Australian Government Backdoor Internet Filter Shuts Down 1,000 Websites

An anonymous reader writes "The Australian government has secretly censored over 1,000 web sites through a hitherto-unused internet censorship law. In April the Melbourne Free University was blocked without any explanation. Section 313 of the Telecommunications Act allows the government to close web sites without warning to "uphold laws, protect public revenue and safeguard national security". This is open to abuse as Australians only have limited free speech rights which already make it difficult for the press to report corruption."

Comments

If a government makes it hard to report corruption

[kawabago]

They must be thoroughly corrupt.

And the 1000 sites are?

[justthinkit]

And the 1000 sites are? This came up a few days ago and I asked the same question. It would reveal more of the intent of the Australian dictatorship.

Re:And the 1000 sites are?

[dbIII]

Whatever can be said about the Australian government it appears that you don't know enough to comment on it one way or another. Dictatorship? WTF? It's a hung parliment in the balance FFS where a single person changing sides would bring it down. That's about as far from dictatorship as you can get in an elected system.

but...but

[WillgasM]

the Backdoor Internet is my favorite Internet.

Re:Too bad

[Anonymous Coward]

But don't forget the median household income is $43,960 and they have 5.6% unemployment. Free healthcare and education. So don't get too crazy about free speech and all. They can go at least another 20 years before they have sold the whole country to China.

Re: Too bad

[Anonymous Coward]

Whilst funny, Fosters is not popular in Australia and is rarely seen

Re:If a government makes it hard to report corrupt

[jc42]

What do you expect from a country that originally had a white population from only two different groups: Criminals, and jailers?

Reminds me of a quip from an Aussie acquaintance a few years ago: He said he was happy that Australia got the criminals and America got the religious groups.

Of course, that's not really relevant to this issue. Politicians anywhere should be assumed corrupt and on the take unless they can prove otherwise. And laws limiting the population's access to information about their government's inner workings are de-facto proof of the "otherwise".

Re:Too bad

[Aaron B Lingwood]

The locals are too busy sitting on the tailgate of their ute (bought on credit) drinking cans of VB and acting bogan do anything about it.

Or else they are off chasing some blonde from Home & Away. Anyway censorship and freedom of speech are unreported in the Fox-controlled media

FTFY

Re:Too bad

[Anonymous Coward]

just goes to show you know nothing but Aussies:
- they don't drink fosters (that's for yank tourists)
- they have 'utes' - not pickup trucks
- they're macho because they don't assume that everything said to them is a veiled insult
- and the women chase the men - usually with sticks and knives.

But thanks for illustrating the difference between us and you ;)

Re:Too bad

[digitig]

Nobody actually drinks fosters ..

Yeah, they drink VB, which actually manages to be worse.

Re:If a government makes it hard to report corrupt

[icebike]

You pretty much contradicted yourself. If it was blocked in error then SOMEBODY must have some blocking in place, No?

Australian Securities and Investments Commission was behind the blocking of the Melbourne Free University website

Further, this was already admitted by the Australian government:

The news came tonight in a statement issued by the office of Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, following a controversial event in April which saw some 1,200 websites wrongfully blocked by several of Australia’s major Internet service providers.

Over the past week, a number of different Federal Government involved in Internet regulation, including the Attorney-General’s Department, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Communications and Media Authority have denied involvement in the April block. However, tonight Senator Conroy’s office revealed that the incident that resulted in Melbourne Free University and more than a thousand other sites being blocked originated from a different source — financial regulator the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.

Australians only have limited free speech rights .

[manu0601]

As opposed to another country that has free speech, but citizen votes have no effect at all on most outcome.

not lies at all

[ferret4]

Healthcare is free if your taxable income is low enough (otherwise you pay the Medicare Levy each tax year unless you have bought Health Insurance).

Education is free for everyone up until University (but you can choose to pay to send your kids to private school).

Re:Too bad

[Dr Damage I]

The hon(!) R. Finkelstein in the Independent Inquiry into the Media and Media Regulation commissioned by the Australian Federal government:

"In the United States, free speech is given primacy among rights, and therefore the potential harm caused by restrictions on speech is thought to outweigh the potential harm caused by speech that is not restricted. In Australia free speech does not necessarily have the same primacy. "

A respected Australian retired judge would seem to endorse that view. And he not only applauds the greater restrictions on their speech that Australians "enjoy", he thinks that we don't enjoy enough of them.

Re:If a government makes it hard to report corrupt

[Zontar The Mindless]

Having lived in both countries, I'll take the crims any day. Much safer with them there, and the religious whackjobs on the far side of the Pacific.

Re:Too bad

[Zontar The Mindless]

My daughter got to survive her very difficult birth thanks to free Australian medical care.

Which would have bankrupted her mum and me had we stayed in the States to get married and settle, as we were penniless at the time, even assuming that we'd been able to get the care they needed in the US, without being able to prove we could pay for it first.

Just thought you might like to know.