Behind the Great Firewall: Interview with an Aussie in China
Stephen Conroy’s mandatory ISP filtering plan has been criticized as being a carbon copy of China’s Internet censorship regime. Not in regards to the technical side of blacklisting websites, but the underlying desire for the Government to control the most important information resource ever created. I spoke briefly with one Australian living behind the Great...
Family First wants sites promoting anorexia to go, what next?
I raised a few of my own concerns about what was written in the filtering article that appeared in today’s Australian, but EFA Chairperson, Dale Clapperton, has dissected the article with much more precision. He highlights two of its biggest problems: Random statistics that cannot be confirmed, and Family First senator Steve Fielding’s call for...
How do I explain to friends & colleagues why we shouldn’t introduce mandatory filtering
One question some of you might be asking is: How do I explain to my friends/co-workers/partner/dog why we shouldn’t introduce mandatory ISP filtering in Australia? Louise Schaper wrote me with a great letter which includes a number of points you can mention (content written in orange is where I have added additional information): It won’t...
Sign the petition against mandatory Internet filtering
As requested, a petition has been set up. Sign it to show you disagree with mandatory Internet filtering in Australia: http://petitions.takingitglobal.org/oznetcensorship It will take just 30 seconds. Max.
NetAlarmed featured in The Australian, Conroy stands firm
NetAlarmed was today included in The Australian’s article on mandatory filtering – the first real update on the situation since Conroy confirmed the plan. And in case your wondering, no, he’s not backing down. Some important bits from the article: Senator Conroy has been prodded into action by Family First senator Steve Fielding, and the...
Kiwi company may help Rudd filter net, but it won’t be easy
New Zealand company, Watchdog, says that filtering out child pornography at ISP level in Australia is possible, but admits that the Australian Government’s attempts to rate websites for violent content and other objectionable material will be extremely difficult. Watchdog currently provides a filtered ISP service to NZ and Australian customers, claiming to block harmful and...
Good content, bad content: What will be banned under the new filter
A lot of people are asking what will be banned under the new mandatory filtering scheme for those who do not opt-out. Exactly what criteria will be used to decide if a site is blacklisted? I contacted Mr Conroy in November last year with that question. Here is part of his reply: “Labor recognises that...
Two must-join email lists for staying on top of Aussie censorship issues
If you’re looking to stay up to date on the latest censorship issues in Australia, there are two must-join email lists. The first is the EFA Stop Censorship list. This list has been active for many years and is frequented by numerous Australian censorship experts, including Irene Graham. It has one main goal: to discuss...
Ovum report finds Australian ISP level filtering will cost the customer and give big biz advantage
The Howard Government commissioned a number of investigations into the effectiveness of Internet content filtering, including filtering at an ISP level and at an even higher Government/Internet backbone level. One of these investigations was conducted by Melbourne telecoms and software consulting firm, Ovum, in 2003 on behalf of the Department of Communications, Information Technology and...
NetAlarmed.com – Thanks for visiting
When I created NetAlarmed back in September ’07, I really didn’t expect it to get such a massive response. Originally the site mocked the filtering plans of the Howard Government and ALP (the current plan about to be implemented), and all I hoped it would do is alert potential ALP voters that while many of...
