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Fuzzy Logic New Australian Government tries totalitarian Net censorship
Fuzzy Logic New Australian Government tries totalitarian Net censorship | New Australian Government tries totalitarian Net censorship |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Thursday, 03 January 2008 | |
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Page 1 of 2 Of course, much of the Government’s concern is over the availability of child pornography and other Internet nasties, a dark side of the Internet that every decent thinking person is vehemently opposed to. However, using child porn as a blatant excuse to introduce censorship and the curtailing of freedom of speech is not only astoundingly totalitarian, it is certainly not the way to stop the Net’s nefarious nasties. Although claiming to be a friendly ‘bud’ of the Internet and promising speed upgrades and a new network, the Rudd promise to deliver better Internet is threatening to turn into a massive dud, as Rudd’s as-yet undelivered 12Mbps national network delivers speed on one hand and strangles it on the other with the Great Firewall Filter of Ruddstralia. We’ve already heard from the Rudd Government and Comrade Conroy that the critics’ claims are all a load of FUD and crud, but when the glorious new leader of our glorious new Government starts throwing mud at Internet users after promising sweetness, light and at least 12Mbps broadband speeds, it should not be surprised to see the equivalent of the hastily started ‘Not Happy Kevin’ club gaining massive new support. Ironically, the ‘Scores’ New York strip-club visiting Kevin Rudd, who visited long before he became Prime Minister or even Opposition Leader, has left voters questioning his electoral status of ‘stud’ despite his recent win, thanks to censorship policies which have come right out of Communist China. In a weak attempt to defend Government policy, Minister for Censorship, Senator Stephen Conroy, told reporters that: “Labor makes no apologies to those who argue that any regulation of the internet is like going down the Chinese road. If people equate freedom of speech with watching child pornography, then the Rudd Labor Government is going to disagree.” Well, allow us to make no apology for saying this is the weakest, lamest attempt ever at trying to force information censorship on one of the world’s freest and most democratic peoples. What’s even worse is the Government’s stunning attempt at using the age-old excuse of ‘protecting the children’ to rape our rights in the most politically opportunistic way of recent times. It’s shameful and disgusting, and the Government knows it. Overseas experience and even previous internal testing has shown that Internet speeds decrease, especially as the ever growing number of sites to be filtered increases, that users figure out ways to get around filters, that the process is incredibly costly, and that the solution already exists in the form of parental filtering software that is readily and even freely available. So, what does Electronic Frontiers Australia (the EFA) have to say about it? Please read onto page 2 for the conclusion... |
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