Australia's filtering Plan of the internet

[DarkBunny]

Australia's plans to filter Internet under fire
January 2, 2008

An Australian government plan to filter the Internet Wednesday drew criticism from privacy advocates who said it represented the start of state censorship.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, a member of the Labor team which ousted conservative prime minister John Howard in a November election, wants filters in place to shield children from online porn and violence.

Under the plan, Internet service providers would provide feeds filtered free of pornography and other inappropriate material to houses and schools.

Conroy has rejected criticism that the move will debase the freedom of the world wide web and represents a step towards the kind of Internet censorship in place in China where sites are regularly blocked and cyberdissidents arrested.

"Labor makes no apologies to those that argue that any regulation of the Internet is like going down the Chinese road," he told national radio on Monday.

"If people equate freedom of speech with watching child pornography, then the Rudd Labor government is going to disagree."

But chair of the Australian Privacy Foundation Roger Clarke said the plan would not only be ineffective but could have substantial side-effects.

"Many pages will end up getting blocked that shouldn't be blocked," he told AFP. "We don't need that, we need an open Internet."

Clarke said it was the role of parents and guardians, not the government, to protect children from inappropriate material.

"It's not the government's business to control information flows," he said.

"That's the kind of thing that goes on in oppressive countries, in authoritarian countries.

"That's not what the government is there to do."

Peter Coroneos, spokesman for the Internet Industry Association, said providers were already providing free filters and the industry was unsure whether the plan would work.

"At the moment we don't know what the extent of it will be, what it will cost, and whether it will set a precedent for other changes.

"We just don't know if it is feasible," he told Sydney's Daily Telegraph.

Conroy said Internet users would be able to access uncensored material by opting out of the service and that the government would work with industry to ensure the filters did not slow down the service.

"There are people who are going to make all sorts of statements about the impact on the speed," he said.

"But that is why we are engaged constructively with the sector, engaging in trials to find a way to implement this in the best possible way and to work with the sector."
http://news.theage.com.au/technology/australias-plans-to-filter-internet-under-fire-20080102-1jwl.html
whats your view on this?should the government have the right to filter the internet?what are the pros and cons for this plan?will Australia become like china? where everything that is legal,illegal,political or controversial in anyway will be blocked from the public,will freedom of speech be at stake?tell me your thoughts,personally this really pisses me off because this could effect the bandwidth,there is no justification for a project like this,i myself like to look at porn,games,anime,political sites,news,facts about certain issues,this entire plan could block sites that are legitimate because of a huge error in the filter.

[TW501]

First of all, this won't lead to mass-censorship like china or some dystopian future in which government censors everything. In forsight of all the conspiracy theorists who will no doubt swarm on this issue, I just thought I'd say that. That said however, I think they shouldn't be doing this on such a scale. I can see their reasoning for it, but it doesn't seem that necessary, and there are other ways for their goals to be accomplished.

[DarkBunny]

although i do agree with you in some ways,i still think there are better ways to do this,we don't need to ruin the internet for everyone,just because the government is mortified with all the sexual content on the internet and in their plan to filter every bad site,whether it be illegal,legal,political or terrorism related.It is not their job to protect our children,it is the parents decision on how they act with this,you can't blame the internet for your children been a whore,you can however blame bad parenting because it is their job to make sure their children are not corrupted.The other problems with this filter,are it could drastically destroy the bandwidth of the internet,destroy our right to privacy,make people who watch porn act their urges out in real life,that includes rape,murder,bestiality or anything of a extreme nature and illegal nature,if you really want to stop your children from seeing this buy blocking programs,allow them only to use the internet when supervised,allow them to have access only to sites that you agree with,don't let the government control what the rest of the country looks at.heres more information about the filterhttp://www.nocleanfeed.com/learn.html

[Exploits]

First of all, this won't lead to mass-censorship like china or some dystopian future in which government censors everything. In forsight of all the conspiracy theorists who will no doubt swarm on this issue, I just thought I'd say that. That said however, I think they shouldn't be doing this on such a scale. I can see their reasoning for it, but it doesn't seem that necessary, and there are other ways for their goals to be accomplished.

Second of all, your article is a year old.

[DarkBunny]

i know that,i'm trying to find another one atm and what do you think of this plan?

[Razvan_Asakura]

i know that,i'm trying to find another one atm and what do you think of this plan?

The question is, have they done anything so far, since last year? lol


I dunno why from all the countries in the world, Australia is the one who's against this so called "free internet". They barely have 4 or something TV channels. Wtf are they trying to do/accomplish? Become the next North Coreea?

