From today’s Sydney Morning Herald:
Net filters may block porn and gambling sites
Family First Senator Steve Fielding wants hardcore pornography and fetish material blocked under the Government’s plans to filter the internet, sparking renewed fears the censorship could be expanded well beyond “illegal material”.
The Opposition said it would most likely block any attempts to introduce the controversial mandatory ISP filtering policy, so the Government would need the support of Senator Fielding as well as the Greens and Senator Nick Xenophon to pass the legislation.
Nick Xenophon’s office has made this comment on the issue:
Nick is interested in many issues relating to the internet including broadband speeds, online gambling and children accessing restricted material. On the latter issue, Nick believes all reasonable measures should be taken to ensure children are not able to access unsuitable or restricted material. He is aware of the free speech implications raised by filtering but believes the protection is paramount.
We’re relying on the Greens to block this unworkable, dangerous censorship legislation. Drop a note to your Greens senators now to offer your support.
While you’re at it, it would be worth also contacting your Liberal senators to make sure they’re truly going ahead with blocking it, and your Labor representatives, to offer them a clue.
Fielding and Xenophon are a lost cause, it seems, but hey, if it makes you feel better, feel free to contact them, too. Especially if you’re in their electorates.
I’m trying to keep this internet censorship links roundup up to date; let me know if you have any links that should be added.
~~~
References and Further Reading on Australian Internet Censorship:
Hoyden About Town: The Great Firewall of Australia., 31 Dec 2007
Hoyden About Town: “Civil liberties advocates = paedophiles”: Internet culture wars from the ALP. 1 Jan 2008
Hoyden About Town: You – You – You – Non-cookie-cutter feminist, you! 3 Jan 2008
Hoyden About Town: Censoring the Internet: Conroy plays King Canute. 4 Jan 2008
[on a different issue, but some of the submissions provide relevant background]: APH Senate Inquiry into the provisions of the Communications Legislation Amendment (Content Services) Bill 2007.
Whirlpool forums: “ISP-level Filtering Discussion part 3“. (Part One, Part Two.) 24 Oct 2008-present.
EFA analysis of the proposal, 4 Mar 2008
Computerworld: “Great Wall of Australia: Content filtering fails parliament“. 15 May 2008
ACMA pilot test results: Closed Environment Testing of ISP-level Internet Content Filtering, June 2008
Minister’s Media Release, 28 July 2008
Hoyden About Town: No surprises: internet filtering test results show products block legitimate content. 31 July 2008
Hoyden About Town: “Mandatory Australian Internet Censorship: Conroy’s Bait and Switch“. 17 Oct 2008
Computerworld: No opt-out of filtered Internet. 13 Oct 2008
Ars Technica: ‘Net filters “required” for all Australians, no opt-out. 16 Oct 2008
Gizmodo: Australia To Build Great Firewall Down Under. 16 Oct 2008
Crikey: And the Wankley Award goes to … Conroy’s net filtering scheme. 17 Oct 2008
Tech Wired Australia: “Interview With Media Contact For Senator the Hon Stephen Conroy Regarding Australian Internet Filter“. 17 Oct 2008
Mark Newton: Letter to Minister Kate Ellis with detailed objections to the filtering proposals [PDF]. 20 Oct 2008
Somebody Think of the Children: “Interview: Internode’s Mark Newton talks filtering“. 20 Oct 2008
Tech Wired Australia: “Interview With Mark Newton of Internode Re: Australian Internet Filter“. 20 Oct 2008
Hoyden About Town: “Wild claims Hysteria Enthusiastic commentary on internet censorship: Ludlam in Senate Estimates”. 23 Oct 2008
Somebody Think of the Children: “Greens Senator quizzes Conroy on filtering“. 23 Oct 2008
The Inquisitr: “Australian censorship minister tries to censor critic: time to go Conroy“. 23 Oct 2008
New Matilda: “First They Came for the Perverts“. 23 Oct 2008
ABC News: “The high price of internet filtering“. 24 Oct 2008
The Age: “Filtering out the fury: how government tried to gag web censor critics“. 24 Oct 2008
Ponderance: “Stop Internet Censorship in Australia!“. 24 Oct 2008
Stilgherrian: “Completely inappropriate, Senator Conroy“. 24 Oct 2008
Crikey: “Cheap tricks not the right response on internet filtering“. 24 Oct 2008
Larvatus Prodeo: “Scrutiny in the Senate: water, markets and censorship“. 24 Oct 2008
Computerworld: “‘Appalled’ opposition hits back at Conroy’s Internet censorship“. 24 Oct 2008
Ars Technica: “Aussie govt: Don’t criticize our (terrible) ‘Net filters“. 24 Oct 2008
Defending Scoundrels (Dale Clapperton’s blog): “Can Labor implement ‘clean feed’ without legislation?“. 24 Oct 2008
Builder AU: “NSW to censor student laptops”. 24 Oct 2008
BBC: “Australia trials national net filters“. 25 Oct 2008
Defending Scoundrels (Dale Clapperton’s blog): “Conroy misleads the Senate on ‘illegal material’“. 26 Oct 2008
SMH: “Net filters may block porn and gambling sites“. 27 Oct 2008
Business Spectator: “Who censures the censor?“. 27 Oct 2008
CRN Australia: “SAGE-AU defends right to criticise content filtering“. 27 Oct 2008
ITWire: “Minister under fire: IT Professionals say net filtering won’t work“. 27 Oct 2008
Librarians Matter: “Internet censorship in Australia – letter from Mark Newton“. 27 Oct 2008
Network Performance Daily: “Interview with ‘Bullied’ Network Engineer on Australian Gov’t Net Filters“. 27 Oct 2008
Linuxworld Australia: “In Conroy’s muddy waters you’ll never know what’s being filtered“. 28 Oct 2008
Public Polity: ““Peds under the bed” attitude won’t help anyone“. 28 Oct 2008
Ars Technica: “Australia’s Internet filter: could legal content be banned, too?“. 28 Oct 2008
Hoyden About Town: “Australian Internet Censorship in the Media: EFA Chair on the Morning Show“. 29 Oct 2008
Computerworld: “Google, Yahoo and Microsoft align against state censorship“. 29 Oct 2008
News.com.au: “Australia’s compulsory internet filtering ‘costly, ineffective’“. 29 Oct 2008
Sunrise: “Soapbox: Is internet censorship ever ok?”[Video]. 29 Oct 2008.
