Aussie politicians hoping to bring the great unwashed in their country to heel with new internet filtering software have been shown the dangers of internet censorship.
The Aussies hope to be the first western democracy to bring in internet filtering software which just like the communist Chinese system. Aussie politicians claim that the filter will stop kiddie porn, but also on the shopping list are sites which don't agree with them.
The government has already installed filtering software on civil service servers and learnt first hand what it actually will mean for the great unwashed.
A site which makes it easy to keep a track of what MPs have said in parliament has been blocked by a government department.
Employees at the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service have been denied access to OpenAustralia.org on the grounds that it has been classified as a blog by its third-party internet filtering system.
The site's co-founder, Matthew Landauer, told the Sydney Morning Herald the site was being used by Customs workers to stay informed on issues relating to Customs policy discussed in the federal parliament. They wanted it for a very sensible, work related activity.
When he got on the blower to senior officials at Customs he was told that the website http://www.openaustralia.org and its charity foundation http://blog.openaustralia.org/foundation/ are classified by the filtering software ... as 'blogs'.
Apparently blogs are blocked because they threaten the security of the Australian Customs and Border Protection network.
Not only is OpenAustralia.org website itself not a blog, but is a helpful way of keeping track of what is said in federal parliament. It gives the Aussies a taster of what life will be like under the software filter. It is a world where people are ill informed and where points of view are censored.
It is ironic that in this case it is the sage words of the politicians that have been censored. Our impression was that the internet filter was make their words appear to be cast in stone for the Australian population with all descent crushed.
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Please, if you're going to write a headline like this - make it relevant.
It's a valid point, although the example is a local and isolated one and one I bet that could be applied to any current government department and indeed almost any company.
The individual known as "Michael Harris" has been blocked from further postings and distribution of comments not in line with the opinions of the Authorities.
The perpetrator "Michael Harris" is heretofore barred from further access and internet posting priveleges have been revoked. Appeals denied.
Is it because blogs may contain ideas from individuals rather than organisations? Does the government not like or trust people? (rhetorical question as it is clear They only like lobbyists and pressure groups - we have a government of the interest groups, not of the people).
... “Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me”
How long will it be before all
bloggers are branded as treasonists?
Censorship, itself, is libelous.
Before Aussie gov't demagogues
go ape-shit slinging caca,
someone should caution them about
what happens when chumps attack
in the wild:
"In 1992, the High Court of Australia held that a right to freedom of expression, in so far as public and political discussion is concerned, is implied in the Constitution. This right is thought to be an essential requirement of democratic and representative government and thus implied into the Australian Constitution, which has established such a system of government. Subsequent cases have made determinations on the scope of this implied freedom. It was been found to extend to the publication of material:
• "discussing government and political matters generally;
• relating to the performance of individuals of their duties as members of the Parliament; and
• discussing the performance, conduct and fitness for office of members of the Commonwealth and State legislatures."
And how will this rush to "Capitalism" and "Free Enterprise" end...
...The same way it was started.
Such censorship is a sad, 3rd world dictatorship action.
It has NO part of a modern society - where people can easily buy their own filtering software.
Freedom of speech !
Censorship of Political websites is not good for an open democracy.