The article says that each workshop lasts approximately five-and-a-half hours. It's taken me a half-hour just to explain how to properly navigate a website to some of my more elderly firewall. I'm not sure if the allotted time is enough to teach the various concepts and methods of VPN/ssh tunnels and proxies. I've worked with computer science graduates that didn't even properly grasp these concepts after a semester long course. I wish them the best of luck either way.

Re:Is this even possible?

[Arancaytar]

Elderly firewalls?

Like, Norton 1.0?

Re:Is this even possible?

[totally bogus dude]

I'm quite impressed you're able to teach ANY of your elderly firewalls how to properly navigate a website. My firewalls just filter packets! I guess it's true, they don't make 'em like they used to.

moral compass?

[sams67]

Currently, as a result of back room deals between the government and the Christian lobby, Australia has a moral anchor rather than a moral compass.

Re:moral compass?

[mrsurb]

Citation needed for these back room deals.

I am a Christian and am opposed to this filter. In fact, many Christians are arguing AGAINST this legislation because we have potentially unpopular views which could be silenced through future use of this scheme: http://solapanel.org/article/conroys_internet_filter_full_of_contradictions/

Re:moral compass?

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

But... but... but... How else can we pigeonhole people who support censorship? Next thing you know, you'll be telling us that pinning the rest of our political problems on religion is also wrong!

Re:moral compass?

[dangitman]

I am a Christian and am opposed to this filter.

Well good for you. But the fact is that the idea for this censorship was partly intended to placate the Christian lobby, and there are plenty of public Christian figures in Australia who support it. Just because some Christians oppose it, is not evidence that no Christians had anything to do with it.

Crazy Australians.

[purpledinoz]

I always thought Australia was a developed country, economically, and politically. This Internet filter craziness makes them seem very un-democratic. What's next? Filtering the opposition party websites? Filtering any websites that has an opposing view of the current government? I don't think that next step is such a big one.

Re:Crazy Australians.

[totally bogus dude]

Undemocratic? The Hungry Beast had a phone poll of 1,000 people conducted, the results are in this Wikipedia article. The results indicate that a lot of people actually are in favour of the filter, but it seems to largely depend on how it's phrased and explained.

I think we have the same problem as pretty much every democracy: everyone gets a vote, but only a small portion of people actually care/know enough about an issue to make an informed choice. And the governments don't seem to be under much pressure to actually be open and honest about what the policies they're pushing will actually achieve. So, the government asks "do you want the Australian Government to block access to things only sickos would want to see like child porn?" and most people say "yes". The government doesn't mention the filter will only block unencrypted HTTP and therefore by absolutely trivial to bypass, or how much it will cost vs the amount of content it'll be blocking, or how effective it will be compared to installing your own filtering software.

Various online polls show strong opposition to it, but that's pretty much as expected. People who have some idea of how the internet works are hugely opposed to it for technical as well as "freedom" related issues, but people who have no idea (which is most people) just hear "this will stop child rapists and not impact you at all" and are of course going to be for it.

In a way, it's a lot like the "Free software" debate. Most people don't give a crap if their software is "Free" or not, and don't even think about how having a healthy Free software ecosystem may benefit them (regardless of what they choose to use themselves). But if it all disappeared and there was no alternative but proprietary software from big corporations, they'd realise what they'd lost. But explaining it beforehand? There's just no interest.

Re:Crazy Australians.

[totally bogus dude]

Oh yes, the other problem we share with most democracies is that we're normally limited to voting for a party, not particular policies. This works okay if there's a party which has policies you mostly agree with, but not so well otherwise. Since both of the major parties seem to be in favour of the Great (But Ineffective) Firewall of Australia, all you can do is vote for one of the minor parties (e.g. the Pirate Party) and hope they get the message about why you didn't vote for them. However, that only makes sense if the filter is a major issue for you -- but more likely, the Liberal party might actually come up with some kind of Health policy before the election and a lot of people will choose to vote based on that, since most people don't care one way or the other if the filter goes ahead (it may not achieve anything worthwhile, but it won't affect me, so what do I care?).

And of course, whichever party wins will believe it has a mandate to put in place a national internet filter with no public oversight.

IMHO, democracies really need to start leveraging technology to provide voting on policies, not on parties. Parties are popularity contests that no longer provide a benefit to the democratic process, IMHO.