Sunrise: “Senator Conroy responds to net filter fears“. 29 Oct 2008
Courier Mail: “Adult Australians don’t need a net nanny“. 30 Oct 2008
Courier Mail: “Net filter an assault on freedom that just won’t work“. 30 Oct 2008
The Age: “Internet screening move hits hurdle“. 30 Oct 2008
Australian IT: “Filter to cause World Wide Wait“. 30 Oct 2008
ABC: “The Media Report: The Great Firewall of Australia“. 30 Oct 2008
Australian Government Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy: “Internet Service Provider (ISP) Content Filtering ‘Live’ Pilot”: call for expressions of interest. 10 Nov 2008
The Age (Opinion): “Government uploads hypocrisy with internet censorship“. 10 Nov 2008
ABC News (Opinion): “Filter advocates need to check their facts“. 10 Nov 2008
ITWire Core Dump: “Internet filtering? Just say no“. 10 Nov 2008
The Age: “Opposition rises to internet filter“. 11 Nov 2008
Greens MPs (Scott Ludlam): “Mandatory Internet Censorship“. 11 Nov 2008
Hoyden About Town: “Internet censorship in Senate Question Time today“. 11 Nov 2008
SMH: “Net censorship plan backlash“. 11 Nov 2008
Greens Senator Scott Ludlam: “Too many unanswered questions on net censorship: Greens“. 11 Nov 2008
Ars Technica: “Australian ISPs pan government-mandated ‘Net filtering plan“. 11 Nov 2008
Slashdot: “Largest Aussie ISP Agrees To “Ridiculous” Net-Filter Trial“. 11 Nov 2008
ITWire: “Australian government calls for live Internet filter trial“. 12 Nov 2008
Courier Mail: “Internet filter to block 10,000-plus “unwanted” sites“. 13 Nov 2008
Courier Mail (opinion): “The internet filter we still have to have“. 13 Nov 2008
Computerworld: “Optus, iiNet put filters to the test: Telcos infiltrate to get the facts.“. 13 Nov 2008
Sunrise: “Internet filter splits opinion“. 13 Nov 2008
Iinet: “iiNet and Internet filtering“. November 2008
NineMSN: Video interview with Mark Newton on the Today Show: “Firewalls Under Fire”. 14 Nov 2008
Hoyden About Town: “Internet Censorship on MMM’s Spoonman Part One: with EFA’s Dale Clapperton” 14 Nov 2008
Hoyden About Town: “Internet Censorship on MMM’s Spoonman Part Two: with Iinet’s Steve Dalby“. 14 Nov 2008
Hoyden About Town: “Internet Censorship on MMM’s Spoonman Part Three: Matthew Black and Adam Darbyshire“. 14 Nov 2008
The Guardian (UK): “The big business of net censorship: Clamping down on free speech on the internet has been a lucrative enterprise for software manufacturers“. 17 Nov 2008
ZDNet Australia: “NSW calls Conroy on Euro filter fudge“. 21 Nov 2008
Somebody Think of the Children: “With a public intellectual like this, who needs barbarians?” 22 Nov 2008
Somebody Think of the Children: “7:30 Report tackles filtering again this week“. 23 Nov 2008 (includes video of the 7:30 report programme, which featured many of the key players – except Conroy, who declined!)
