Internet Censorship Trials

[Rabelais]

Fox News are even reporting this. Joining China and Iran, Australia to Filter Internet

From the Guardian in the UK to Fox in the US. Australia is becoming a laughing stock - we deserve it.

Chiral

Will it be illegal to use any means to bypass the filter...?

Not for now.

[mac]

Grants will also be offered to ISPs to voluntarily block other content.

In other words they will bribe ISP's to filter "other content" that our government would rather us not see, like corruption in government & anything going against their policy's

Edited December 16, 2009 by mac

[Chiral]

Now lets just step back and have a good look at that...Australia to join..CHINA and IRAN I mean WTF..!!!

Australia the great testing ground for all things evil. was having a heated discussion about all this today with some people, why on earth are these tosser's spending millions of dollars on this when pedophile rings and hard core porn sites are already probably running darknet systems, I mean how can you even find this stuff on the net, they are a tight nit bunch of wierdo's that probably have serious security and risk management protocols set up to evade the authorities anyways. When are children able to view porn, the risk is when they are home using parents or siblings computers...yes..so why can't parents who want to protect their children apply for individual type filtering content from their isp..are children between 2 & 16 getting on a bus and heading downtown to sit in cyber cafes to browse porn..? No they are not surely, and anyways the very few incidents of pedophile interactions with children are done via discreet or not so discreet chat programs..are we supposed to believe that childsex.com is a readily available web page to anyone.

How on earth can you justify telling adults what they can and can't read or view, and seriously this is what this is, save the children my ass, if you are a parent and you allow your children unsupervised endless amounts of web surfing then you are at fault if they are able to view "adult" material. this is just a lazy ass band aid that will allow parents to leave kids unsupervised while they sip chardonay on the patio whilst looking at the water view they made by poisoning the local gum population down below in the valley. Whats wrong with a prepaid under 16's isp company, it's content is strictly for under 16's, parents can purchase a plan or card, child can only ever access a designated search engine that has been designed specifically for under16's.

you know all this bollocks is fall out from 9-11...anti terrorist laws, paranoia, tying in the so called the criminal element..drugs, religious fractions, the dissonant, anarchists, anything that even slight seems against the system as being viewed with money for terror. Last I heard there was no "pedophile internet epidemic" sweeping Australia currently or in the past, so why are these bureaucrats so hell bent and dogmatic about filtering content..? Is it really more about drugs and how the underground has connected, they have lost control, can't find ways to muzzle in and continue to make profits from illegal sales via the net. I've heard that seeking out unclassified sites will use a "hot word" protocol, so there will be a list compiled of hot words and who ever it is that seeks out websites for filtering/classification, will search via "hot wording" ..I can only imagine the total shit fight that will bring about. What about you tube..? how on earth does a filter control what we can and can't view on potentially the most popular website in the last 5 years.

A house in Mexico is looking a very likely outcome.

[mac]

The password protected parental controls work just fine at my place

[reptyle]

Some of you seem to have this strange idea that we are doing something wrong here? Where does the self persecution come from? There is no need to worry, we aren't even covered by this filter...

You can still buy snu's ott's HHH's and many many other grow books, science book, and social studies books in any ordinary book store...polyester bookstore sell tons of random shit...there is nothing to worry about...they arent going to target "us".

i find it so unerving that such a large percentage of people here have a negative, wingeing and victim mentality...there is this overwhelming pessimism, not looking for solutions, not even attempting to understand why this may be happening...simply complaining and making yourselves look and talk like the oppressed peoples...which your not, you sound kinda like a counter-revolutionary adversary hell bent on buying into the drivel that some conspiracy fools are feeding you with your morning coco-pops.

China wasnt an empire with the ability to dominate the world for thousands of years and produce the sages of antiquity by simply smashing down walls and actually caring what, in the limited imaginations of those minions who might think otherwise, their workers thought they wanted.

either drop out and stop using the system, do something proactive about changing it, or relax the fuck and let the good times roll!

