Internet censorship - Danger! Options

[Bryan]

The government has been keeping this very quiet, but there are (extremely ill-advised) moves afoot to introduce compulsory ISP-level content filtering throughout the whole country. This draconian move is being pushed by the religious-right and if you don't think it will have any effect on you, think again.

After bleating on about Chinese internet censorship during the Beijing Olympics, our own illustrious government wants to do the same thing!

This has been tried and has failed in many other countries, so the government has commissioned reports about it. Most have come back with the answer that the scheme can't work, so of course those have been ignored. Apparently one has said it's doable, so they're going with that.

The main problems are these:
1. It will slow our already slow access speeds by up to 86% to allow for the examination of search terms and content.
2. It will block things that should get through (as has been shown overseas).
3. It will allow things that should be blocked (as has also been shown overseas).
4. It will drastically restrict internet access to material on many research topics. Imagine the case of a student doing research either on Jihad or paedophilia. Can you see ASIO not kicking the door down at 3:00 in the morning?
5. And most importantly, the filter will block anything the government deems 'inappropriate'! After John Howard's axing of The Glass House, you can imagine where this will lead next time we have a socially unevolved government in power (not that the present one is any great shakes).

The unintended (or maybe intended?) consequences of this for Postgrad, Academic and even Undergrad research will be horrific and we've got to get a ground swell of opposition going now before it's too late.

I don't for one moment advocate kiddie porn or violence on the internet, but the collateral ramifications of this hare-brained, one-size-fits-all scheme are just too great! Whatever happened to personal responsibility? Why should the whole country be subjected to the moral viewpoint of one, itself none too evolved, lobby?

Below are a couple of links that will give you some more detail. Tell all your friends! Lobby your idiot pollies! Don't let them get away with this - it will be just too convenient for successive governments to ever undo.

Filter advocates need to check their facts

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