Government to censor the Internet

[Trent]

I've heard good things about PIA before. I've been using FrootVPN as it was free but they are charging a nominal amount now. I have no complaints yet about FrootVPN. They were backed by TPB at one stage (not sure of the exact affiliation other than they were promoted by TPB) and everything was really easy and simple to set up.

Now to consider changing to PIA or staying with Froot... I'll prob stick with Froot just given that they have given me 6 months of VPN for free and they had really great connection speeds.

Back on the main topic... all I can say is that the current major political parties have me completely disenchanted with Australian politics to the point that I now have to consider which is the worse of the two to vote for instead of which is the best. Politics is meant to be about elected officials representing the people who have elected them on the basis that they will do both what they promise and act in the best interests of their constitutes. This does not happen at all anymore and every politician appears to look out for themselves and ensuring they keep hold of power. I don't remember the last time I heard a politician speak and I honestly believed what they said.

This whole argument about internet censorship (I'm using the term broadly), appears to be nothing more than politicians seeking to appease those who financially back them. I am yet to read anything that indicates that the current stance by both parties is honestly in the best interests of Australia as a nation and its citizens.

tl:dr... both major policitcal parties suck

Instead of voting for whichever of the 2 parties you dislike the least, how about voting for another party/independent entirely? Nothing will ever change if people only ever vote for the major 2. Give someone else a go. They can't do any worse.

[Raider]

Instead of voting for whichever of the 2 parties you dislike the least, how about voting for another party/independent entirely? Nothing will ever change if people only ever vote for the major 2. Give someone else a go. They can't do any worse.

Problem is that I am in a heavily Liberal area which will never change (well certainly not in the near future) and quite frankly most independents who run in my area have nothing substantial to add based upon what I've read about them prior to each election.

Australia is entrenched as a 2 party political system. Sure every now and again another party might hold a little power (Democrats back in the day and now Greens with a few independents) but realistically its the 2 majors that control everything.

Sorry don;t want to derail this thread into a rant about the state of Aussie politics, it's about internet censorship

[kup]

Instead of voting for whichever of the 2 parties you dislike the least, how about voting for another party/independent entirely? Nothing will ever change if people only ever vote for the major 2. Give someone else a go. They can't do any worse.

In a two party system, that has very little impact.

I don't like Liberals or Labour but if I vote for an independent party (which I actually do), then my vote goes on to preference one of the bigger parties or has no impact as Raider mentioned.

It's not about being proactive, it's being aware that the system gives people an illusion of choice when there actually isn't any.

[llamatron]

But you can make a difference in the senate, very much so.

[griffin]

But you can make a difference in the senate, very much so.

Senate, yes... unfortunately too much so while they are allowed vote-swapping, with people getting elected with just 0.2% of the people wanting them as Senators. Hardly a representation of the people that a Democracy is supposed to be.

As for the Lower house, as noted by Raider, there aren't any people or parties that have a substantial or reasonable range of policies that you'd want to have running the government.
Greens have a place as part of a government, but you wouldn't want them running the government with their more radical ideas and putting the brakes on Tasmania's growth when they were in power there as a State government.
Palmer could have been an alternative if he wasn't in politics to better his own business interests... and some of his crazy stunts and ideas would destroy the economy and country.
Democrats used to be an alternative, but lost their independent identity to voters when they got into bed with Labor in the 90s.
A lot of the independents are more reliable and ethical than the two major parties, but they aren't a party, nor do most want to start one... so until we get an organisation that has policies across all departments and a constitution that puts the people before personal financial interests, the majority of people feel trapped between the political tennis match of alternating between Labor and Liberal, with more people voting a party out than voting a party in now (we are more inclined to vote against things than show support for policies... which leaves us as a people with a leadership that we don't really trust, endorse or even want).

[Raider]

Senate, yes... unfortunately too much so while they are allowed vote-swapping, with people getting elected with just 0.2% of the people wanting them as Senators. Hardly a representation of the people that a Democracy is supposed to be.

As for the Lower house, as noted by Raider, there aren't any people or parties that have a substantial or reasonable range of policies that you'd want to have running the government.
Greens have a place as part of a government, but you wouldn't want them running the government with their more radical ideas and putting the brakes on Tasmania's growth when they were in power there as a State government.
Palmer could have been an alternative if he wasn't in politics to better his own business interests... and some of his crazy stunts and ideas would destroy the economy and country.
Democrats used to be an alternative, but lost their independent identity to voters when they got into bed with Labor in the 90s.
A lot of the independents are more reliable and ethical than the two major parties, but they aren't a party, nor do most want to start one... so until we get an organisation that has policies across all departments and a constitution that puts the people before personal financial interests, the majority of people feel trapped between the political tennis match of alternating between Labor and Liberal, with more people voting a party out than voting a party in now (we are more inclined to vote against things than show support for policies... which leaves us as a people with a leadership that we don't really trust, endorse or even want).

^ this +1

[5FDP]

Stumbled across this last night which I thought was interesting. Some of these countries are no-brainers, others were a bit of a surprise.

Enemies of the Internet:

Bahrain, Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

Countries Under Surveillance:

Australia, Egypt, Eritrea, France, India, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Russia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates.

Source

I made the leap into VPN's last week and settled on Private Internet Access. For the price, it's quite good. You get a robust VPN and a proxy to use with one program.

Like other VPN's, it tends to drop here and there so I would suggest setting a kill-switch using what ever firewall you have just for added security.

[1AZRAEL1]

Reviving old thread because of more news. Court decision today being made on this.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/on...007ddf04742efc