Australia Day online protest against mandatory filtering

Stephen Withers
Monday, 25 January 2010 11:01

Your IT - Home IT

"One of our main concerns is how the list might expand in the future," said EFA vice-chair Colin Jacobs.

"It's hard to imagine this and all future governments responding to special interests, electoral pressure and the news cycle only with restraint forevermore."

The Australian Greens are supporting the protest. Greens communications spokesman Senator Scott Ludlam said "The Government's plan will not protect children, will do nothing to crack down on criminal activity online, and sets a dangerous precedent of centralised net censorship."

The protest will take the form of web pages that turn black and display a message about the Government's plan before allowing visitors to proceed.

"Our goal is to ensure the Australian public know what they're in for," said EFA campaign manager Peter Black.

"It's important that such a major and expensive policy gets the public scrutiny it deserves," he explained.

The campaign is being described as The Great Australian Internet Blackout.