The Great One For All Australian Firewall

[enigm@tic]

Primus compares compulsory web filtering to China | News | News.com.au

 

[Harper]

My fears have been confirmed.

Subject: Complaint Reference: 2009000009/ ACMA-691604278
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:45:00 +1100
From: online@acma.gov.au

Complaint Reference: 2009000009/ ACMA-691604278

I refer to the complaint that you lodged with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) on 5th January 2009 about certain content made available at:
[link snipped due to it's nature]

Following investigation of your complaint, ACMA is satisfied that the internet content is hosted outside Australia, and that the content is prohibited or potential prohibited content.

The Internet Industry Association (IIA) has a code of practice (Internet Industry Association - Download latest version of Code:) for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) which, among other things, set out arrangements for dealing with such content. In accordance with the code, ACMA has notified the above content to the makers of IIA approved filters, for their attention and appropriate action. The code requires ISPs to make available to customers an IIA approved filter.

Information about ACMA's role in regulating online content (including internet and mobile content), including what is prohibited or potentially prohibited content is available at ACMA's website at ACMA - Online content complaints

Thank you for bringing this matter to ACMA's attention.

This is just proof that Conroy's CP arguement is nothing more than a smoke screen.

 

[meat_helmet]

Geez, now we really can't pay out americans for fredom of information. And what a bloody waste of money.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Just use tor...

 

[Harper]

Just use tor...

Yeah. I just love using Tor to surf the Internet with at snail's pace.

Don't get me wrong. Tor is a good programs, but when you only have about 3 1/2 pipes leaving the the country, it does make surfing the net painfully slow.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Better than nothing IMO, you could always buy a proxy service in the US or something and vpn into it or something couldn't ya?

 

[Harper]

Don't start celibrating just yet, however....

Web censorship plan heads towards a dead end - BizTech - Technology - smh.com.au

Web censorship plan heads towards a dead end

February 26, 2009 - 2:54PM

The Government's plan to introduce mandatory internet censorship has effectively been scuttled, following an independent senator's decision to join the Greens and Opposition in blocking any legislation required to get the scheme started.

The Opposition's communications spokesman Nick Minchin has this week obtained independent legal advice saying that if the Government is to pursue a mandatory filtering regime "legislation of some sort will almost certainly be required".

Senator Nick Xenophon previously indicated he may support a filter that blocks online gambling websites but in a phone interview today he withdrew all support, saying "the more evidence that's come out, the more questions there are on this".

The Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, has consistently ignored advice from a host of technical experts saying the filters would slow the internet, block legitimate sites, be easily bypassed and fall short of capturing all of the nasty content available online.

Despite this, he is pushing ahead with trials of the scheme using six ISPs - Primus, Tech 2U, Webshield, OMNIconnect, Netforce and Highway 1.

But even the trials have been heavily discredited, with experts saying the lack of involvement from the three largest ISPs, Telstra, Optus and iiNet, means the trials will not provide much useful data on the effects of internet filtering in the real-world.

Senator Conroy originally pitched the filters as a way to block child porn but - as ISPs, technical experts and many web users feared - the targets have been broadened significantly since then.

ACMA's secret blacklist, which will form the basis of the mandatory censorship regime, contains 1370 sites, only 674 of which relate to depictions of children under 18. A significant portion - 506 sites - would be classified R18+ and X18+, which is legal to view but would be blocked for everyone under the proposal.

This week Senator Conroy said there was "a very strong case for blocking" other legal content that has been "refused classification". According to the classification code, this includes sites depicting drug use, crime, sex, cruelty, violence or "revolting and abhorrent phenomena" that "offend against the standards of morality".

And last month, ACMA added an anti-abortion website to its blacklist because it showed photographs of what appears to be aborted foetuses. The Government has said it was considering expanding the blacklist to 10,000 sites and beyond.

Xenophon said instead of implementing a blanket mandatory censorship regime the Government should instead put the money towards educating parents on how to supervise their kids online and tackling "pedophiles through cracking open those peer-to-peer groups".

Technical experts have said the filters proposed by the Government would do nothing to block child porn being transferred on encrypted peer-to-peer networks.

"I'm very skeptical that the Government is going down the best path on this," said Xenophon.

"I commend their intentions but I think the implementation of this could almost be counter-productive and I think the money could be better spent."

The policy has attracted opposition from online consumers, lobby groups, ISPs, network administrators, some children's welfare groups, the Opposition, the Greens, NSW Young Labor and even the conservative Liberal senator Cory Bernardi, who famously tried to censor the chef Gordon Ramsay's swearing on television.

This week, a national telephone poll of 1100 people, conducted by Galaxy and commissioned by online activist group GetUp, found that only 5 per cent of Australians want ISPs to be responsible for protecting children online and only 4 per cent want Government to have this responsibility.

A recent survey by Netspace of 10,000 of the ISP's customers found 61 per cent strongly opposed mandatory internet filtering with only 6.3 per cent strongly agreeing with the policy.

An expert report, handed to the Government last February but kept secret until December after it was uncovered by the Herald, concluded the proposed scheme was fundamentally flawed.

Even Labor has previously opposed ISP-level internet filtering when the Howard Government raised it as a method for protecting kids online.

"Unfortunately, such a short memory regarding the debate in 1999 about internet content has led the coalition to already offer support for greater censorship by actively considering proposals for unworkable, quick fixes that involve filtering the internet at the ISP level," Labor Senator Kate Lundy said in 2003.

The more i head about this, the more i don't think the government is going to go ahead with it.

 

[Harper]

March In March Details

Finally some organisation from the DLC in reagards to March-In-March.

MARCH IN MARCH
DATE :- March 21, 2009
TIME :- 1pm
LOCATION :- Federation Mall, ACT, Australia​

Not sure if I will be able make it this or not. As much as I would like to come along to this, I am moving appartment very shortly.

 

[Boma]

Just think if it passes, maybe they'll block this website since it protests the censorship.

We have to fight them using effective language.

In today's liberal society, we have to use words that work. Explaining why it won't work and why it is a waste of tax payer's money will have no affect on the politician, for all they want is to push their views no matter what. It has no affect in making the politician look bad, since it will be discounted as an opinion or viewpoint.

We should focus on using any language needed to make them look bad. Even though we're above using stupid ignorant statements.

Play the race card against him. Just throw all the muck you can on him. Pull out all stops. Politicians are dirty by nature, we the computer user/public usually aren't as bad. Gotta fight fire with fire, that's how they play!

 

[Harper]

the protest was yesturday? I was way too busy packing boxes. Did any one go?

Been checking both the SMH and Daily Teligraph sites, and I can not find any thing on the protest.

Leaked Australian blacklist reveals banned sites - Technology - smh.com.au

Dentist, tuckshop cited on web blacklist - web - Technology - smh.com.au