Thursday, February 25, 2010

Conroy's funnier in the Muppet's Swedish Chef voice...

Link:

Crackdown on Internet racism ill-thought out

EFA commentary:

If you're a politician, and something nasty is brought to your attention, what do you do? The best and sometimes only tool in your toolbox is the one you reach for. The tool is this: to pass a law banning it. Therefore, although it's always discouraging, a story like this one, is far from unusual or surprising. "Laws to tackle racism on the Internet are set to be beefed up," it announces.

"Authorities warn they are often powerless to act against online content, which is responsible for almost one in five racial vilification complaints," it continues, then:

Attorney-General Robert McClelland has ordered the Australian Human Rights Commission to conduct a sweeping review of "arrangements for dealing with racist material on the internet".
"While freedom of expression is one of the most fundamental rights, this is not at the expense of the rights of people, while using the Internet, to be treated with equality, dignity and respect," Mr McClelland told The Sunday Age.
Certainly, nobody likes hate speech. But these words, by our Attorney-General, are concerning. Firstly, they show a terrible lack of consideration of the complexities of the issue, and secondly, they demote freedom of speech in a significant way.

Opposition grows to internet filter

BACKBENCH MPs on both sides of politics opposed to the government's internet filtering proposal are vigorously lobbying their colleagues, creating a potential roadblock to the plan backed by the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy.


Link SMH:

Opposition amongst politicians is growing

What does 158kg of R18+ submissions look like?


Video games retailer EB Games today revealed it had received over 46,000 submissions from customers in support of a new R18+ Australian classification category for games. And this is what it looks like.

30,000 of the submissions were hand-signed in EB Games' stores over the past two weeks, with another 16,000 collected online in conjunction with Grow Up Australia, an organisation also pushing for a R18+ rating. The retailer will hand all of the signed submissions - 158kg of paper - to the Attorney's General's Department this week.



Link:

46000 submissions for the creation of an R18+ category for games. I agree that adults should be allowed to play adult games. Further, I think there should be an "Unclassified" category. That would make the classification process look more like classification and less like censorship.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

It's just porn

SMH reporter interviews real live porn stars.
Isis says that no-one she talks to in the industry is complaining about being porn stars. Only people outside assume that they are victims (around the 3 minute mark).

Link:

Monday, February 22, 2010

Can this bottle of phlegm get more fans than Senator Stephen Conroy?



FB Group:

I like it more than Senator Conroy already. At least you can put a lid on it.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Hardcore comics sidestep porn law

[T]he city's largest electronics and entertainment quarter also has an abundance of something far more unsavoury to Western sensibilities: a range of manga comics, anime films and video games that would be regarded in many countries as the biggest collection of child pornography anywhere.


Link:

If it's a comic and you get charged, you are being charged with thought crime because no-one was hurt. The porn leads to rape model is as flawed as the eroto-toxin model.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Damages for Catholic abuse could cost millions

As more victims of sexual abuse by priests in the German Catholic church in the 1970s and 80s come forward, their lawyers said on Tuesday that compensation could reach into the millions.


Link:

Conroy is chasing child abusers all over the net when he should be looking a little closer to home. This is where it happens. Right under you nose with someone you trust.

Stephen Conroy: You Can't Regulate The Internet

Senator Stephen Conroy - the great Canberra Communications Cluebie - was interviewed on ABC Radio National Breakfast this morning - (19 Feburary 2010) - in regards to a recent substantial ($250M) financial gesture to Australia's commercial television networks.


Link:

Thursday, February 18, 2010

"Why Conroy loves porn"

Every time anti-filtering campaigners mention porn, they play right into Senator Conroy's hands.

Conroy obviously doesn't care what the online community thinks of his mandatory filtering plans. He will only change his mind about filtering if mainstream Australia turns against him, and that's never going to happen while the debate remains focused on porn.


http://digihub.smh.com.au/node/1553

School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home

According to the filings in Blake J Robbins v Lower Merion School District (PA) et al, the laptops issued to high-school students in the well-heeled Philly suburb have webcams that can be covertly activated by the schools' administrators, who have used this facility to spy on students and even their families. The issue came to light when the Robbins's child was disciplined for "improper behavior in his home" and the Vice Principal used a photo taken by the webcam as evidence. The suit is a class action, brought on behalf of all students issued with these machines.


BoingBoing

It's not that the government wants to protect children, it's that they want control of the net so that they can control us.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Conroy's China/Thailand style google filter

So, he's finally come clean. He wants Google to filter youtube because the filter will slow the internet speed too much if it has to filter youtube.

Article:

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Operation Titstorm: hackers bring down government websites

Groups opposing the government's internet censorship plans have condemned today's attacks on government websites, saying it will do little to help their cause, while Communications Minister Stephen Conroy called them "totally irresponsible".

Hackers connected with the group Anonymous, known for its war against Scientology, this morning launched a broad attack on government websites.