And as much as i would get a kick out of seeing someone from this board on the news, doing something, i dont think it's going to happen anytime soon...i'm not going to profile the average SAB user, im sure u can do that for yourself, but the people here shall never have a say either way about the world they live in because their to focused on, well simply put...they arent focused at all. It's called goal orientation and LSD destroys ones ability to be aware of having lost the capacity to practice it...unless u do become aware of it, it which case ure goals are more likely to develop along the lines of changing the inner world the change the outer world...and thats whats happening, and its epic...

the forbidden city, and or lhasa, did not look at porn, didnt need to know how to rip someone's credit card, and probably already knew from a live display how to make high powered explosives.

the people of the future are an elite group of highly intelligent do gooders. and they dont care what you think...your whingeing that its to hot in hell...this place kinda sucks from the word go, the only way out is in, and slightly to the centre...let it all go.

peace.

[reptyle]

Iran was the centre of the Persian Empire...they basically started our western history as we know it...and guess what...their politicians drank Esfand to help them make decisions with Gods instruction!

China as u might already know, basically owned Asia...until the start of last century they were probably the largest most succesful culture in the world based on population. Their medicine, education and philosophy is close to unsurpassed. They also used plants to attain immortality and longevity and to become super decision makers...

Australia. We are primed to become the most innovative, intelllegent and philosphically mature culture this world has ever seen...we have space, the greatest athletes in the world, and uranium...and not to many people...we are hundred of kilometers from any military threat and we have the technology to back up our isolation...we have health care and we have EVERYTHING that could be considred pre-requisite for greateness...

take a tiny bit of time to look into the future and tell me what u really see...dont make this a personal thing...ure a tiny little speck of insignificant star dust...what do u really see...architecture? structure? design? space missions?

The greatest carries of information into the future are the greatest civilsations...and guess what, it was probably your chardonay sippin, child protecting, upper middle class, tree killing, slightly vegetarian, health conservatives who made it that way...

meanwhile your (chiral) getting beaten up by aborugnals in the park...enjoy mexico...

[bℓσωηG]

there will be a nation wide petition against this abominable law shared at end of week , all must sign it ...except those who enjoy a gud kick in the nuts and being called bitch

[reptyle]

Lets hope for a census.

[kindness]

If only we could get today tonight and other such programs on board against the mandatory filter we would be home free ;)

Imagine if it does go ahead though... boooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring! I'm certainly not going to become a nineMSN user, (or whatever else most people look at online).

And how can they go banning stuff about drug use when it's already so prevalent in popular culture, and by that I mean, books, magazines, tv shows, movies etc. It's almost becoming coming place and accepted to have a 'stoner' in any sitcom. Are we going to start censoring movies a la singapore now? I seriously doubt that.

Couldn't there be some kind of classification for websites along the lines of what we already have for TV? Could be put on the front page of a website - PG or AO or whatever... surely this would make more sense and be less like an authoritarian regime where we are drip fed what information the government, (via their third party contractors) deem okay for us. I'm not going to go too far into comparisons here but by having a third party in control of what content is put on this blacklist or whatever it really does absolve them from getting the blame doesn't it other than providing them with the contract, to which they can always retort, "the company didn't follow the guidelines / contractual obligations we stipulated... hence we are reviewing xxxx's current performance etc etc..." they don't even have the balls to do it themselves!

There will be ways around this as has been mentioned in the thread. Maybe time to get used to linux afterall.

peace

[Teotzlcoatl]

I'm not just saying this to piss y'all off.

It is AMAZING how insanely controlling your nation is!

I would get the hell out!

[reptyle]

 

 

Edited December 16, 2009 by reptyle

[reptyle]

Shutup and listen, im tired of crying babies...ahha

got milk?

 

bless

[Yeti101]

Despite what some people might think, I'm pretty sure that if Erowid is RC and hence blacklisted, then we are at least walking a fine line. For those of us who can't let go of mortal concerns, this should be pretty alarming. I don't think that we can navel-gaze our way out of this. If you don't care that this might happen, you think it's irrelevant, you don't believe it will happen or you don't think it will effect you, then that's fantastic, but not very constructive!

