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OCAU News |
Internet Censorship in Australia
(34 Comments)
(link)
Thursday, 3-January-2008 15:03:10 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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A recent declaration from the Government about mandatory internet filters has me concerned. Senator Conroy says it will be mandatory for all internet service providers to provide clean feeds, or ISP filtering, to houses and schools that are free of pornography and inappropriate material. More worrying: Senator Conroy says anyone wanting uncensored access to the internet will have to opt out of the service.
Electronic Frontiers Australia have attacked this Clean-Feed Proposal in an announcement released yesterday. "Waving the 'save the children' flag may be good politics, but it ignores serious technological problems which will likely cause the proposed scheme to fail," said EFA Chair Dale Clapperton. "Furthermore, Australia is supposed to be a liberal democracy where adults have the freedom to say and read what they want, not just what the Government decides is 'appropriate' for them." I definitely recommend reading this article.
There's another article here outlining some of the previous attempts to do something similar, and how they failed. Even the current "CleanFeed" system has issues. Telstra BigPond spokesman Craig Middleton said yesterday: "We stand alongside the IIA and other ISPs in the view that PC-based filtering, in the hands of a responsible parent, is the only workable solution." Another article here points out the very real technical, financial, moral and social issues with attempting to limit what Australians can do on the internet by default.
More critical articles here, here, here, here, here - basically all over the net. There's even a Facebook group which makes some interesting points.
There's a lengthy thread discussing this issue here in our Current Events forum. That thread also covers the recent Restricted Access System Declaration 2007 (more info here) where the onus is placed on online content providers to check the ages of subscribers before allowing them access to certain types of info. From the perspective of a forum operator I have another set of concerns about that system, too, but I'm waiting to see how the Codes of Conduct are developed over the next couple of weeks.
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