Aus gov is going to put a content filter on the internet

[BorisBC]

I don't see a point to this, its like DRM for your Internet.

Exactly. And we've all seen just how effective DRM is huh?



And Sathias is right - I've been online since '95, dl'd my fair share of pron, and I've never stumbled across these sites, or any links to 'em. Total BS. Once again, it's Daily Telegraph/Advertiser/Courier Mail/Today Tonight style Govt. Make some noise, knee-jerk reaction, do nothing to actually stop the problem, but inconvienience everyone.

[cdkit3]

Yeah same guys, Ive been on the net since about 91 (sure I was 7 but still), and while I have come across my share of somewhat undesirable content, I have never once come across anything remotely like what they are trying to filter with this... You actually have to go and actively sort out the type of content they are wishing to ban to be able to access it, so rather than just putting up a blanket filter, they should be targetting and prosecuting the people who are actively going after this material...

But as we have said, knee jerk policies keep all the cotton wool kids safe...

[nit3hunt3r]

"There are two levels of filter, one which you will be able to opt-out of (stuff unsuitable for children but ok for adults) and one you will not be able to (child porn and other illegal content).

While it sounds reasonable in principle, for me the main concerns are

a) The filtering affecting the performance of the internet and putting extra cost on the ISP's
b) False positives blocking content which is not intended to be blocked
c) The definition of "illegal content". We have seen in games such as Mark Ecko's game that illegal content can be applied to crimes much less serious than child pornography. Would this sort of application of the law happen for net filtering as well?"

Well said, and I agree. How they actually do it may be the problem. Another point is that if it's going to cost us more for ISP subscription, then they can trash it. Like a few people here said, they should be spending the money catching the criminals (illegal stuff).

IMHO it's the parent's job (underage kids viewing normal porn/stuff). It's how you educate your children. Teenagers are teenagers, and once they hit puberty, you can't do anything about it. 18 really is an arbitrary number. The reason 18 is the age for most "adult" things, is because the mind only begins to be rational and have the ability to contemplate consequences properly at that stage. Most children and teenagers before that still have a learning and reactionary mindset. So parents have the responsibility of educating their children about the proper adult world, and preparing them for it. It's not beneficial for the child/teenager if you ignore it, or remove the offending material, because they will still be wondering about their own feelings. They're not going to magically know how to face the adult world when they hit 18.

[Kimbo]

Shouldn't they be using this money to upgrade internet speeds and make better internet infrastructure like wireless, like running cables up the highway for better speeds, like off-loading 'the Telstra' that 'owns all the lovely copper issue'.

Online libertarians claim the blacklists could be expanded to censor material such as euthanasia, drugs and protest.

Im also wondering if this is the stupid 'same government censorship site' that blocked Pauline Hanson's political site and classified it as "Hate Speech". Oh man was that the irony in it self.

Sorry I can't find the news article, but I think it was on Crikey.com

Shouldn't we be teaching our children (as parents?) better values, better education, using the internet as a tool for research, teaching children to deciminate information between what is real and what is false.

Maybe we should be working toward a better future for the next generation and showing how to use technology responsibly.

Will the government censor videos like:

http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?do ... rent&hl=en - Presentation By Mark Pesce on BitTorrent

http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?do ... eist&hl=en - Zeigeist : The Movie

http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?do ... enum&hl=en - Zeigeist : Addendum

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid= ... ings&hl=en - EARTHLINGS is a feature length documentary about humanity's absolute dependence on animals (for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and scientific research) but also illustrates our complete disrespect for these so-called "non-human providers."

Although Im not vegetarian. What is to say the government censoring sites like these?.

What about censoring sites like this? http://www.selectparks.net/archive/escapefromwoomera/ - Escape from Woomera game for the Half Life engine.

Escape from Woomera would be classified as a 'protest site' and could be banned. But then we could further that. What is to stop the government censoring.