In actual real news (you know, out in the real world), Tony Abbot sits on the fence http://tinyurl.com/y9lh34r

[psilosophical]

Iran was the centre of the Persian Empire...they basically started our western history as we know it...and guess what...their politicians drank Esfand to help them make decisions with Gods instruction!

 

a bit besides the point of this thread, but i didnt know wtf Esfand was so i looked it up on wikipedia. And it redirected me to the iranian calendar. So they drank their own calendar to help them follow their gods instruction? Seems a bit retarded to me, i wouldnt want to follow a country that partakes in such practices...

On topic:

Are you for real reptyle? or are you just trying to spin people out?

What good do you see coming from censorship? And what negatives? Do the pros really outweigh the cons?

[Slybacon]

If you don't care that this might happen, you think it's irrelevant, you don't believe it will happen or you don't think it will effect you, then that's fantastic, but not very constructive!

 

What do you proclaim to do then? If people choose to have there information censored that's their choice, but for the rest of us it will remain quite easy to continue sharing information, we just need to be more clever about. I'm not for this new content filtering, but i definitely don't feel threatened. There is an upside to all this.

Reptyle is right, no need to whinge. Do you really think they can filter you out from the outside world???

Edited December 16, 2009 by Slybacon

[reptyle]

Search the SAB forum for esfand and u will find something i'm sure...

do u know what Ramadan is for?

I'm for real spinning you out...

Just having a convo with my cousin...came to a point in time where he said something along the lines of "i just wanna play video games with stuff in them i dont get to do in real life...i dont wanna have to go to the market to pick up health potions and fight the ogre and shit"

sometimes i wonder how a fallen angel, trapped in hell and forced to torture creature through button pushing type repetitive addictions would handle moving on to the land of sweet fairies and lullabies, and whether in fact they are happier in hell...

dont believe in hell you say? thats fine, you didnt know any better, and the uality of information rationed out over the posssible quanitities you were exposed to fullfills its self through its self...

i understand that something's which at one point were taboo are no longer taboo and somethings which were fine are no longer fine...thats life...thats culture... and thats growing up...

imagine if you were a dude in a powerful position and you wanted people to understand a decision you were making without freaking out and losing the plot, causing a revolution and booting them from their position, do u think you would cause change on a MASSIVE scale...or would you ease into it?

attatchement to your own life and its nick naks, paddy wacks and the bones you give your dog is all fine and good, but you know what...there's more to it. dont get stuck in time unable to traverse the multiverse...its a deep time to be stuck with those you appear to cherish so much...

once upon a time when you were in primary school you probably loved story time, then as you grew up, things changed, dont be the kid that gets stuck wishing they were still listening to story time...they are losers, remember.

judgement.

pro's and con's depend on what you wnat the info for...

for me, the whingeing thats going to happen is a con,

the fact that i wont have to watch a Dog mount a chick in year 9 because some kid thought it would be funny to put up a screen saver and gather the crowd is a pro.

imagine the social changes occuring concurrently with the filtering quality and try and imagine that alll the things you love so dearly are infact OK to know about, let go of the things you dont think are ok and you will never go wrong.

faith.

either way...essentially censorship only causes a curiosity as to what is infact censored and why...it doesnt negate the interest of humanity in the depraved.

logical?

[tripsis]

This is incredibly fucked up. I mean, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY?! How the hell did it ever get to this? Rudd is a downright prick, I can't decide if he or Howard is worse, but this sure doesn't feel like a democracy.

Oh, they'll traget us alright, no way do they want the spread of drug-related information to flow freely around the place if they have a means to stop it. Yeah, true, they don't stop this kind of thing from hitting the bookshelves, but what does hit th bookshelves is not nearly as easily or freely available as what is on the net.

[souljourney]

Does anyone know about this?

http://freenetproject.org/

[rahli]

Computer says no: Google slams filter

Internet search giant Google has come out in opposition to the Federal Government's push to introduce mandatory ISP filtering.

In a post on Google Australia's official blog, the company said the plan raised concerns about censorship.

