Government to censor the Internet

[Hursticon]

It will be. If I can't visit my favourite sites with the censorship then it's bye-bye for Bigpond.

There's no better reason to leave Bigpond other than the fact that your with Bigpond.

[SkyWarp91]

There's no better reason to leave Bigpond other than the fact that your with Bigpond.

true lol. and look at what I found on Wikipedia about this whole conundrum :

Arguments for Internet censorship

• It will limit access to some adult content by the general population.
• Internet users will be able to use a complaint system which will allow them to report offensive websites that can be blocked.
• Websites that teach crime and terrorism will be blocked.

Arguments against Internet censorship

• The web filter will not just block child pornography; it will also block any "RC rated material" which will include blocking access to web pages of banned films, books, hardcore pornography and video games that do not meet the MA 15+ standard.
• Material that is illegal to view (eg instructions on criminal activity, depictions of child abuse) is a much narrower subset of material that may be classified RC and filtered.
• The organisation responsible for classifying media in Australia will not be involved in any way in the filtering process- so the filtered material will typically not technically be RC.
• The web filter will block content that meets the requirements for an MA 15+ rating if the Government disapproves of the access control software on the website offering the content.
• The web filter will not be able to block peer to peer networks and file sharing programs which are usable for distributing child pornography and allow users to download large amounts of it in a short period of time.
• The web filter will also block access to websites about politically sensitive issues which have changing criminality statuses eg euthanasia and abortion.
• The web filter may slow down access to the internet; this will contradict the Australian Government’s plan to provide faster broadband access speeds.
• The proposed filter may damage Australian - United States relations as the United States government is against Australia's filter plan.
• The web filter may be deemed "unconstitutional” under the Australian constitution and may not pass parliament.
• The web filter can easily be bypassed by a proxy server.
• The web filter's implementation, deployment and maintenance costs would be footed by the tax-payer.
• Peadophiles and terrorists use sophisticated techniques to conceal their content from the general public- limiting the need to protect people from this largely invisible information
• The most common form of child abuse and including child sexual abuse material can be found on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter published by the children it involves- eg Cyberbullying.
• The Australian Federal Police will not allow ACMA to filter child abuse material if doing so will tip off criminals to the discovery of their crime.
• After the Australian Federal Police (potentially involving Interpol and the domestic police of the host country) complete a criminal investigation of child abuse material, the filter will only be effective if the police then choose to allow the server hosting the material to remain operational.
• It would be more effective to spend the money on cross-border capabilities to shut down hosts of child abuse material at their source.

Yeah pedos and terrorists will just use proxies to get their illegal materials anyway. I think the best thing for customers to do of both Optus and Bigpond when this censorship starts is to complain, complain and complain.

[Dkaris]

i feel i should leave optus just on principle. Why should i pay $80 a month for a filtered service?

If I find my regular sites are effected by this filter i'll be switching to iinet or tpg.

[blackie]

There's no better reason to leave Bigpond other than the fact that your with Bigpond.

lol

i actually love bigpond now, mainly because im not paying for it ;P

but theyre speeds are amazing, and ive never had a drop out...

[Hursticon]

i feel i should leave optus just on principle. Why should i pay $80 a month for a filtered service?

You shouldn't, but you'd be helping 5FDP out.

If I find my regular sites are effected by this filter i'll be switching to iinet or tpg.

I'd highly recommend it dude, it's the best way to make your voice count.

lol

i actually love bigpond now, mainly because im not paying for it ;P

but theyre speeds are amazing, and ive never had a drop out...

You're not paying for it? - Then you sir are one of the luckiest Telstra customers in existence and I'm not surprised you've not had a drop-out and have great speeds as your on the country's largest telecommunications monopoly in a major city!

[SkyWarp91]

update: according to Accel next month's filtering has been put on-hold. Looks like Conroy has to put it off, AGAIN

Also a question, if Conroy was to be removed from office would there be a difference?

[5FDP]

This is just plain embarrassing that I hear about this through the news channels rather than an internal memo / email.

I'm not involved in any way with our internet business, but it speaks volumes about the level of trust directors and the like have in their staff. I just found out 30 mins ago about the NBN deal; an hour after I read it in the press!

[Hursticon]

Also a question, if Conroy was to be removed from office would there be a difference?

I don't think the policy would be immediately dropped, but I think you'd find that very few ministers would be willing to pick it up considering how unpopular it is.
Senator Stephen Conroy is just too stubborn to drop it, which is an annoying quality of his because it has helped in certain ways with regards to the NBN - I'm still not a fan of his though.

I'm not involved in any way with our internet business, but it speaks volumes about the level of trust directors and the like have in their staff. I just found out 30 mins ago about the NBN deal; an hour after I read it in the press!

Yeah, that's crap man but it is great news for the NBN!

[SGB]

update: according to Accel next month's filtering has been put on-hold. Looks like Conroy has to put it off, AGAIN

Got a link for that?

[SGB]

Looks like Telstra staff have no frackin' idea what's going on:

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum...023&p=54#r1069


And SkyWarp, do you have any links regarding the delay you mentioned? I've not found anything about this anywhere.