Link:

A lot of people didn't think it was a good idea. I'm in two minds. It made the paper and all publicity is good publicity.

80%! Shit!

Interestingly:
. only about half of people want a government department to have control of the black list.
. 93% of people don't want the list kept secret.

Hungry Beast made the usual points about how:
. 15 year olds can get around it in seconds using TOR and proxies - they're the ones most likely to be looking for porn
. it wont stop pedophiles cause child abuse material isn't on web sites
. filtering will slow the net down

Extended interview with Conroy


I used to be called with questionnaires but they don't call anymore. I wonder if the results are skewed because the Do Not Call register means that netizens are less likely to be called?

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Hungry Beast reveals Australians support proposed internet filter

WTF!?

80% of Australians are in favour of the Federal Government's proposed mandatory internet filter according to a new nationwide telephone poll commissioned by Hungry Beast that will be featured when the show returns to ABC TV tonight, 9pm on ABC1.


Link:

Facebook protest in Sydney

Facebook event:

This is in Sydney. I'm north of Bris so I'm not gonna make it. Hopefully there'll be one in Bris too.

Frightening Taste Of Internet Censorship As Major Free Speech Websites Blocked

With influential proponents recently calling for a newly regulated world wide web, we got a preview of how that might look this past weekend after both Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com were completely blocked to many Internet users in New Zealand.
The block was only removed early this morning following a raft of complaints after both websites were unavailable on many ISP's since Friday.


Link:

Stephen Conroy has expressed admiration for what he termed as Google's role in suppressing controversial web content in China...

APC Article

In the latest twist over his controversial Web filtering scheme, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has expressed admiration for what he termed as Google's role in suppressing controversial Web content in countries like China, Thailand, and elsewhere - and confirmed he is trying to use similar filtering to prevent Australians from viewing offensive content via Google-owned YouTube.


Google denies this claim.
Google, however, is having none of it, denying both Conroy's claims about deep-packet filtering and suggestions it would voluntarily filter RC content. "We don't believe the comparisons between how China filters the Internet, and how Australia is looking at it, are relevant," Google Australia head of policy Iarla Flynn told APCmag.com.


Did Conroy not see the news story where Google recently told China to get stuffed? This might be a good example of Conroy's internal filter in action. You can tell him anything and he will hear what he wants to hear every time.

Go online and know your enemies

Forewarned is forearmed when it comes to cyber threats, writes Julia Talevski.

Cyber criminals accrue more than $US100 billion ($115 billion) a year, it was revealed at an Australian High Tech Crime Conference. Bank account details and identities on social networking sites are fair game and hackers will use any means necessary to obtain them. This includes exploiting everything from the latest trendy topic on the internet to the latest disasters, such as the earthquake in Haiti. Learning about the kinds of threats is the first step towards ensuring your data stays safe.


Link:

Real advice on actually securing computers in the real world not magical plans to protect us from nasty porn so we can all be good christians while online.

Chinese police crack down on hackers

BEIJING: Police in central China have shut down a hacker training operation that openly recruited thousands of members online and provided them with cyberattack lessons and malicious software.

The crackdown comes amid growing concern that China is a centre for a global explosion of internet crimes.


Link:

Now China is picking on those cuddly, lovable scamps, the hackers.

Conroy put former MP forward for key IT job

Jobs for the boys. That'll help!

A FORMER Labor politician caught up in electoral fraud allegations was appointed to a job with the new broadband network after a recommendation by the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy.

The Queenslander Mike Kaiser was appointed in November to the $450,000-a-year role as the head of government relations and external affairs for NBN Co, the government-owned company set up to construct the $43 billion broadband network.


Link:

Internet safety day puts spotlight on children - Nick Abrahams

Supervision: Ensure that the computer is in a public area of the house, not a bedroom. The ABS report found that 33% of computers used by children were in private areas.

Settings: Ensure that the privacy and content settings on the computer are set with the maximum restrictions. These should be set at the operating system and browser level as well as in relevant search engines (such as Google). It is easier than you think.

Discussion: Critically important is to discuss the issue with your child so that they understand the risks involved in posting personal information and responding to contact by strangers.


Some actual things that would actually help parents to make their children more safe.

Link:

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Internet uprising overturns Australian censorship law

The state of South Australia has a new election law that went into effect January 6, and its effect was shocking: anonymous political speech on the Internet was simply destroyed.

The law required anyone posting a political comment online during an election period to supply their real name and address or face a fine of up to AUS$1,250. The measure was grossly discriminatory-it applied only to bloggers and commenters, not to online "journals" (newspapers or magazine which are written by Real Journalists).

Link:

Because the idea was not dopey enough, Atkinson took to the radio to prove that it was based on misinformation:

"I'll give you an example: repeatedly in the AdelaideNow website one will see commentary from Aaron Fornarino of West Croydon. That person doesn't exist," Atkinson said on the air. "That name has been created by the Liberal Party in order to run Liberal Party commentary."

