I’ll admit the break has been nice. I tried to stay at the front of the campaign against Australia’s mandatory ISP filter from day one and I think I did a pretty decent job of it. However, it became so time consuming and exhausting writing and campaigning that my personal life and health took a hit. I’m too young for that!

On the other hand censorship is something that has been important to me most of my life. I’ve spent thousands of hours researching and writing about it that to not touch it for so long has perhaps been harder.

It’s why I’ve decided to start updating Somebody Think of the Children again. So much is happening and changing that it’s too hard to resist. Only weeks ago in my home town of Brisbane complaints were made by the Australian Christian Lobby against homosexual health advertisements which saw the ads removed. Massive community uproar followed and the ads were subsequently reinstated. It was a full-on couple of days where the community was passionate about a clear cut issue of health awareness vs censorship.

But it’s those not so black and white issues of censorship that don’t always go the way you want and for that reason I created Somebody Think of the Children. From what I can see, there’s going to be a lot to discuss over the coming weeks, months and years.

Before it’s back to business as usual (with a snazzy new blog design), thank you to everyone for all of your support (and an extra thank you to the people who assist behind the scenes).

Michael

Website for the Greens blacked out.

Online Campaign Coordinator for The Great Australia Internet Blackout, Jeff Waugh, shared these figures today:

• 455 verified participating websites (this only includes those who pledged or informed organisers, others are yet to be tallied).
• Websites include (or included) iiNet, Booko, Australian Greens and Australian Democrats.
• The information popup which appears on sites participating in the campaign has been seen more than 270,000 times.
• There has so far been over 196,000 unique visitors to the Great Australian Internet Blackout website.
• Media coverage included a top story on SMH.com.au, as well as articles on ABC,  ZDNet, News.com.au and many more news websites.
• Drive time radio coverage.

A Facebook page for the event has been set up, with over 1700 people already confirmed as attending. Specific protest locations are still to be announced, but one is planned for each capital city. I’ll update this page when I find out more.

Also happening around the country:

Sydney: A public meeting discussing what the Government has planned will be held from 6:00pm – 10:00pm Sunday evening at the Lansdowne Hotel. Full details here.

Brisbane: Meeting Monday 21st December at 7:30pm to discuss what can be done to stop the filter. QUT Gardens Point campus, Room Z-205. I’ll be at this one. Full details here.

Watch here:

Children’s welfare groups Save the Children and the National Children’s & Youth Law Centre joined GetUp! in the campaign, issuing a joint statement (PDF):

We argue that the tens of millions of dollars that such a scheme will cost should instead be diverted to appropriate child protection authorities and police to prevent the abuse of children, and towards effective community-based education strategies that give children and parents the skills to protect themselves.

Further, PC-level filtering software should be promoted to and provided to parents that wish to protect their children from inappropriate internet content.

The Australian Library and Information Association, Civil Liberties Australia, Liberty Victoria, National Association for the Visual Arts, NSW Council for Civil Liberties, QLD Council for Civil Liberties and Dr Alex Byrne FALIA, University Librarian, UTS, also signed the statement.

Read it all here. (PDF)

Senator Conroy’s office responded, saying GetUp’s campaign misrepresents the Government’s position:

“For its last campaign on the issue, GetUp! falsely claimed that any form of filtering would slow internet speeds by 87 percent,” the statement said.

“Now it resorts to spurious claims about the future expansion of the list of content that may be filtered.

“The Government regards freedom of speech as very important and the Government’s cyber-safety policy is in no way designed to curtail this.”

Restricting the access of Australian Internet users to legal content is certainly an attack on freedom of speech.

With respect to the Internet filtering trial currently underway, IT News today reported that Senator Conroy said it was too early to determine how or if the Government’s policy direction on filtering might shift as a result of the trial. The final report on the trial will likely be available in September.

Donations to the GetUp! campaign can be made here.