"At Google we are concerned by the Government's plans to introduce a mandatory filtering regime for Internet Service Providers (ISP) in Australia, the first of its kind amongst Western democracies," the post said.

"Our primary concern is that the scope of content to be filtered is too wide."

While Google accepted there must be some limits on internet content, it condemned the Government's filtering approach as heavy-handed.

"We have a bias in favour of people's right to free expression," the post said.

"While we recognise that protecting the free exchange of ideas and information cannot be without some limits, we believe that more information generally means more choice, more freedom and ultimately more power for the individual.

"Some limits, like child pornography, are obvious. No Australian wants that to be available - and we agree. Google, like many other internet companies, has a global, all-product ban against child sexual abuse material and we filter out this content from our search results.

"But moving to a mandatory ISP filtering regime with a scope that goes well beyond such material is heavy-handed and can raise genuine questions about restrictions on access to information."

Citing a recent report into filtering, Google said the use of refused classification (RC) as a screening tool would go far beyond restricting illegal content.

"The recent report by Professors Catharine Lumby, Lelia Green and John Hartley - Untangling The Net: The Scope of Content Caught By Mandatory Internet Filtering - has found that a wide scope of content could be prohibited under the proposed filtering regime," the post said.

'Grey realms'

"Refused classification is a broad category of content that includes not just child sexual abuse material but also socially and politically controversial material - for example, educational content on safer drug use - as well as the grey realms of material instructing in any crime, including politically controversial crimes such as euthanasia.

"This type of content may be unpleasant and unpalatable but we believe that government should not have the right to block information which can inform debate of controversial issues."

But the Federal Government maintains the new filter rules are not intended to curtail freedom of speech.

Google said the Government should instead focus on education and providing effective filtering tools for individuals.

"While the discussion on ISP filtering continues, we should all retain focus on making the Internet safer for people of all ages," the post said.

"Our view is that online safety should focus on user education, user empowerment through technology tools, and cooperation between law enforcement and industry partners. The Government has committed important cyber safety education and engagement programs and yesterday announced additional measures that we welcome."

Google also defended weighing into the controversy, saying discussion on contentious issues was needed for effective democracy.

"Exposing politically controversial topics for public debate is vital for democracy," it said.

"Homosexuality was a crime in Australia until 1976 in ACT, NSW in 1984 and 1997 in Tasmania. Political and social norms change over time and benefit from intense public scrutiny and debate.

"The openness of the internet makes this all the more possible and should be protected.

"The Government has requested comments from interested parties on its proposals for filtering and we encourage everyone to make their views known in this important debate. "

Link

[Chiral]

Computer says no: Google slams filter

"Some limits, like child pornography, are obvious. No Australian wants that to be available - and we agree. Google, like many other internet companies, has a global, all-product ban against child sexual abuse material and we filter out this content from our search results.

"Homosexuality was a crime in Australia until 1976 in ACT, NSW in 1984 and 1997 in Tasmania. Political and social norms change over time and benefit from intense public scrutiny and debate.

 

So if all the big name search engines are already filtering out huge amounts of childporn, why do we need to spend millions to have secondary filtering...it's just so overkill and completely unnecessary, a waste of money and makes absolutely no sense. If a child can't find any of this offensive material through any of these search engines then how are they supposedly getting access to it...?..are these kids little genius's that can hack the net and know all the secret names for these sites and have passwords and credit cards...?

I mean this is who all this nonsense is for is it not.."the children" cause it surely isn't so that grown adults don't view it, I thought as an adult I was able to live in my democracy without fear of learning anything I choose, to view content that is classified adults only and to make my own decisions and choices about when and what I wish to view/learn or entertain myself with. It's part of human nature to be inquisitive, to wonder, to learn, too see and understand what my mind shows interest in. Filtering content is my choice, I didn't sign up for someone else to adjudicate what was deemed safe for my eyes, what is deemed unsafe or unclassifiable to one person may not to the next. Why on earth would the communications minister push this and in doing so create large subversive groups of people who refuse to be told what they can and can't view, forcing the hands of ordinary curious humans into becoming potentially cyber criminals. If you tell someone they cannot see something...it makes them want to see it more. I'd also be very interested how the Australian Muslim communities fare in this fiasco, I see the shit really hit the fan if they block any Muslim religious web-sites, of which there are many that are simply places for their communities to meet/chat/pray/trade etc etc...

