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.

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

[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.