Draw Mohammed Day causes net filtering creep in Pakistan

So their net filter was probably to protect children now it is used to filter things that their theocracy simply doesn't like.

Rudd retreats on web filter legislation

KEVIN Rudd has put another election promise on the backburner with his controversial internet filtering legislation set to be shelved until after the next election.

A spokeswoman for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said yesterday the legislation would not be introduced next month's or the June sittings of parliament.

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This hasn't gone away. They are going into election mode so the netfilter doesn't get mentioned much... just like last time when they were in election mode.

I followed Rudd's election closely. I would have known if this was mentioned because I would have stopped thinking positively of him. The Greens (my vote) are coming through for us. I hope the Greens get balance of power in the Senate. A nice three way split like in the UK.

If we stop voting for them will they leave us alone??

Internet censorship remains part of Conroy's agenda

The government has postponed its web-filtering legislation to defuse it as an election issue

IT was ironic that Communications Minister Stephen Conroy announced the postponement of his internet filtering legislation via an adviser last week. Advice was not something he was fond of taking. Sensing a voter backlash on the legislation, which was supposed to be introduced into the parliament before the federal election, Rudd and Conroy are banking on removing it as an election issue. But will they?

If Conroy had introduced the legislation before the election, he might have risked the ire of the Greens and Electronic Frontiers Australia, but at least it would have been done and dusted. It would then be up to other political parties to say that they would try to overturn it, a much more difficult task. Now the election could be turned in part into a referendum on the issue.

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I like this article. It actually just admits that adults want to access adult material on the net and that doesn't mean they are pedophiles or perverts. Thus:

He also has miscalculated the number of people who use the internet to seek out sexual material. At last count there were 238 million adult sex sites on the internet and millions of searches every day are for sexually related material. Does Conroy think all these people live in Upper Volta or New Zealand? His insistence on calling them pedophiles and perverts has only hardened their resolve to bring him down. Sexual pleasure on the internet is a personal freedom that many adults will not give up lightly.

Google runs to US over Australian filter

Google has confirmed that it has gone to the US State Department, including other parties, to voice its concerns on the filter.

"Google is deeply concerned by Australia's plans to introduce a widely scoped, mandatory ISP filtering regime. We have voiced our concerns publicly and with many groups including the US State Department," Google spokesperson Lucinda Barlow told ZDNet.com.au today.

The search giant has not been quiet about its views on the system which it has said has too broad a scope and is "heavy-handed".

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Filter looks as though it is delayed

The Australian is reporting that the Government has shelved the introduction of the filter until after the election:

KEVIN Rudd has put another election promise on the backburner with his controversial internet filtering legislation set to be shelved until after the next election.

A spokeswoman for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said yesterday the legislation would not be introduced next month's or the June sittings of parliament.

Link:

Australian IT article:

If they don't drop the idea before the election we will be dealing with a Howard style "mandate to introduce..." the filter. This has to be fought tooth and nail right up to the election so that they have to talk about it. Remember how much Howard talked about GST before that election??? Remember how much Rudd talked about the filter before the last election? They didn't. They are working on a variation of "He who is silent is said to consent... he who is ignorant is said to have erred in full knowledge.

Conroy's had a big day.

Net filters a 'modest measure': Conroy

The federal government's plan to bring in a mandatory internet filter is a modest regulatory measure that will combat illegal activity, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says.

In a speech to The Sydney Institute yesterday, Senator Conroy again defended the plan against opponents who believe it is akin to censorship.

Link: SMH

Poll results are telling. 2% think it's a good idea. The other 98% are split between "radical like China's" on 28% and "unnecessary" at 70%. This is 28000 plus votes.

Given that the Government couldn't care less whether people want the filter or not, polls are a bit of a waste of time. If only 2% of people actually want this crap it makes it a very expensive proposition. Imagine if we made those 2% of people pay the hundreds of

Web filter splits opposition

THE federal opposition is yet to formulate a position on the proposed internet filter despite Labor flagging its intention to introduce the measure before the last election.

The failure of Coalition leader Tony Abbott or his communications spokesman Tony Smith to indicate whether they would support the bill reflects divisions within the party about the government's plan to block access to internet sites banned under Australia's classification rules.

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Abbott is non-committal. I'm hoping he's watching the electorate and will jump the way that they want it.

Elderly learn to beat euthanasia blacklist

''Now I'm on borrowed time I can afford to live dangerously,'' she said after attending the first in a series of workshops teaching people how to circumvent a proposed law restricting access to some internet sites, expected to include some on euthanasia.

