Australia's Internet Filter Switches On In July

[BlumiereBleck]

Thank Goodness for the United States Constitution First Ammendment.

 

[Eikoandmog]

*sigh* Where's my torch and pitchfork?

 

[yundex]

Thank Goodness for the United States Constitution First Ammendment.

It's too bad that we have to fight tooth and nail for it. "Free speech zones", and "PROTECT IP Act" for example.

 

[Fbuh]

It seems needlessly complicated. You would have to go through and put a block on any site that it deemed inappropriate. The amount of time it would take just seems wasteful. What would be a better idea is to charge for access to certain sites, like digital cable. Users can pay for basic internet access, and then can pay more to upgrade so that they have full web browsing capabilities. It's evil, I know, but I don't really have to worry too much about it. I only use the internet at work.

 

[yundex]

It seems needlessly complicated. You would have to go through and put a block on any site that it deemed inappropriate. The amount of time it would take just seems wasteful. What would be a better idea is to charge for access to certain sites, like digital cable. Users can pay for basic internet access, and then can pay more to upgrade so that they have full web browsing capabilities. It's evil, I know, but I don't really have to worry too much about it. I only use the internet at work.

That is even more Orwellian. The ability to upgrade to "full web browsing capabilities"? Define "full web browsing capabilities". If the internet were anything like cable tv, I wouldn't use it at all considering I haven't turned on a television in 5 years.

 

[the1ultimate]

Less annoying than the government enforcing it, but the lack of appeals process bites.

If it was only "Child abuse websites" I wouldn't be so bothered, but the unnamed "international organizations" could be anything.

 

[The Epicosity]

Ouch. The Australian government seems like such a strict one, glad I'm an... American.

/initiate dance of yelling out America is the best country ever without ever even going to any other ones

EDIT: Woops, the government is only allowing it, maybe even the opposite. Anyways...

/initiate dance of yelling out America is the best country ever without ever even going to any other ones

 

[Ashcrexl]

Breaking News: Australia is now China.

 

[Nickompoop]

Alright I read the first few posts and it was immediately aware of who didn't read the article. It's just blocking illegal websites anyway, it's like saying they have no right to take away all our child porn, it doesn't make sense. But if they censor 4Chan expect a shitstorm of hatred.

The controversy is not about the legality of the sites, it's about the precedent such censorship sets. Which you would know about if you had read the article. Here's the section I'm referring to, for your convenience:

But possibly the greatest concern is simply that it sets a precedent. Once the filters are in place and Australians have adjusted to the idea, is it much of a stretch to see them put to use blocking content the ACMA decides is "indecent" or controversial? "We've been waiting to hear details on this from the Government," said EFF board member Colin Jacobs. "It they turn out to be zealous with the type of material that is on the list then we'd want to have a discussion about ways to introduce more transparency."

 

[RA92]

My brain is on fire and your comments are to blame.

My good man, let me just say that there is at least one troll in this thread.

Hell, I didn't need to read any idiotic remarks about this news to set my brain on fire, the news itself did that. And I'm not even Australian!

Excuse me while I go punch some baby seals.

 

[Phoenixlight]

Well if they're just blocking porn websites then there's nothing to worry about.

 

[ezeroast]

Well if they're just blocking porn websites then there's nothing to worry about.

but porn is 90% of the internet

 

[Kahnmir]

I don't understand, in the article it says this probably won't have any meaningful impact on the distribution of child porn, if that is the case, why do it?

Don't get me wrong, I think child pornographers should be taken down, but wouldn't finding a better way to track these SOBs and turning that info over to the police be more effective?

As it stands this sounds more like trying to dig a hole in sand: after a while it'll just collapse on you.

 

[harvz]

god damn, the filter doesn't bother me so much as the side effect to the speed.
where i live, i am limited to adls2 which is approximately 25mb/s, they tested this filter on a 100mb/s connection in the optimal distance to the exchange and that made their 100mb/s worse than my 25mb/s.

im sorry world, i may soon be quitting the internet, im not paying $80AUD a month for this crap.

 

[Shadowfacet]

I think its very important to remember that this is not an action of our government but rather a select few ISP's all that will happen is a downturn in business as their customer base moves to different ISP's. Its really not that big a deal seeing as Telstra, one of the "Big providers" is actually already more expensive than the alternative's.

 

[maninahat]

You know what, fuck this censorship thing. I'm not even Australian and this pisses me off. To any Aussies that are getting hit with this crap I have something for you:

The Tor Project [http://www.torproject.org/]

For those unfamiliar think of it as an uber-proxy, it takes a bit of TLC to get running quite right, and it's slower then regular internet, but it pretty well unblocks anything that you want once you've gotten it down.

For those that do know about Tor, well, I guess I needn't tell you about it.

