Jay Jays to remove ‘lewd’ shirts from window displays
Jay Jays will remove the Little Loser line of clothes from their stores window displays and will not restock shirts that carry alcohol-related messages or sexual innuendos. The removal comes after concerned parent groups and the Family First New Zealand lobby group demanded the shirts be removed from sale. Family First NZ claimed the shirts,...
Geeks fuming over filtering
Stilgherrian’s latest article in Crikey explains why Child Wise’s Bernadette McMenamin got hammered for her comments in The Australian: Geeks get angry when their knowledge isn’t respected. Too right. There’s a little more to it though as Stil explains: Two completely different problems are conflated. One, preventing distribution of already-illegal child pornography to anyone. Two,...
Tell GetUp you think censorship is a big issue
Community action group GetUp is asking Australian’s what big issues deserve attention in 2008. So don’t delay – let them know you oppose mandatory filtering and censorship. Let them know it’s a big issue and one they should help stop. The great thing about GetUp is they have over 200 thousand supporters and the power...
News Bites: Blacklisting the wowsers
Mark Pesce sums up in a neat article what much of the web communities views on mandatory filtering have been over the last two weeks. He had some great points of his own to add: Last May, Wang Guoqing, Vice Minister of the State Council of Information, the man who oversees the Great Firewall of...
Outraged parents want Jay Jays to pull ‘lewd’ t-shirts
Let’s not forget in these crazy times of Internet censorship that the moral crusaders haven’t given up roaming our streets, fighting the good fight, and trying censor anything that doesn’t coincide with what they think is acceptable. The Australian Childhood Foundation is demanding retail fashion chain Jay Jays withdraw their line of Little Losers clothing,...
Bernadette McMenamin responds
Stilgherrian has published a cracking letter sent to him by Child Wise’s Bernadette McMenamin. Whilst McMenamin’s drive to protect kids is one I fully support, she clearly shows from her communication with Stil that she is wiling to do it at any cost — even without knowing its potential to actually reduce child pornography. Here’s...
Child Wise CEO wants Gov to re-think ISP filtering
Child Wise CEO Bernadette McMenamin has been copping a lot of flack (and rightfully so) for her article in the Australian calling for filters. But now she’s distancing herself from the Conroy plan and saying all she wants is for child pornography to be blocked. Before I comment on her most recent interview with ComputerWorld,...
Industry rejects sanitized Internet
Computer World and PC World (both part of IDG) have published part one of a series of articles looking at mandatory filtering in Australia. The first, Why Content Filtering Will Fail, highlights a number of concerns that all of us have, especially ISPs. A director of a small Sydney-based ISP, who requested anonymity, said the...
U.S. Launches assault on Internet censorship
The U.S. State Department has been given $15 Million by Congress to develop anti-censorship tools and services which could help Internet users breach electronic firewalls set up by China, Iran and other ?closed societies.? Defense News reports that the budget is to be “awarded competitively to software developers to produce internet technology programs and protocols...
Conroy to anounce filter details in Feb, end ISP trial in June
Dale over at Defending Scoundrels posts that Communications Day, an Australian trade newsletter, has reported that Senator Conroy will reveal the details behind his mandatory filtering scheme on February 21. It says Mr Conroy will outline a full policy development strategy and quell hysteria over the plan. But why not ‘quell’ it now Mr Conroy?...
Why mandatory content filtering is bad for the future of young Australians
At the centre of the Government’s argument for mandatory filtering is the protection of children. Disagree with the plan and you’re labeled as someone who doesn’t care about the welfare of children. Wrong. You see, I care a great deal about the future of young Australians. I care that we produce a generation of educated...