Websites associated with Exit International and its suicide manual, the Peaceful Pill Handbook, are expected to be refused classification and therefore to be inaccessible from Australian computers once a mandatory internet filter is in place.

SMH Link:

This is the best news I've heard. I thought that the filter might increase the computer skills of curious teenagers but it never occurred to me that it might help old people to increase their computer literacy too.

Stephen Conroy and US at odds on net filter

THE Obama administration has questioned the Rudd government's plan to introduce an internet filter, saying it runs contrary to the US's foreign policy of encouraging an open internet to spread economic growth and global security.
Officials from the State Department have raised the issue with Australian counterparts as the US mounts a diplomatic assault on internet censorship by governments worldwide.

The news is a blow to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, who is defending the plan for internet companies to mandatorily block illegal and abhorrent websites -- for instance, child pornography -- but faces growing opposition.

Link (ASP):

Internet's not special, says communications minister

But Mark Newton, an engineer with ISP internode, said: "Censorship will not catch a single pedophile, will not cause a single image to disappear from the internet, will not protect a single child."

Senator Conroy also brushed aside concerns from leading academics and technology companies that the plan to block a blacklist of "refused classification" (RC) websites for all Australians was an attempt to shoe-horn an offline classification model into a vastly different online world.

"Why is the internet special?," he asked, saying the net was "just a communication and distribution platform".

"This argument that the internet is some mysti...

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The Clean Feed under the microscope

An industry veteran takes a look at Stephen Conroy's Internet Filtering scheme, and its impact on secure online transactions.

Ah, the Clean Feed.

Few things have generated as much discussion and, well, bile, as Stephen Conroy's pet project to put blinkers on Australian internet access and censor our browsing habits. It's caused a mess of strum and drang in our forums, and now, one industry veteran has had a long

hard look at the scheme and put together a rather in depth discussion paper and report.

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[Government] Internet: ignorance is the real threat

If you've spent any significant time following the Open Internet campaign, you'll see that Rudd's censorship proposal isn't the only internet issue that gives the community cause to take umbrage.

Link: ABC.net.au

Iran's firewalls tightened ahead of election

As Iranians head to the polls, the existing government has tightened its grip on the internet and even turned its firewall against politicians close to the current rulers, say researchers who have detected a shift in the kind of sites blocked over the last two weeks. But a total shut down of the web on election day - rumoured last week - has so far failed to materialise.

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An old article but a frightening vision of what a government can do to consolidate its power with a secret net filter.

The filtering continues to spread.

Rudd's jumped on the bandwagon now.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he would consider introducing an internet ombudsman after Facebook tributes to two dead children were defaced with pornography.

Rudd said he would look into an idea put forward by Independent Senator Nick Xenophon to appoint an official who would be responsible for taking complaints and action against such material.

This is the biggest bit of troll feeding ever! Has Rudd ever been online?

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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

"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

Australia responds to threats of internet war

HACKERS are launching 200 attacks a month on the Defence Department's computer networks, the Defence Minister, John Faulkner, revealed as he unveiled a new centre to co-ordinate the nation's response to online threats.

Why are we panicking about porn? Hackers are attacking the Defence Force computers and Senator Conroy is fucking around filtering material made for consenting adults by consenting adults. WTF!?

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Add to this the idea that a filtered net makes it harder for policing and you have twice the problem with hackers!

Google's fight: US-China lock horns.

GOOGLE'S fight with Chinese censors risks escalating into a fullblown US-China showdown over cyber warfare, as claims emerge about the unprecedented scale of Chinese attacks on US commercial and defence systems.

Conroy's mentors are up to no good again.

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No internet sex please, we're Indian. Web firms observe new law

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It may have given the world the Kama Sutra and the Bollywood wet sari scene, but it appears that India is not yet ready to be exposed to the delicate subject of sex on the internet.

A Guardian investigation has discovered that several internet companies have quietly introduced filters to prevent Indian users from accessing sexual content.

Internet filter laws need urgent public debate. SMH Article

The report that underpins the government's decision to legislate did not offer any new ammunition to the proponents of the scheme. But, although not obvious at first sight, the report is actually a positive outcome for the schme's critics.

The report's findings reinforce that dynamic content filtering - or inspection of data as it passes through the system without any prior knowledge about the content - is not viable.

SMH Link: