Australian Internet Censorship: Going too far?

[Kraiden]

Leaked Australian blacklist reveals banned sites - Wikileaks

Very, very interesting read. if this bill gets passed (which I doubt), It could be possible that ADISC could be blocked for all Australians.

Technically, the proposed system will reduce our internet speeds by up to 85%. A leading australian telecommunications company, IINet (I think) have puleld out of the plan, stating that It's deeply flawed, easy to bypass and is much more trouble than it's worth.

"Far from containing just "illegal material" such as child pornography, the list of prohibited websites includes a wealth of legal material such as regular gay and straight porn sites, YouTube links, online poker sites, Wikipedia entries, euthanasia sites and even the sites of a Queensland dentist, a school canteen consultancy and an animal carer."

"It became increasingly clear that the trial was not simply about restricting child pornography or other such illegal material, but a much wider range of issues including what the Government simply describes as 'unwanted material' without an explanation of what that includes."

Your thoughts? Personally, I think the entire idea is absolutely, totally insane, and will cause a lot of backlash if it gets passed.

 

[Lowie]

That sounds ridiculous! I can't see how that will get passed.

If it does everybody will just bypass it somehow anyways.

 

[frillyfoxy]

I had read about this a week or soago. It is a great example of why I always have instant distrust of almost any "save the children" legislation. It seems to either come in two forms. Hilariously ill thought out laws that accomplish nothing in the long run and simply scare the shit out of people, or laws that are simply using the red menace of pedophilia to get censorship or worse passed in the name of "saving the children."

As soon as you add kids into the mix people seem to lose their shit and turn off all ability to actually think. It's the community version of "stop the terrorists." There is a never ending sea of horribly vile shit on the internet, but censorship is being pushed in the name of the children. It is ridiculous.

 

[dogboy]

It makes me wonder how many things are blocked here in the U.S. and we don't even know about it. I'm always opposed to censorship, because it always relies on someone else's opinion. I can understand why child porn would be blocked, but it's like you said, when does something like adisc become blocked?

 

[frillyfoxy]

Nothing is blocked universally in the US. One of the very issues of censuring like this, as has been brought up a lot in Australia, is that it is actually very difficult to do. It isn't something you can just up and decide to start doing and have it working. There is a rather large infrastructure required. On top of that it is simple enough to find a proxy.

The net is so large you pretty much have to run a black list not a white list, and any time you run a blacklist you are pretty much guaranteed to fail. Unless you are running a white list security will eventually lose out to the determined individual.

 

[kapi]

"For the children!"

Somehow this must be a global illness at the moment. Germany tries the same. I just hope this law is never passed - or ripped apart by the high court afterwards.

I think some of those really stupid politicians actually think they are doing the right thing, on the other hand they dont know what a browser is or does.

 

[Charlie]

Complete insanity.

Don't forget this when it's election time.

 

[Hex]

[font="Calibri,Arial"]Sorry Kraiden, bet you to it. Posted this about a month ago[/font]

 

[Fire2box]

Someone hacked a website and put up a anti-censorship message. I don't think they should really be charged with anything unless they did something really bad to screw up the system. This also shows the government that some people will not stand for bullshit like this.

Hackers deface Aussie Classification Web site - News at GameSpot

 

[h3g3l]

Yes.

Without even reading the article.

ANY restriction on Internet content that is placed outside the home of the "receiving end" of the content is too much. If there's a problem (CP, etc.) then it needs to be addressed at the source and only secondarily at each viewer's machine.

Someone hacked a website and put up a anti-censorship message. I don't think they should really be charged with anything unless they did something really bad to screw up the system. This also shows the government that some people will not stand for bullshit like this.

Hackers deface Aussie Classification Web site - News at GameSpot

I disagree with you, Fire2box. A computer crime is still a computer crime, regardless of target or content. If someone stole my car because it's "bad for the environment" I would still want them prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I wouldn't roll over and say that, because I cannot afford a hybrid or hydrogen or electric car, I had the theft coming.

The crime is the same, regardless of grounds or the target.

I support the sentiment, but not the means of demonstration.

 

[kitty0230]

We are not on the blacklist, I just checked, as a matter of fact, we are not on ANY of the blacklists listed on wikileaks. I googled: adisc site:Wikileaks - Wikileaks

but, I still think that it is very fascist to restrict internet access.

 

[Fire2box]

Yes.

Without even reading the article.

ANY restriction on Internet content that is placed outside the home of the "receiving end" of the content is too much. If there's a problem (CP, etc.) then it needs to be addressed at the source and only secondarily at each viewer's machine.

I disagree with you, Fire2box. A computer crime is still a computer crime, regardless of target or content. If someone stole my car because it's "bad for the environment" I would still want them prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I wouldn't roll over and say that, because I cannot afford a hybrid or hydrogen or electric car, I had the theft coming.

The crime is the same, regardless of grounds or the target.

I support the sentiment, but not the means of demonstration.

I view changing text on a website home page very differently then someone stealing a car. This thing also demonstrates that regardless of what system a country puts in place people can/will find a way to bypass it.

 

[Verscha]

Complete insanity.

Don't forget this when it's election time.

Nah, this was originally thought up by the Liberal government and carried on by the Labor one.

At any rate, anyone who can't see the bad side to a secret website blacklist is an idiot. Unfortunately 'idiot' and 'politician' seem to be synonymous, especially concerning any issues regarding the internet and technology.

 

[frillyfoxy]

Nah, this was originally thought up by the Liberal government and carried on by the Labor one.

At any rate, anyone who can't see the bad side to a secret website blacklist is an idiot. Unfortunately 'idiot' and 'politician' seem to be synonymous, especially concerning any issues regarding the internet and technology.

The thing is reasonable people get these ideas, and given enough reasonable people it would be fine. The thing is "enough reasonable people" is like communism, a great theory that fails in practice.

At the end of the day even with a bunch of reasonable people in charge only blacklisting actual hard core pedophile sites and rings it would be a moot point because blacklists don't work. The pedophiles would vastly outnumber a team of people blacklisting sites. It wouldn't be maintainable in an effective way. In the end running a "to catch a predator" style snooping op will be way more effective since it uses the unmanageable tool to navigate to the source of it anyways.

 

[EmeraldsAndLime]

Sickening.

 

[Boogeyman]

Your title is an oxymoron.