[AusNOG] Fwd: [ PRIVACY Forum ] Australia to Require Mandatory ISP Filtering of "Inappropriate" Content

[Mark Newton]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: privacy at vortex.com
> Date: 8 January 2008 12:15:13 PM
> To: privacy-list at vortex.com
> Subject: [ PRIVACY Forum ] Australia to Require Mandatory ISP  
> Filtering of "Inappropriate" Content
> Reply-To: PRIVACY Forum Digest mailing list <privacy at vortex.com>
>
>
>
>   Australia to Require Mandatory ISP Filtering of "Inappropriate"  
> Content
>
>                 http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000352.html
>
>
> Greetings.  Can excessive ultraviolet light exposure cause brain
> damage to politicians?  One might think so after reviewing the
> Australian government's plan to require ISPs to perform
> Chinese-style blocking of Internet sites that the government
> considers to be "inappropriate" for children -- based on a
> government blacklist
> ( http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22989956-15306,00.html 
>  ).
>
> Down in the merry old land of Oz, this mandatory blocking would
> apply by default to all home and school Internet subscribers.  ISPs
> would have to be contacted individually by users who wished to
> obtain an unblocked feed by being added to an opt-out list (which I
> suspect would rapidly become known as the "pervert list" by the
> Australian overlords of Internet decency).
>
> I won't insult your intelligence by listing here the myriad
> reasons -- you know them as well as I do -- why such a plan is  
> doomed to
> failure (but I will note that even the so-called "Great Firewall of
> China" Internet blocking infrastructure leaks like a sieve -- and
> that's in an environment where penalties can be very harsh indeed).
>
> Obviously, what we're actually looking at in the Australian case is
> political grandstanding of the most base sort.  To make censored
> feeds available upon request is one thing, but to make censorship
> the default and then require persons to specifically identify
> themselves to opt-out is turning the concept of freedom of
> communications on its head.
>
> Speaking of heads, it wouldn't hurt the politicians down under to
> stay out of the summer sun, or at least wear hats more often.  Fried
> brains are not conducive to the creation of sensible Internet (or
> any other) policies.  And since the inane COPA and similar Internet
> censorship laws are still bouncing around the courts here in the
> U.S., the same prescription might well apply to our own politicians
> as well.
>
> "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"
>
> --Lauren--
> Lauren Weinstein
> lauren at vortex.com or lauren at pfir.org
> Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
> http://www.pfir.org/lauren
> Co-Founder, PFIR
>   - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
> Co-Founder, NNSquad
>   - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
> Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
> Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
> Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> privacy mailing list
> http://lists.vortex.com/mailman/listinfo/privacy
>
>


--
Mark Newton                               Email:  newton at internode.com.au 
  (W)
Network Engineer                          Email:   
newton at atdot.dotat.org  (H)
Internode Systems Pty Ltd                 Desk:   +61-8-82282999
"Network Man" - Anagram of "Mark Newton"  Mobile: +61-416-202-223