How about we go further.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=5mO2iIlYCjM

Wonder how far they will go.

Do I question my elected governments good intentions? No I don't because I just want to see what it will do and because I am a confused portato.

[aZmoDen]

I think this is one of those times when sitting around talking about it isnt good enough, are there petitions? phone lines we can call to register out complaint?
what can we do about it to show our unsupport?

[Zombywolf]

Australians will be unable to opt-out of the government's pending Internet content filtering scheme, and will instead be placed on a watered-down blacklist, experts say.

Well that's insanely fascist. Why is this the first I'm hearing of this and when did Australia become Communist China?

hey, leave communism out of this!
Communism is a fantastic idea. the only thing that stops it from working is we are all so damn greedy
the word i believe you are looking for is fascist.

but yea, i most certainly agree with you. we are tending towards a fascism'dy type of govt. i really need to get that shack on the beach built...

[Krankite]

I really don't understand this at all if there are still holes in the chinas internet censorship how can they believe they can filter it here in austalia.

Besides this fact has anyone actually considered they need to find the stuff before they can block it? a simple keyword block won't work unless you want to ban people from looking up kubrick movies. However individually locating each website takes far too much effort considering the amount of staff needed to keep it updated.

According to preliminary trials, the best Internet content filters would incorrectly block about 10,0000 Web pages from one million.

the second nuber is kinda abiguous due to the odd placing of the comma but thats either 10% or 1% either way its unacceptably large

[PalZer0]

Why should it be up to the government to decide what's appropriate for us to look at on the Internet?

This filter will be bypassed like every other filter that's come before it, it'll end up costing us more in the long run and it'll kill our Internet speed.

Besides, what's to stop them from blocking access to sites like PlayAsia due to the fact that they can be used to import banned games? Hell. If they take it even further, they could block access to the official sites for banned games.

Censorship is bad mmmkay?

[senseibaka]

I really don't understand this at all if there are still holes in the chinas internet censorship how can they believe they can filter it here in austalia.

Besides this fact has anyone actually considered they need to find the stuff before they can block it? a simple keyword block won't work unless you want to ban people from looking up kubrick movies. However individually locating each website takes far too much effort considering the amount of staff needed to keep it updated.

According to preliminary trials, the best Internet content filters would incorrectly block about 10,0000 Web pages from one million.

the second nuber is kinda abiguous due to the odd placing of the comma but thats either 10% or 1% either way its unacceptably large

woah, because of the comma I misread it as ten thousand instead of a hundred thousand.

[Batesy]

* Why should it be up to the government to decide what's appropriate for us to look at on the Internet?

* This filter will be bypassed like every other filter that's come before it, it'll end up costing us more

* Censorship is bad mmmkay?

All points noted, and I totally agree.

[ph[34]r .#]

It would drastically reduce the speed of the internet? Or so I've read?

[Xtr33m3]

What about censoring sites like this? http://www.selectparks.net/archive/escapefromwoomera/ - Escape from Woomera game for the Half Life engine.

Escape from Woomera would be classified as a 'protest site' and could be banned. But then we could further that. What is to stop the government censoring.

Well Actually (on the RH side of their main page):

This project has been assisted by the Federal Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

That aside; those who want questionably illegal material will gain access to it. As said before it is a knee-jerk reaction which will drive such activities into a state of being harder to track.

[DOMINATOR_]

wonder if there will be a direct correlation between this filter being implemented and dvd/cd sales increasing....

[skitzor]

i hope the site we can not discuss here is not on that blacklist.

[Commy]

e.g. I am an avid paintball player... It is illegal to own a paintball pistol in Australia, will all paintball sites be blocked because they sell or review items that are illegal - yet I miss the other content that is legal and relevant to my legal sport?

I just thought exactly the same thing. I ordered some **** this week, and seeing as replica markers are banned does that mean any overseas paintball sites will be banned now? Theres plenty of legal items you can buy on said sites.