Hi all. It’s been nearly a year since I blogged about censorship here on Somebody Think of the Children. In fact, it’s been nearly a year since I wrote about censorship at all. Apart from the occasional Twitter discussion I’ve generally been focused on work and other online projects.

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