It's Time To Tell Mum

Link: It's Time To Tell Mum

Talking Points:

#1: The entire list of what will be banned is secret.
The Australian Government has compiled a list of websites they believe Australian’s shouldn’t be able to access. At the moment the list doesn’t include thousands of the sites that should be banned, and includes sites that shouldn’t be banned, including a dentist and a tuck shop lady.

#2: The filter will block access to material that is currently legal to possess and view.
Any films, publications and games that the Government deems to be offensive will be banned. The Government should help Australian families make choices about what information we have access to, not decide we don't have access to perfectly legal films, books, or computer games.

#3: The methods the Government plan to implement will affect your mum's internet connections forever.
Even mums want an internet connection that's faster, cheaper and more secure, but the technology being forced on internet companies by the Government has the potential to damage all of these.

#4: The way they plan to implement the ban would not keep child pornographers from sending or receiving illicit material OR from making child pornography.
Of course it would be great if there was a way to make sure children were never exposed to child pornography, never used for child pornography, and for child pornography to end completely. But, internet censorship does not do this. It will in no way stop people from making child pornography, or stop them from distributing it. In fact, the filter will probably make it harder to catch people involved in these illegal activities.

#5: Internet censorship will not protect children from being exposed to the billions of other pages that are illicit, but not on their list.
There are too many dangers online for the filter to keep children safe from them all. The filter will create a false sense of security. If mums begin to rely on the filter to keep their children safe, rather than monitoring their children’s internet use themselves, children will actually be less safe than before the filter was in place.

#6: The filter does nothing to protect children from what mums are really concerned about, like online predators, cyber-bullies, spam, viruses, and other cyber threats.
The only safeguards to these kinds of threat are parental monitoring of their children’s activities online. Internet censorship will not keep children safe, no matter what the Government says.