They really should make this kind of thing illegal if it isn't already.

The government(And organizations like this) should have every right to block websites from user access.

I seriously hope that you are posting with a great deal of sarcasm, because reading your comments is making me want to post something that would likely get me a lot of mod wrath for doing. Acceptance of censorship of any kind is akin to letting someone tie you up, tape your mouth shut and beating you every time you complain about it.

Here are three things to consider, before you do say anything regrettable:
1) The private companys are volunteering to do it, and they are within their rights to deny that sort of service.
2) "Acceptance of censorship of any kind is akin to letting someone tie you up...", and that includes censorship child abuse? We keep doing slippery slope arguments in which we assume that if we allow the Aussie government/corporations to censor child abuse, they will start censoring anything they like. There is no reason to assume that will happen, and the silliness of the slippery slope argument becomes clear when you use an opposing example: "If we allow people to show child abuse on the internet today, we'll be encouraging people to share child pornography, on screen murder, and anything the uploaders want."
3)Ever noticed how much you can see on the internet you can't see on tv? If I wanted, I could see people setting fire to cats. I don't see people out complaining about watersheds and tv censorship, or people demanding the rights to watch cats burn, and I especially don't see why anyone should be defending the right to watch child abuse.

 

[maninahat]

Mexican drug cartels have soldiers, should we just listen to them because we have a couple guns then?

Also, pornography is legal, what someone does with their own body is none of your business.

Edit: I know of course that the government has nothing to do with this filter.

Of course they should. They're powerful than we are. That's the way of things.

My brain is on fire and your comments are to blame. Now, do not look upon this comment as an assault against you or a provocation, I just can not grasp how a human being could say the things you do. Do you not want to consider your self a free man? You know, the kings had guns and armies too, did that stop people from overthrowing them?

How can you accept another mans rule just because they have guns? Would you let your family and friends be murdered in front of you with your only reaction being a shrug and the phrase: Well, they are stronger, guess they are right to do whatever they want.

Please, understand that I am not trying to offend you, it just boggles my mind to the extent it starts dribbling out of my ears!

Anyway, hang in there people of Australia... That's all I can say. If also we lose the court case on Monday this will really be a sad period for free speech... It really pisses me off what many governments of the planet get away with. Where is the vox populi? Why doesn't anyone speak up against this absurdity!?

In defence of that guy, too many people seem to think that just really wanting freedom will be enough to defeat a far greater opressive enemy. America was a success story for freedom fighters, but it is fairly exceptional (and largely down to having the right allies - other big oppressive regimes like France and Spain). Most attempts at revolution can be easily quashed just so long as the opressing force is ruthless and competant enough to prevent uprisings early on. Seems to me that if a drug cartel had my family at gunpoint, it wouldn't matter how inpassioned I was about beating the gun men, they would still kill me and my family in an instant if I was stupid enough to resist them openly. That is the problem for many people in opressive societies. It is the reason why many strong people will still resign themselves to a life of servitude. It is easy to talk about being brave and fighting for freedom when a gangster isn't pointing a gun at you and your family.

 

[Pegghead]

I was reading up on this. One of the intended sites for blocking was the page for a dentist in Queensland.

I hope for all our sakes that this doesn't go through, at least we have Lulzsec and anons to give us a hand.

Well if they're just blocking porn websites then there's nothing to worry about.

So Kelly Wilson is some kind of tooth-fetish pornstar?

The deeper issue here isn't about them trying to block child pornography and terrorist websites, it's about what they'd constitute as porn and terrorism, the fact that it's going to make all Australian internet slower and it's a breach of our freedom to brose the internet.

 

[maninahat]

Since when did free speech protect child porn?

Just forget about the child porn, its irrelevant.

The Government has been given a tool that has the ability to threaten free speech, right now they may be using it to stop a criminal activity, but there's nothing stopping them from going even further and censoring things that are perfectly legal or silencing their opposition. And if history has taught us anything, it's that the government loves to screw over the people for their own personal gain.

Or, you know, they just use it to stop child porn and that is it. I don't see the point in speculating that the government might abuse such powers, any more than speculating that I can't be trusted to use a pair of scissors in case I'll end up cutting off my hand. As unlikely as it may seem, politicians do have common sense and restraint, and they are not likely to risk their next election making absurd decisions to block half the internet.

And besides, the child porn is entirely relevant. This whole concept is a means to prevent child porn, and that can hardly be a bad thing. Note how child porn doesn't tend to appear on tv either, and you have probably never considered that a problem.

 

[Alphakirby]

No. Just no. This is the kind of stuff people like ANONYMOUS don't like (I.E. Restricting people's internet freedoms) It'll either be hacked to oblivion or cause a major outrage.
Now for your viewing pleasure...

Spoiler: This unrelated video!!!