Re:Crazy Australians.

[loufoque]

So, the government asks "do you want the Australian Government to block access to things only sickos would want to see like child porn?" and most people say "yes".

Quite more likely, they ask, "are you ok with the Australian Government blocking access to websites which do not reside in Australia but which content is illegal according to Australian laws?", and they reply "yes" because it makes perfect sense to do so.
Now why they filter things that are nowhere near illegal or why they can add sites without going through the judicial system that would determine whether it is illegal or not is beyond me.

Re:Crazy Australians.

[stimpleton]

My observations and several unprompted anecdotal stories from tourist friends suggest Australia is actually quite conservative. Robin Williams recently drew criticism for his comments about Australia and the Prime Minister even more so for saying they were not as bad a Rednecks(in the South of the USA).

I am not famous so I can say what I am about to say with little fear of repercussion. I found southern US folks to be sophisticated compared to Australian Rural communities when I travel both the US and Australia. The Rosa Parkes seat-on-a-bus incident happened a long time ago in the US. While the Cronulla Beach Riots in Sydney happened but a couple years back where ordinary Australians fought pitched battles against foreigners. Politicians in Australia were found to lie about immigrants throwing babies overboard in ships, so that it would bolster their anti immigration stances. Aborigines were shot or hit by cars and killed and the attitudes of police were to treat it as an animal death up till the 1980's.

Do not confuse a laid back attitude with conservative beliefs. Because Australia, averagely is very conservative.

Re:Crazy Australians.

[dorward]

The results indicate that a lot of people actually are in favour of the filter, but it seems to largely depend on how it's phrased and explained.

See Yes, Minister:

Sir Humphrey “You know what happens: nice young lady comes up to you. Obviously you want to create a good impression, you don’t want to look a fool, do you? So she starts asking you some questions: Mr. Woolley, are you worried about the number of young people without jobs?”

Bernard Woolley: “Yes”

Sir Humphrey “Are you worried about the rise in crime among teenagers?”

Bernard Woolley: “Yes”

Sir Humphrey “Do you think there is a lack of discipline in our Comprehensive schools?”

Bernard Woolley: “Yes”

Sir Humphrey “Do you think young people welcome some authority and leadership in their lives?”

Bernard Woolley: “Yes”

Sir Humphrey “Do you think they respond to a challenge?”

Bernard Woolley: “Yes”

Sir Humphrey “Would you be in favour of reintroducing National Service?”

Bernard Woolley: “Ohwell, I suppose I might be.”

Sir Humphrey “Yes or no?”

Bernard Woolley: “Yes”

Sir Humphrey “Of course you would, Bernard. After all you told you can’t say no to that. So they don’t mention the first five questions and they publish the last one.”

Bernard Woolley: “Is that really what they do?”

Sir Humphrey “Well, not the reputable ones no, but there aren’t many of those. So alternatively the young lady can get the opposite result.”

Bernard Woolley: “How?”

Sir Humphrey “Mr. Woolley, are you worried about the danger of war?”

Bernard Woolley: “Yes”

Sir Humphrey “Are you worried about the growth of armaments?”

Bernard Woolley: “Yes”

Sir Humphrey “Do you think there is a danger in giving young people guns and teaching them how to kill?”

Bernard Woolley: “Yes”

Sir Humphrey “Do you think it is wrong to force people to take up arms against their will?”

Bernard Woolley: “Yes”

Sir Humphrey “Would you oppose the reintroduction of National Service?”

Bernard Woolley: “Yes”

Sir Humphrey “There you are, you see Bernard. The perfect balanced sample.”

Re:Crazy Australians.

[WinstonWolfIT]

Oz is a full on unapologetic nanny state. You wouldn't believe the shenanigans that go on here to save people from themselves, along with hand-wringing when people continue to take risks despite living in a nanny state. "OMG we lowered the speed limit to 36mph and yet young people continue to die in accidents even after we installed 17000 cameras." If a 20yo driver blows .01, it's a 1-year license suspension. It's disgusting. Any sane person on an empty straight 4-lane road will do 45mph -- why is that illegal here????

Re:Crazy Australians.

[timmarhy]

well, i've lived in regional australia for 25 years and i've also traveled the southern states.

your entire post is full of 1/2 truths.