In response, Mark Newton has created a form letter (direct PDF link) of his own that all Australian’s are free to send back. This one directly attacks the inaccuracies made in the ALP letter, but as Mark points out, if you choose to use it you’re placing yourself into a position similar to the position the MPs have chosen for themselves. Make sure you agree with what he’s written before you put your name to it. 

It’s also a good place to start if you’re looking to counter Labor’s claims about filtering. Print it our and give it to friends and family still regurgitating Labor policy.

Brisbane Square, December 13

Two hundred to three hundred people converged on Brisbane Square, opposite the casino, to protest the government’s plan.

Jasmine Marosvary, organiser and member of the Digital Liberty Coalition (DLC), told me the event was a success considering the high temperature.  As to whether the filter would go ahead, she wasn’t sure, but mentioned DLC has more awareness campaigns planned, including a March in March, a protest in Canberra in 2009.

To those who believe mandatory filtering will protect children online, Jasmine asks them to look into the issue more as filtering is not the answer.  She says parents may become complacent.

Sam Clifford

Greens member and speaker Sam Clifford (who thankfully published his speech online) said Stephen Conroy’s behaviour throughout this entire ordeal has been absolutely disgraceful.

“Senator Conroy has treated those who question him in the Senate with utter contempt; laughing as he rises to answer questions on notice and completely failing to answer said questions. Any time someone points out that what he has just said contradicts what he said earlier or that he hasn’t answered the question, he goes into sales pitch mode and talks about how the government is going to consult with industry to protect kids,” Clifford told the crowd.

“The best way to ensure kids don’t come across nasty stuff on the internet at home is parental supervision and education about how to use the internet.”

Protesters of all ages and lifestyles

A young Brisbane lady I spoke with, a blogger and self-described ‘lolita‘, was concerned a filter could block sites devoted to lolita fashion given its name and alternative usage. She also feared that fan fiction, sites dealing with gay and lesbian issues, and online goth communities may also be blocked.

Shane, like many others who who attended the rally, was opposed to the plan because the Internet was the last bastion of free speech.

All in all, a variety of different people, protesting and speaking for different reasons, but all in agreement that filtering is bad for Australia.

Some people have criticised the protest for preaching to the converted and to some extent I agree, but it’s what protests often do. It’s the media coverage and public awareness that comes with them that benefits the campaign. Holding signs on George Street and handing out pamphlets may not bring down any Great Firewalls, but the coverage on Nine, ABC, SBS and in the papers was certainly worth a few hours out of our Saturday.

National and Brisbane blogger coverage:

- David Jackmanson’s coverage. David spoke and helped organise the Brisbane leg.

- Danny Yee’s speech from the Sydney protest.

- Reflections from ‘No Clean Feed’ rallies

- Ian Kath’s podcast of the event

- Ash’s report and pics

- Nikki Jensen looks at the rally from an event manager’s POV

- Tiara’s thoughts on the Aussie net filter

- Scott Ludlam in Perth

- Geordie Guy’s Sydney photographs

- New: NoCensorshipAus video roundup

GetUp! will use the funds to run an awareness campaign online, with a $25 donation showing the ad below to 1800 people, $50 to 4000 people and $100 to 10,000. That means we’ve already bought 2,500,000 impressions.

They’ve also released a petition widget you can insert on your website or social networking profile to help collect signatures and raise awareness.

The code you’ll need for the widget:

The Federal Government is planning to force all Australian servers to filter internet traffic and block any material the Government deems ‘inappropriate’. Under the plan, the Government can add any ‘unwanted’ site to a secret blacklist.

Testing has already begun on systems that will slow our internet by up to 87%, make it more expensive, miss the vast majority of inappropriate content and accidentally block up to 1 in 12 legitimate sites. Our children deserve better protection – and that won’t be achieved by wasting millions on this deeply flawed system.

The first part of their campaign is a petition, but other online intiatives are expected. A fact sheet is also available as a PDF.