Perhaps we are all just over reacting and this is what we need, after all.. our politicians have always had their voters lives and hearts at best interest, we should be thankful they are actually doing something useful and intelligent with all that money they swipe from our pay packets every week, perhaps once the filter is in place and websites start disappearing leaving only the "house of Christianity.com to view then we can look forward to big rubber bouncy walls along the sides of roads so we can never get hurt whilst driving, and all cars will be made of nerf, footballers only play touch, cricket balls are made from soft rubber and the crowd is protected by a huge transparent cotton fence, there might be an amnesty on all kitchen cutlery as we all change from sharp knives and forks to molded round carbon fiber bendy knives, there will be no need to ever cut anything again as the gov't has ordered that all foods come pre-cut.

If you where living in Tasmania before 1997 and were homosexual you were committing a crime...well I must say I did not know that...that just blows me away that it's only very recent those laws changed...how very bizarre.

Reptyle I don't think you are seeing the larger picture here if this filtering goes through, people are so damn complacent these days with their iPods and plasma TV's, that simply couldn't be arsed to get up and stand up for their rites, they just seem to say " ah fuck it she'll be right.. I know a guy who can show me how to get around it"...that's just allowing these toffee nosed pricks in office to run amok and do as they please, once they change something it very rarely if EVER gets changed back the way it was...that would be like admitting they were wrong, plus they prolly couldn't be fucked to change something back cause the footy is on and it's in HD. Incentives to ISP's to find offensive material to blacklist is quite possibly the sickest form of capitalistic temptation in many years...and all of this on top of a "broadband' network that is as fast as slug compared to speeds and rates in other countries, some even deemed third world have faster internet access and half as cheap than we do.

of course there is one pro for all of this...and that is that if there is no longer anything of worth or interest to me on line then I will de-evolve back to enjoying more life outside in the fresh air and climatic changing weather, but don't go fishing without a license cause it's illegal.

[PD.]

"government should not have the right to block information which can inform debate of controversial issues."

"Exposing politically controversial topics for public debate is vital for democracy,"

"The openness of the internet makes this all the more possible and should be protected.

[Rabelais]

reptyle

the fact that i wont have to watch a Dog mount a chick in year 9 because some kid thought it would be funny to put up a screen saver and gather the crowd is a pro.

What about Bill Henson photographs, graffiti artists, people looking for information on euthanasia, abortion, body piercing, spanking, jihad literature, The IRA....the list could go on and on and on. Our classification system is in no way capable of handling internet regulation...hell, even a satirical art/literature will be included under the filter. Do you trust bureaucrats with the task of identifying satire? The material I have just listed will be grouped in with a year 9 student being mounted by a dog. It has nothing to do with whingeing.

[souljourney]

Petition against censorship...

http://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/campaign.php?alias=SaveTheNet&id=892&ref=nf

[Rabelais]

Chiral

I mean this is who all this nonsense is for is it not

It's not for the children, it's for the Australian Christian Lobby - payment for giving the ALP support before the last federal election. Since the beginning, they have been the main organization pushing for it. 2 weeks ago ACL head, Jim Wallace, was granted an exclusive meeting with Conroy and given sneak peek into the filter results before anyone else. He is on public record as saying he wants the filter to expand even further. This is the same guy that said most child sex abuse is perpetrated by gays.

For many, like myself, this is not exclusively about internet filtering, it is about our politicians increasingly finding Jesus and bringing said influence into public policy. Secularism is written into the Australian constitution for good reason.

Edited December 16, 2009 by Dale Cooper

[C_T]

Guy's, i was on the optus trial thingy... until i found out and went to the website and opted out.

Basically.... I DID NOT HAVE A CLUE!!! Every site i go to was available.

Relax.