NSW Parliamentary E-Brief on mandatory filtering
The NSW Parliamentary Library Research Service has put together a briefing on the government’s filtering proposal which is available to download as a PDF here. It reads: At this stage, the Rudd Government proposal would restrict blanket mandatory ISP filtering to the illegal RC content, based on the ACMA’s ‘black list’ of prohibited websites. The...
Filter supporters talk, Australia listens
Guest post by Danu Poyner There was a lively debate about mandatory internet filtering on ABC Radio National’s ‘Australia Talks’ program Tuesday night. While those who have been following the issue closely will recognise much of the conversation, the debate was interesting because it covered new ground in certain areas. Specifically, we got to hear...
Libertus.net guide to Australia’s net censorship plan updated
Irene Graham has overhauled her excellent Australian ISP filtering/censorship plan page at Libertus.net. The page now takes on a question and answer format, with plenty of new information added.
Australian Sex Party will challenge filtering, what about R18+ games?
The Australian Sex Party launches tomorrow with the slogan ‘serious about sex’, but is this Eros backed party serious about reducing censorship as reported? While the Australian Sex Party will work at abolishing the government’s proposed internet filter, their links with Eros suggest their commitment to reducing censorship may not extend beyond pornographic material. Eros...
AMI has a new billboard. Start countdown to outrage
AMI, who recently altered their ‘Want Longer Lasting Sex’ billboards to read ‘Want Longer Lasting Censored’, will now trial a new billboard. It’ll read ‘Bonk Longer’. Jack Vaisman from AMI says it is much easier to explain the word ‘bonk’ in different meaning than the word sex. He told ABC News: “The word sex you...
Saturday wrap up: Conroy logic, ACMA blacklist, trial ISPs and Graham Perrett
First up, EFA looks at how much content on the current ACMA blacklist is illegal. Of the 781 URLs put on the blacklist in 2007 – 08, 368 of them contained legal content (PDF with summary table). I touched briefly on this a few days back: ACMA’s 2007 – 2008 annual report (table 25) shows...
Salt Shakers’ outrage metre explodes over Labor backbencher’s sexy novel
Here’s a ripper: Moral guardian group and soldiers in the battle against filth, Salt Shakers, are going bonkers over a new book from Labor backbencher Graham Perrett. Why? Salt Shakers believe leaders of the nation should not be encouraging reading that contains ‘extremely graphic’ and ‘sexual’ material. Thankfully no one else agrees (okay, there’s probably...
Internode will not participate in live filtering trial
Managing director of Internode, Simon Hackett, says his ISP isn’t intending to participate in the government’s live filtering trial. Hackett says doing so would just dignify a badly flawed policy with implied approval. “The point here is that it doesn’t matter how well the trials work, mandatory filtering for the entire population via a secret...
Filtering talk-back on Triple M – 10PM tonight
Dale Clapperton writes: Tonight, MMM’s ‘The Spoonman‘ talk-radio show will be devoted to Labor’s ‘clean feed’ Internet censorship proposal. The show will be broadcast from 10pm tonight in Brisbane (FM 104.5), Sydney (FM 104.9) and Melbourne (FM 105.1). [...] I’ll be speaking to The Spoonman about it, and I understand that they’re trying to get Conroy...
Secret and unaccountable: Irene Graham talks censorship on GetUp!
GetUp! has published an article on mandatory filtering from Aussie censorship expert Irene Graham. Irene writes: While the Minister frequently refers to “illegal”/”prohibited” material on ACMA’s blacklist, this terminology is highly misleading. In fact, “prohibited content” includes material that is lawful to publish/distribute/obtain offline in Australia, (some is also lawful to exhibit in cinemas), and...
Filtering symposium to be held in Sydney Nov 27
The Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre at UNSW will be holding a symposium on the gov’s Internet Filtering scheme on Nov. 27 in Sydney. Alana Maurushat from the CLPC says speakers will include technical officers from ISPs, telecommunication lawyers, journalists, digital forensic experts, and hopefully a representative from the government. Date: Thursday 27 November 2008...
Interview: Tech Wired chats to Mark Newton about the live trial
Ben Grubb over at Tech Wired AU has another excellent interview with Mark Newton about filtering, in particular the call for ISPs to particpate in a live trial. Mark says the Technical Testing Framework released yesterday is one of the most sloppily written documents he’s seen coming out of the government and thinks the EOI...
