Australian Government Backdoor Internet Filter Shuts Down 1,000 Websites

Posted by Soulskill on Friday May 17, 2013 @09:25AM from the protecting-you-from-yourselves dept.

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."

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If a government makes it hard to report corruption by kawabago · 2013-05-17 09:33 · Score: 5, Interesting

They must be thoroughly corrupt.
Re:Too bad by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-17 10:05 · Score: 5, Insightful

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.