The cronulla riots were triggered by long standing tensions caused by gangs of australian born lebanese attacking people on cronulla beach. the outbreak of violence was sparked by a 13 yo life saver (life savers are an icon here in oz) being brutally bashed by such a gang for telling them to stop harrasing a female swimmer. just like your rodney king riots.

the baby over board saga, that was blown out of all proportion by all involved. i wouldn't be throwing stones about illegal immagration if i was you with your countries stance on their southern boarder....

you'll need to back up your claim about police treating aboriginal deaths the same as animal deaths. i've lived here my whole life and never heard such a claim.

while i traveled the south i came across the most intollerent gits i've ever met. while i agree that australia is a fairly conservative country, compared to the USA they look like left wing hippies. the impression i got from america is that people like to think they are all freedom loving and open minded, when really they just want THEIR kind of freedom.

Re:Crazy Australians.

[anarche]

the Cronulla Beach Riots in Sydney happened but a couple years back where ordinary Australians fought pitched battles against foreigners.

They were fighting against first generation Aussies (kids of refugees from the Lebanese civil war 67ish), who "refuse" to Australianise.

Aborigines were shot or hit by cars and killed and the attitudes of police were to treat it as an animal death up till the 1980's.

1967 (that year again) we voted (by 97% popular vote) to recognise the indigenous popluation as people

Do not confuse a laid back attitude with conservative beliefs. Because Australia, averagely is very conservative.

This makes no sense. We are conservative, but moreso because ideas - like decent smartphones - take frikken ages to get to Oz...

Re:Crazy Australians.

[Zumbs]

I think we have the same problem as pretty much every democracy: everyone gets a vote, but only a small portion of people actually care/know enough about an issue to make an informed choice. And the governments don't seem to be under much pressure to actually be open and honest about what the policies they're pushing will actually achieve.

In an ideal democracy, the press would make the specialized information available to help the general public make an informed choice. Unfortunately, the press seems more likely to run with the pro-filter crowd, in the midst of articles on bloody murder and ads for the newest VW.

Re:Crazy Australians.

[totally bogus dude]

I agree parties wouldn't be needed anymore, but I don't see how it'd automatically make corporations and special groups any more powerful than they already are. I think it would make them less powerful, if the voters are reasonably well informed. If they're not, then it probably wouldn't make a lot of difference. And it would be more efficient, as you point out.

We should be able to leverage modern communication technology to be able to vote online, and therefore have frequent, even weekly, votes on policies. Maybe spend 30 minutes a week to read about and vote on policies that you're interested in. It would be really fascinating to see something like this in action.

I'd like to see something like this:

1. people come up with a policy proposal and present it to parliament
2. those opposed or with a different policy engage in a lively debate
3. once a "party" comes up with an actual policy, they create a short summary of it, which will be given to the voting public at the time they go to vote
4. such summaries are subject to argumentation by all and sundry, all statements must be proven to be true in order to be included (this process will probably take a while)
5. eventually, one or more policies are presented to the voting public

The "parties" referred to above would likely be temporary groupings of people who are backing a particular policy (because it's easier to make a workable policy without gaping holes if you work with others), not necessarily permanent parties like we have now.

The "people" referred to in #1 are presumably politicians of some kind, although this kind of system would be pretty receptive to "single-issue politicians" who go in to argue for their favourite policy and then disappear back into normal life afterwards. Since having every single citizen arguing at once is probably not really viable, some kind of representation system like we have now would probably be needed (i.e. you need a certain amount of popular support before you can make a proposal that'll actually end up being voted on).

So there you have it. I've fixed democracy in 10 minutes. Now to tackle climate change!

Re:Crazy Australians.

[Thanshin]

What do you do for a population who votes against democracy?

That's one limitation of democracy. It's self preserving.

Is it legal in the USA, standardbearers of democracy, to create an Antidemocratic Party that has, as objective to eliminate democracy as soon as it wins?

Re:Crazy Australians.

[taylorius]

It was recorded you know, you can still watch it.

Moral campass

[pickyouupatnine]

Hmm.. government trying to dictate to the elderly what is moral in society. One would think that the elderly would have the most conservative view on what is considered moral.

Re:Moral campass

[FuckingNickName]

"Good" to current governments when applied to a particular view (and the laws which stem from that view) is a function with the following variables, in order of importance from most to least:
1. Ability to reduce power of the people relative to the government;
2. Value of income from lobbyists;
3. Number of votes from people;
4. Adherence to locally established ideological principles.

