Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

No Internet “kill Switch” For Australia

Posted by samzenpus on from the always-open dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Well, it looks as though at least some Governments have a backbone. Egypt switched off its internet to stop protests over the past few days, and the US Government is considering legislation that will give the President 'kill switch' powers over the internet as well. But in Australia, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy — best known for his attempt to filter the country's internet for child pornography and the country's flagship national fibre broadband rollout, says such a scenario couldn't occur."

2 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Weather by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Informative

    Funnily enough a lot of people on the coast where the cyclone hit are reporting fair 3G coverage and usable internet access. Its probably less vulnerable than power because it is either buried cables or wireless. Queensland is tropical and the weather there is often quite wild. The teletext service used to (maybe still does) operate out of channel 7 in Brisbane and it was always going down due to massive electrical storms.

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
  2. No kill switch? Ha. by Wizarth · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is the same government that wants to be able to blacklist any URL secretly.

    The EFA AU said it best: http://www.efa.org.au/2011/02/03/conroy-not-fooling-anyone/