[DarkBunny]

ask kevin rudd that question XD,he's the dickhead who is supporting it and the last article i found on it is thishttp://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/10/23/1224351430987.htmlwhats your view on this Razvan?do you think its invasion of privacy as well as taking away our freedom of speech?

[Razvan_Asakura]

"He said the plan would inevitably result in significant false positives and degrade internet speeds tremendously. Those views were subsequently widely reported by technology media and blogs."

In a world where we face more than often, natural disasters & lately, even human mistakes that may succumb in man's downfall, I somehow don't think that our biggest problem right now would be this one.

Also, the downloading speed dropping down, should be enough for the senators/president and so on, to take on the chance that they may find themselves with a nice riot on their hands, in the most critical moment of this century.

[DarkBunny]

thats true but its still an important one for Australia at least,i mean were already against certain plans>_______<like free internet for some stupid reason,better internet,violence in video games,gay marriage and now this filter

[Razvan_Asakura]

With all do respect, I think it's just trying to be like Japan & failing at it.
My opinion.

[DarkBunny]

yeah well there hasn't been anymore news of it yet,but i think its still happening,i hope not though since i like my internet fast not incredibly slow>____________<this is one of the main reasons why i hate Australia

[airyie]

Well, we had prohibition. I guess Australia is trying to get internet filtering...

But seriously, the internet's freedom is one of the things that makes it so popular and great. You don't have to be kept in the dark about things.

I mean, yeah, I understand why the general public/ parents/ etc would want to filter porn, but that is not the government's place.

Here's to hoping Australia doesn't end up with an internet filter. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you guys.

[Luna]

Even if it does happen, people are liable to find a way around the filter. Where there's a will, there's a way, and some people certainly love porn. The fact that it's aimed at schools and homes sounds like there's the potential to opt out of it. It probably wouldn't be such an issue if it were schools and public libraries. But I would expect that most schools and libraries already have filters of their own in place. Before I graduated high school, they already had a filter that even prevented access to myspace.

Trying to keep something like a nationwide filter updated regularly would probably require a large amount of tax dollars. It also will beg the question of what specifically will be defined as 'pornography' as opposed to 'art'. Australia may have its own share of nudist colonies, with plenty of people who might like to publish their family photos online.

[Exploits]

My school had filters too. We just used proxies to get around it. Then they got clever and blacklisted the word proxy so we couldn't even look for proxies anymore. :<

There went all our afternoons playing flashgames.

[Luna]

Most of our kids managed to use the babel fish translators to get around it. There were probably people who used proxies originally, but I doubt that lasted long. Some classrooms even had a program that would allow the instructor to see everyone's desktop from a single computer, and thus know if you were doing things that you shouldn't be. It's probably something similar to what Dell has for their tech support service, but less sophisticated. I don't remember if the school program could grant remote access to control a student computer from the instructor's or not.

[DarkBunny]

there is another option exploits:)ever heard of VPN?i use to use proxies all the time in high school but my school found a way to block .PHP so we lost one of the best proxies>__<@Luna they are trying to figure out what is classified as Pornography and what is classified as Art,then theres the age appropriation issue,who are they going to make it appropriate for 40,30,20,15,12,8 etc and of course theres the fact that it incorrectly blocks every 10,000 sites in every million.

What is known so far:
* Filtering will be mandatory in all homes and schools across the country.1
* The clean feed will censor material that is "harmful and inappropriate" for children.2
* The filter will require a massive expansion of the ACMA's blacklist of prohibited content.3
* The Government wants to use dynamic filters of questionable accuracy that slow the internet down by an average of 30%.4
* The filtering will target legal as well as illegal material.5
* $44m has been budgeted for the implementation of this scheme so far.6
* The clean-feed for children will be opt-out, but a second filter will be mandatory for all Internet users.7
* A live pilot deployment is going ahead in the near future.
do you know what this program is called?I think my old school may have a similar program

[Luna]

Sounds like a recipe for black market ISP's.
It may prevent and limit access to some internet material, but in the grand scheme of things, it's just forcing people who refuse to go along with it to find a new way to get their kicks.

[DarkBunny]

there doing it because they claim its the best way to stop child pornography apparently>_____<but its not like you can stop it just like that,theres also the fact that they want to block both illegal content and legal content,but that will take ages considering that most illegal sites would be hard to find and legal sites well theres heaps and then they have to define what is acceptable for us to view which is bullshit i can understand all the illegal shit but why legal stuff too?

[vgrippa]

Haha!! Filtering the internet. :rotfllmao: That is like putting a number value on ∞

[dyne]

this will never happen the internet is everyone's crack, if the government tried to take it away they would be burned on a cross similar to Jesus but this time it would be real.