1 and 4 are often confused by dabblers.

Remember, boys: we're sufficiently democratic that we got to choose the representatives with these priorities. We Australians, British, Americans, French alike need to stop blaming "them" and start blaming ourselves. Our people want these governments. "I didn't vote for them!" perhaps, but your brother, your mother, your neighbour, your boss and your co-worker did, by and large. Why do you tolerate the people in power, but have nothing to say to or about those who put them in power? Are you worried to speak up at a personal level, where it matters and where you can make a difference?

Re:Moral campass

[QuantumG]

This is Australia, we don't have lobbyists.

We call campaign contributions "bribes" and we call politicians who take them "criminals."

You cannot block information; firewall=fail

[Bearhouse]

People have been trying to block the spread of ideas since before the invention of the printing press.
They've always failed.
If people want stuff from Exit, then they'll find a way; if not the internet, then via paper.
How would the Oz Gov justify, for example, banning a site that gave out just the address to write to Exit?
Or a site where you could leave your name and address to receive information?
I understand the motivation for blocking interactive sites for paedophiles to exchange their revolting material, but a static public information service?
Epic fail.

Re:You cannot block information; firewall=fail

[sco08y]

People have been trying to block the spread of ideas since before the invention of the printing press.
They've always failed.

Really? In the States and other countries, there have been fairly extensive "campaign finance" laws. These basically restrict the flow of cash, and thus the ability to spread ideas, for non-incumbent parties. They have been extremely successful at shutting up difficult opposition.

Re:You cannot block information; firewall=fail

[Angua]

I understand the motivation for blocking interactive sites for paedophiles to exchange their revolting material, but a static public information service?
Epic fail.

I'm always skeptical when a relatively harmless activity gets banned in order to "prevent" another, more dangerous one. Child pornography is illegal, and rightfully so. But restricting an entire nation's access to the internet in order to make things more difficult for pedophiles? I don't see the benefits myself, but then I am neither a computer genius (understatement!) nor from Australia, so perhaps I'm missing something.

Personally, I'd rather see increased effort in tracking down the bastards and throwing them in jail.

Re:You cannot block information; firewall=fail

[sznupi]

People have been trying to block the spread of ideas since before the invention of the printing press.
They've always failed.

Always?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_books_and_burying_of_scholars

Plus generally, you wouldn't have heard about really succesfull such actions by definition.

another step in Australia's euthanasia saga

[Trepidity]

The federal government of Australia, due to some sort of religious-conservative influence, has been really, really anti-euthanasia for some time now. The last major time the issue came to a head was in 1995-97, when the Northwest Territory passed the Rights of the Terminall Ill Act 1995, which allowed euthanasia for the terminally ill, under certain conditions and with a lengthy process. The federal government attempted to pressure NT into repealing the law, and when it refused to do so, in 1997, the federal parliament amended NT's territory charter to specifically remove its ability to pass laws relating to euthanasia (this was possible because NT is a territory, not a state, so its powers of self-government can be reduced by simple legislation).

Australian Opposition may back Web Filter

[CuteSteveJobs]

Whoa Slashdot! Why are you running stories like this? Do you want to get this site *BANNED* in Australia? Better tone it down. I suggest the only Aussie news you consider running are positive stories about the Rudd Government:

Like the one how Conroy gave a plum job for the Governent's Broadband network to Mike Kaiser, a Labor Party stooge who was previously convicted of electoral fraud. A $450K a year job without an interview for a guy who knows nothing about IT or comms and who should be sitting in a prison.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/politics/i-recommended-mike-kaiser-for-nbn-job-says-stephen-conroy/story-e6frgczf-1225827983520

Submitted this next story to Firehose but it never ran:
"Stephen Conroy's Internet Filter has received an unexpected boost from the Australian Opposition. Instead of voting down the Filter in the Senate, the Opposition Party Leader Tony Abbot refused to articulate a definitive position on the Filter saying he would "await the final legislation and seek technical assurances from the government on the operations of the filter". Both Tony Abbot and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy who is implementing the Filter have affirmed their strong Christian faith, overwhelming anti-censorship moderates. This raises the question for those opposed to the filter: How can a Democracy work if the only two viable parties both offer the same thing?
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/web-filter-splits-opposition-20100406-rpf7.html

At least Conroy recently got a taste of his own medicine when Trend Micro's parliamentary web filter blocked politicians from accessing news commentary and train timetables."
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/parliamentary-services-to-probe-trend-micro-filter/story-e6frgakx-1225850540731

In related news ...

