Mike Bantick
Tuesday, 28 October 2008 16:45
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 3
Is it just me? Or do others feel angry that we seem to have and Australian government so out of tune with the technological needs of the country? It is not only embarrassing that we have a federal group of ministers hell-bent on making our bits and bytes G rated, but annoying that they spend our hard earned tax dollars on net filters and irrelevant classification systems. All of which fly in the eye of popular opinion, to garner some minority support.
Life in the Nanny country of Australia continues uninterrupted, despite the change of leadership in the top slot.
And as iTWire colleague
Stuart Corner’s article and subsequent stream of comments have pointed out, there is still a tendency under our system of government to pour good money after bad.
I cannot believe that our elected officials are so out of step with public opinion and technology, that legislation such as Senator Conroy’s proposed ISP content filtering could even be considered. Transparently this is a blustering piece hot air, doomed to failure either before getting passed, or once implemented, soon circumvented, with a loss of internet performance being the only residue of the idea.
The idea of course is purely to woo the good favour of Family First senators and a minority of others based on a Kevin Rudd 2007 election promise.
And the idea, as most of us realise, won’t work. In fact the
July report on ISP filtering showed that, though they are improved, the proposed ISP filters will still allow 1 in 13 nasty sites through the net. Better to “protect the kiddies” at the source – in the households themselves.
Give parents the information, know-how and resources to implement Internet filtering on their home computers and under their own non-dictated guidelines.
But of course, I am the games commentator here at iTWire, so what do I care about living in a Chinese style Nanny country? So long as my multiplayer connection is up to par, why should Conroy’s doomed plans be a problem?
Well I am also a tax payer, and am getting fed up with the money wasted on these ill advised attempts to protect the innocents of the land.
It also cuts the other way, money is also flushed down the federal dunny through inaction and procrastination. As you will find out from page 2, another plan what was agreed upon in August this year, and has the backing of 91 percent of the public, is slimily doomed to the dung-heap.