[DarkBunny]

doesn't mean they won't try,luckily there are ways to bypass this filter

[blunt_smoker_420]

Ya there are lost away to get around those filters, I use dozens of proxies at school the same will happen there.

[DarkBunny]

unless they find a way to block all proxies>___________<whats your view on this issue blunt?

[blunt_smoker_420]

It's possible and my school started a log of any and all activity by students. If a moderator (teachers) is viewing your current activity while your on one they can send you a DT over the web lol. This is a real pain and there is really no way to tell if your being watched, I just clear my history ALOT and use a different proxy every time because once it's used again that is when you get caught.

[DarkBunny]

yeah its very annoying>__________________<i change proxies quite often too,whats your view on this entire issue?do you think they should be allowed to do this?is there some kind of alterior motive

[blunt_smoker_420]

I can see a reason to block porn at school but I think they will take it further and further as time progresses. They just want to control kids in school in everything they do, now its porn and violence next it will be any and every website besides the few they set aide. At that point what is the internet good for, absolutely nothing.

[DarkBunny]

not just at school,at home too>________________<agreed you take out all the porn,the violence,the political stuff,shows making fun of america like south park,well then you have basically nothing on the internet apart from really boring stuff

[blunt_smoker_420]

If its at home too I strongly disagree with that why should people in there own home be policed on what they do on the net, If they want to look at some porn let them! School is ok to a point but at home is just insane.

[DarkBunny]

yeah well Australia is becoming an insane country>______________<i'm so close to moving to Europe

[blunt_smoker_420]

Sounds to me they want to control What the public knows and whats to stop them from be coming a dictatorship, I know that sounds extreme but if you can control what people see on the net and limit information whats to stop that from censoring T.V., then radio, and eventually why you act in public.

[DarkBunny]

you are a very smart guy^________________^its not farfetched at all,its quite possible that they will try that too,first filter the net,next censor the tv,then censor the radio,then control how your allowed to act in public etc

[blunt_smoker_420]

You have to hope the public views this the same way as you and I and puts a stop to this. Not sure on how Australian government works but do you vote on these issues?

[DarkBunny]

thats the funny thing,the public seems to scared to step up and say anything>__________<check this site it will give you more information on thishttp://www.nocleanfeed.com/learn.htmlit will tell you the governments plans,also we can vote on these issues but generally people are too scared

[blunt_smoker_420]

Wow that's ridiculous, the one thing I notice is they say its for the "children" but isn't there soft wear that parents buy that block dirty sites for there childs profile but not theirs?

[DarkBunny]

yeah there is,but they want do more than just block it,i'll get you some more information on thishttp://broadbannedrevolution.blogspot.com/http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/10/23/1224351430987.htmlhttp://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2008/10/net-filters-required-for-all-australians-no-opt-out.arsheres some other stuff on it

[blunt_smoker_420]

Very expensive, seems to me they could spend the money on something more helpful to the community like...trying to cure cancer. This is a lost cause the only way they can stop the things I read is to block just about all sites including any and every search engine.

[DarkBunny]

yeah its a huge waste of money>______________<i don't know why they are bothering

[blunt_smoker_420]

The only reason i can think is to isolate the availability of information and they are saying its for a completely different reason.

[DarkBunny]

yeah for the protection of children or some shit like that

[blunt_smoker_420]

Yup and even though that may happen i still think there is more to it.

[DarkBunny]

yep there has to be more to this,why filter the net at schools and homes,something is very suspicious about this

[blunt_smoker_420]

How long has this been in your news?

[DarkBunny]

for a year

[blunt_smoker_420]

Wow so it must be close into going into effect.

[DarkBunny]

yeah probably,its been quiet though,we haven't heard much since last year

[blunt_smoker_420]

All you can do is hope they threw the idea out because if it does get approved there will be alot of very board Australians!

[DarkBunny]

well if it does pass,i will so move to Europe^__________________^

[blunt_smoker_420]

I dont blame you, I have never heard of anything like that, doesn't violate some civil right?

[DarkBunny]

well i think it could very well destroy freedom of speech

[blunt_smoker_420]

yes, and isn't there one about obtaining information.

[DarkBunny]

yeah i think so i can't remember what it is though

[wildharmony]

I think it would also create more crime in the long run. It'll probably happen within the next couple of years, its a huge venture; though i'd doubt it would work unless you'd want to turn this country into communists

[DarkBunny]

yeah theres the other issue,with the porn sites,especially the fetish ones,people may go out and act out these fantasys because they have no other way to get them out,that includes Pedophilia,beastiality,rape fantasys etc,i mean the whole of australia will turn into anarchy