The future of the internet in Australia?

[FireAnt]

I know I haven't been around much lately, but I thought I should stop by to let people here know about some fairly disturbing events occurring in the land down under.

Firstly, on the 6th of January a law was passed in the state of South Australia that requires, during the period leading up to a state election, anyone commenting online regarding the upcoming election, to provide their name and postcode when commenting. This law completely removes any possibility of anonymity since with this information it is possible to find exactly where somebody lives and, if a certain person were to disagree with the comment, to "confront" that person.

Link 1 (http://www.news.com.au/technology/south-australian-state-government-gags-internet-debate/story-e6frfro0-1225825750956)

Link 2 (http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/outrage-as-south-australias-rann-government-opposition-unite-to-gag-internet-election-debate/story-e6frf7l6-1225826073800)


Secondly, a mandatory national web filter is currently being developed and has undergone testing. The content this filter is to prohibit is to be determined by an independent body. This list of sites will be kept secret from the public and there will be no channel to appeal the banning of any of these sites.

This filter has the capacity to block any site that those with the power determine is unsuitable. Although the government is advertising it as a way to stop the usual unwanted content, there is the very likely chance that it will develop into something that will ban the sites of political dissidents etc. I have heard that this internet filter may in fact be more robust than the one currently implemented in China. The government has already agreed to its implementation and it is scheduled to go before parliament sometime this year.

Link 1 (http://www.news.com.au/technology/government-pushes-forward-with-internet-filtering/story-e6frfro0-1225810826659)

Link 2 (http://www.efa.org.au/censorship/mandatory-isp-blocking/)

No more freedom to express political views...tick!
No more public access to information...tick!

Something doesn't seem right about all of this. :monkey:

[Defiant Noquisi]

I really had such hope for Rudd after the trashing that Howard had done. However, with craptactics such as this under his administration, Australia isn't much better off.

The nice, clean and wholesome government site

http://www.netalert.gov.au/

The Plan

http://www.dbcde.gov.au/funding_and_programs/cybersafety_plan

An Explanation

http://www.cla.asn.au/0805/index.php/articles/2010/internet-filtering-debate-history-lbr-gand-where-to-go-in-the-future?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CivilLibertiesAustraliaUpdate shomePage-CivilLibertiesAustralia+%28Civil+Liberties+Austral ia%29


Join the opposition:

http://www.efa.org.au/

http://nocleanfeed.com/

http://www.stopinternetcensorship.org/

http://www.block-the-filter.org/

Keep in mind, the Australian constitution does not have any direct laws that guarantee the right to free speech.

http://www.hrcr.org/safrica/expression/freedom_speech.html

[Traveler]

Now that is some news I really did not want to hear

[Cartesiantheater]

Fuck that shit. Free speech is vital to a free society. Jesus Christ what's wrong with people.

[Defiant Noquisi]

Fuck that shit. Free speech is vital to a free society. Jesus Christ what's wrong with people.

Please note that there is no "guarantee" of free speech in their constitution. However, one could easily get the impression that it's never really stopped anyone from speaking out anyway. If you read over the websites I linked, they don't look that much different than what I'd see from any country that does have free speech guarantees. Believe me, much of the Australian population that cares about this want to see testicles speared and are pretty forthcoming regarding their issues with this topic.

[Reef Badlaw]

Like smoking-bans lead to more and more intrusive bans (sodium, fatty foods, etc., or from smoking in a public place to smoking in your own home) against personal-behavior versus 'the good of the Public', Australia's clumsy attempt to censor most of the video-game industry, while squelching opposing voices to muted blog-whispers, leads to stunts like internet-regulation, in my opinion. Freedoms are a house-of-cards... and it's human-nature to meddle in somebody's affairs, to justify one's own;

Look, everybody ! I successfully crusaded against smoking-on-a-public-bus while utterly ignoring/fearing-to-crusade against the shamelessly filthy carbon-output of the buses themselves ! I guess I really AM vitally-superior to my community, aren't I !?