This morning, AdelaideNow took great delight in posting a picture of Fornarino posing with a Mac and his young daughter. He's a second-year law student who moved to the area last year and "lives in a flat on Port Rd, about 500m from Mr. Atkinson's electorate office."


For some reason this idea has since been dumped. But here's the catch. He's promising: "I will immediately after the election move to repeal the law retrospectively... It may be humiliating for me, but that's politics in a democracy and I'll take my lumps."

Yeah... right. We've got this law but we wont use it, promise, honest. And we'll scrap it when we are re-elected... promise. Fuck Off. Get rid of this shit now!


LifeHacker's article: SA Internet Forum Rules Are Chilling, Unworkable

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Attorney-General Michael Atkinson vows to repeal election internet censorship law amid reader furore

ATTORNEY-GENERAL Michael Atkinson will move immediately to repeal controversial laws which sparked an outcry over censorship of the internet.

After backing down late last night to say the laws would not be put into effect, Mr Atkinson told reporters he would follow the advice of Opposition legal affairs spokeswoman Vickie Chapman and use a section of the Electoral Act to immediately repeal the section.


Link:

My fingers are crossed for Conroy getting all "listening to the people" soon too... maybe?

More censorship? Rudd 'epic fail' FaceBook group goes offline

Today, we can reveal that online political speech has been dealt another blow with Facebook, the popular social networking site, being accused of political censorship after it removed the group "KEVIN RUDD = EPIC FAIL".

Before it was removed the Facebook group is understood to have had over 3000 members and focused on building a list what it described as Kevin Rudd's broken promises.

Whether or not you agree with the argument of the group, surely in a democracy the creators have the right to express their views and people have a right to join and support that group.


Link:

This supports the thin edge of the wedge idea, yes?

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

If iiNet is not liable for piracy downloads, how can the govt make them responsible for porn filtering?

iiNet slays Hollywood in landmark piracy case

The giants of the film industry have lost their case against ISP iiNet in a landmark judgment handed down in the Federal Court today.

The decision had the potential to impact internet users and the internet industry profoundly as it sets a legal precedent surrounding how much ISPs are required to do to prevent customers from downloading movies and other content illegally.

But after an on-and-off eight-week trial that examined whether iiNet authorised customers to download pirated movies, Justice Dennis Cowdroy found that the ISP was not liable for the downloading habits of its customers.


SMH

Can ISPs stand on the shoulders of this ruling and say that they are not responsible for the implementation of Senator Conroy's internet filter?

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

A politician is against this!

NO TO MEDIA CENSORSHIP BY GOVERNMENTS - TARGET 10,000 SUPPORTERS

It's only a FaceBook group but at least it's something.

Federal Member for Ryan Michael Johnson MP again condemned the Labor Governments ISP Filtering policy for its anti-freedom and anti-democratic nature that has no place in an open and liberal Nation such as Australia.

"I strongly condemn Federal Labor's ISP Filtering because it is government censorship at its heart, dressed up as a family friendly policy to protect our children against access to inappropriate internet material," Mr Johnson said.



Links from the group's info page.
Former High Court Judge Michael Kirby

Reporter's San Frontieres

Monday, February 1, 2010

SA Internet Forum Rules Are Chilling, Unworkable

Proposed national Internet censorship laws are reason enough to protest, but South Australia seems determined to make things even worse, with a new law covering what forum posters can say during an election campaign.


Link:

WTF!? What is it with right wing lunatics and their need for full disclosure of names and addresses? When comments stop resulting in witch hunts I might feel more inclined towards that level of disclosure. If someone has actually broken a law the police IT forensics specialists are more than capable of tracking who wrote the post.

What's next? Checking paper diaries for dissent?

How the Web Prevents Rape

All that Internet porn reduces sex crimes. Really.

Does pornography breed rape? Do violent movies breed violent crime? Quite the opposite, it seems.

First, porn. What happens when more people view more of it? The rise of the Internet offers a gigantic natural experiment. Better yet, because Internet usage caught on at different times in different states, it offers 50 natural experiments.

The bottom line on these experiments is, "More Net access, less rape." A 10 percent increase in Net access yields about a 7.3 percent decrease in reported rapes. States that adopted the Internet quickly saw the biggest declines. And, according to Clemson professor Todd Kendall, the effects remain even after you control for all of the obvious confounding variables, such as alcohol consumption, police presence, poverty and unemployment rates, population density, and so forth.


Slate Article:

In the 1980s, conservatives and feminists joined to fight a common nemesis: the spread of pornography. Unlike past campaigns to stamp out smut, this one was based not only on morality but also public safety. They argued that hard-core erotica was intolerable because it promoted sexual violence against women.


Reeason Article: