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Gillard takes aim at the net’s “dark side”
Jul 8 2010, 12:11In case you were hoping that a change in PM might lead to a change in policy, think again. On Darwin radio yesterday, Prime Minister Gillard continued the Government’s push for mandatory internet censorship, taking aim at the internet’s “dark side”. If there’s any change on this issue, it’s merely a slight shift in the rhetoric to something more prone to Jedi puns. For instance, if one had any hopes that the new PM understands the internet better than the old one, this ought to dispel them:
But there’s also a set of concerns about the dark side of the new technology, if I can use that expression, and, you know, clearly you can’t walk into a cinema in Australia and see certain things and we shouldn’t on the internet be able to access those things either. So, Stephen Conroy is working to get this in the right shape.
Minister Stephen Conroy has been describing the debate in the terms of what can be purchased at newsagents, and now the new PM is talking in terms of cinemas. It’s not surprising – though it’s certainly discouraging – that our leaders can’t or won’t take the time to think through the challenges of regulating a global and dynamic communications platform. Instead, they try and cheat by applying old and simplistic ideas to the net.
Can Conroy get the filter in the right shape? Not without going back to the drawing board and actually designing a policy with a coherent goal, taking into consideration how the internet actually works. Sadly, it looks like the old policy is what will be delivered to the Parliament after the election will be of the “internet as a giant newsagent” variety.
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Without this stupid plan being completely scaled back, it's just going to be a challenge for child pornographers and people who are going to get around the filter.
Way to achieve nothing by spending millions gaiz!
well i can say lord vader isnt amused and what does she mean by the dark side eh 90% of the internet is in a shade of grey and they want to filter it all out im not gonna be using the internet if i cant read my animu because of jerkwads
Well there goes my vote and many other gen y/x voters. Nice work Gillard….
I highly doubt they wil block anime or manga…unless you mean /a/? Yeah that'd be annoying.
It's amazing how this is still being thought of as a viable plan.
Even if it does go through, they can't seriously expect people to not get around it. This seems to be about as effective as a baby gate on the stairs.
Ugh! How predictable. Just when I thought I might be able to vote labour again, it's back to the Greens I go.
Rade, no it won't be a challenge at all. Access to the material this filter is supposed to protect us from wont be in the slightest bit challenged. This filter will block websites, generally not the chosen method of sharing child pornography.
This filter will make it slightly harder to access Refused Classification material. The problem here is that Refused Classification does NOT equate to illegal. Much of the material they are aiming to filter is perfectly legal to own and access to this material is arguably critical to ensure open and fair debate on controversial topics.
RC material "…can include not only illegal material such as child pornography or terrorism advocacy, but also socially or politically controversial material that isn't necessarily illegal such as sexual fetishes, homosexuality, abortion and euthanasia."
Another danger of this filter is that parents who are struggling to understand emerging technologies may be left with the false impression that this filter means that the internet is now safe and that their children can be safely given unsupervised access. This could not be further from the truth. The very vast majority of real world threats to children will not be in the slightest bit affected by this plan.
In the end, this filter will fail entirely to achieve the stated goals, circumvention is ludicrously simple for absolutely anyone (do a quick search for "proxy" or "VPN") and is far more likely to compromise the safety of children.
What is needed is far more education for children and parents regarding the nature of the internet and potential threats, and greater funding to the Federal Police. The Australian Federal Police force has been working with their counterparts around the world and have demonstrated that they are the only effective solutionfor tackling child pornography.
If this is really about saving the children, how about we spend the money in such a way as to have a chance of actually achieving our goals?
I cannot fathom the immensity of their stupidity.
I'm in favour of removing terrorism advocacy, child pornography and MAYBE euthanasia, but come on! Homosexuality? Abortion? Maybe some of the people who live in this country like SOME controversial aspect of life. If this filter is either implemented as is or developed further for later implementation, it'll remove free rights for most. If you remove ONE part of the adult porno sites, you'll need to remove ALL porno sites sooner rather than later. It's best to educate children as to how to use the Internet properly and how NOT to use the Internet at all. Furthermore, I'm damn well surprised that I've never heard of
'Refused Classification' before!
The internet is like a car. Use it how you want, but don't go overboard. Id est, don't do burnouts, don't drink and drive, don't drive recklessly. Same with the Internet. Don't go on sites that advocate despicable content of the MAX degree. Id est, child porn, terrorism advocacy. Maybe some of us LIKE to watch two chicks screwing each other, and maybe some of us WANT to have abortions because we're not ready yet for kids. Please, Stephen. Please, Julia. Don't ruin it for ~15 million (wild guess at number of adults) just because ~7 million (wild guess at number of kids) shouldn't do certain things.
I am hoping that this filter is getting through because of ignorance rather than a desire to squash free speech but rather than posting on more forums and participating in online petitions i think its time for myself and everyone else concerned with the issue should start calling radio stations writing to newspapers etc as we are seen in the eyes of most as a loud vocal minority and that is the few people who know about this first step toward an Orwellian society.