[AHuxley]

All Australians paying for privacy.io using Australian based credit cards where raided.
Australians where raided after isp's where required to submit logs of users frequenting known 'proxy' sites.
The office of Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy announced a new partnership with Nokia Siemens and Narus to better understand https and onion routing.
The only way around this "wall of faith" is an encrypted tunnel to a end user in the USA.
As most Australian ISP's limit all usage to 10's of Gigabytes per month your donation of left over bandwidth could help millions of Australian net users gain access to life saving literature and multimedia.

Re:In related news ...

[Samah]

In other news, where is not the same as were. Not even when you write it three times.

not blocked... yet

[anarche]

While we still can

http://www.internationaltaskforce.org/faq.htm

He already copied China

[ciaran_o_riordan]

China's filter is also bypassable. I assume want it that way. The strategy is to ensure that the young and the very concerned have ways to protect themselves individually, to avoid having them motivated to look into organised ways. A classic way to take the wind out of people power.

Re:He already copied China

[Amlothi]

Are you actually in China? Because I am, and it doesn't seem like you know anything.

All you need to do is use a VPN connection, and there are many free and cheap alternatives easily available on the web. You can get to anything you want that way.... yes, even "sensitive items".

You should try to avoid posting about things that you have absolutely no knowledge of.

Re:He already copied China

[plover]

You should try to avoid posting about things that you have absolutely no knowledge of.

You must be new here. :-)

Tech Generation?

[dangitman]

But its members share an average age of 70. Not exactly from the tech generation.

What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Somebody who is 70 would have been born in 1940. I'm pretty sure they would have grown up with technology their entire lives. In fact, somebody of that age would have grown up with one of the biggest technology expansions in history. They are almost the definition of "tech generation," and grew up under the influence of people like Albert Einstein.

Re:Tech Generation?

[dangitman]

yes but take a look at the tech they grew up with

Let's see - aircraft, cars, spacecraft, telephony, television, radio. All pretty advanced stuff.

Computers: early days that meant guys/girls that could do math in their heads and later days meant huge things that took punch cards

But people in their 70s or older were the ones who fucking made computing happen. For example: Seymour Cray: born 1925. Alan Turing: born 1912.

Who is the "tech generation" supposed to be? People who are 20-30 years old? I wouldn't trust many of them to know the first thing about technology, unless you call "using Facebook" knowing about technology.

Anyway, since when was technology limited to computing and electronics? I know a bunch of 65-80 year olds who could repair a car blindfolded. How many of today's youth can even change their car's oil? How many could debug a computer program?

Re:Tech Generation?

[dangitman]

What percent of 70-year-olds you know would have the first clue about bypassing an Internet filter?

Probably around 25%. Among younger people, maybe 5-10%.

Australia used to be part of the Commonwealth

[circletimessquare]

now, having its economy dominated by China, it is apparently more like a Southern outpost of the Middle Kingdom. funny though how Chinese cultural understandings of centralized thought domination and control has proven so quickly popular in Canberra

we need to keep an eye on New Zealand, make sure down there all alone in the Antipodes that cabin fever doesn't make it lose it's marbles like Australia obviously has. plus New Zealand has that domestic situation with Mordor being inside its borders

"They were such nice young men"

[CODiNE]

"They had a nice demonstration on how to use the internet, the importance of changing your coffee filters and how to reach the exit it was hard to see with all the signs and the people running around but they taught us how to find it. There's a website that will show you how to get to the exit but only if you change your coffee filters or some such."

Re:Snappy title for The Great Barrier of Australia

[discord5]

Australia's censor system needs a snappy title too.

Since Australia was originally used as a penal colony, I would suggest "The Australian Packet Prison". It has a nice ring to it, and I'm sure some will be offended. To top it off, it works great for Australia bashing.

Niot the tech genreation?

[geekoid]

70 means born in 1940.
They came of age with jet Fighter, space ships, nuclear power and color TV.

Not a computer literate bunch, but they weren't exactly from the dark ages.