Broadbanned Revolution: “A reply from Clive Hamilton – public intellectual“. 23 Nov 2008
Liberal Party of Australia: “Labor’s arbitrary internet filter plan misguided and deeply unpopular“. 25 Nov 2008
Australian IT: “Greens won’t back federal plans for internet filters“. 25 Nov 2008
Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy: “ISP Filtering Live Pilot – Questions and answers“. 25 Nov 2008
Libertus.net: “Statistics Laundering: false and fantastic figures“. 25 Nov 2008
Computerworld: “Gen-Yers will use social networks to bypass Internet filter, critic says” 26 Nov 2008
GetUp Australia: “Save The Net” email petition, Fact Sheet, and blog: “Colin Jacobs: Filtering at Odds with Broadband Revolution.”.
Categories: law & order, Politics, technology
Quick links: nothing to hide 
To expand on what blocking “hardcore pornography and fetish material” might mean, check out the Commonwealth Guidelines for the Classification of Films and Computer Games:
The whirlpool thread has been a hotbed of discussion, featuring lots of Mark Newton.
Thanks James, added.
Interviews I did:
http://techwiredau.com/2008/10/interview-with-mark-newton-of-internode-re-australian-internet-filter/
http://techwiredau.com/2008/10/interview-with-media-contact-for-senator-the-hon-stephen-conroy-regarding-australian-internet-filter/
This being the second blog that I have read on this topic tonight, I was moved to act. I have written to both my local member and to Stephen Conroy and exercised my democratic right to express my dismay.
The Senate Inquiry into the Communications Legislation Amendment (Content Services) Bill 2007, and submissions to it (including the efa.org.au), are pertinent and cover a lot of the issues. Presumably Labor Senators on that committee (who complained about inadequate consultation in their minority report) are aware of what was in the submissions and have come to grips with the basic problem.
Oooh…. their problem now is not logic, it’s Fielding and Xenophon.
Hmmmm. Perhaps kissing a*se should be considered pornographic and banned.
So, theoretically, if this comes to pass, you couldn’t get information about how to find a clean and responsible tattoo and piercing parlour? How nuts is this?! Gah!
Thanks for keeping us up to date on this one, Lauredhel. It’s such insanity.
Whoa, they’re openly admitting now that they have an interest in censoring completely legal material created by consenting adults? I mean, I was always sure it was their intention, but I’m not sure whether it’s a good sign (because now the public might find out and get pissed) or a bad sign (because it means they feel comfortable enough to come out with it) that they’re actually saying this stuff out loud now. In any case, it’s scary.
Fetishes such as body piercing, application of substances such as candle wax, ‘golden showers’, bondage, spanking or fisting are not permitted.
Wow.
There goes my ability (and that of all my co-workers) to make a perfectly legal living.
hexys last blog post..Links: Clean Feed, NT intervention, abortion in Victoria
So frustrating. I support the blocking of child pron, but from what I’ve read this filtering isn’t going to be effective against it anyway. *headdesk*
Tim Dunlop wrote a piece at surfdom back in January where he noted that Conroy is labor’s “numbers man” in the senate so I think it is just possible that he is canvassing the mandatory black list just to keep Fielding sweet, with no intention of following through. On economics alone it would be disastrous – to slow connections at a time of economic downturn would enrage pretty powerful business lobbies I would have thought. No gov in its right (hive)mind would do that.
The media, tech/blog and mainstream, are finally starting to notice this issue – I’ve added a few more links. I’ll keeping adding links as I find them.
Stephen Conroy should be funding these.
more animals
Admin magic please? [done ~L]
New links:
Public Polity: ““Peds under the bed” attitude won’t help anyone”. 28 Oct 2008
Ars Technica: “Australia’s Internet filter: could legal content be banned, too?”. 28 Oct 2008
Hoyden About Town: “Australian Internet Censorship in the Media: EFA Chair on the Morning Show”. 29 Oct 2008
Computerworld: “Google, Yahoo and Microsoft align against state censorship”. 29 Oct 2008
News.com.au: “Australia’s compulsory internet filtering ‘costly, ineffective’”. 29 Oct 2008
Network Performance Daily: “Interview with ‘Bullied’ Network Engineer on Australian Gov’t Net Filters”. 27 Oct 2008
Sunrise: ”Soapbox: Is internet censorship ever ok?”[Video]. 29 Oct 2008.
Somewhere else, someone asked about the Liberals and their history on internet censorship. I realised that some people might not be familiar with the Howard Government’s ill-fated attempt to censor the internet back in 1999. There were national rallies in protest. Read more at the EFA.
I see Deborah Robinson has made been commenting at whirlpool
Beste, do you have a link? Thanks.
Nevermind, I found it. Deborah Robinson’s quoted post is here on whirlpool, near the top of the page.
X-rated pron is legal in Canberra, and I think in the NT unless the laws have changed recently. You aren’t supposed to take it across state lines, but I’m not sure that it is that actively policed in private homes. Bit like the internet really.
Thanks for the round-up link.
Deborah Robinson’s response has only made me more inclined to keep on this.
New link: Sunrise: “Senator Conroy responds to net filter fears”. 29 Oct 2008
Note the lie in question 3 (also noted in the comments there.) Conroy answers a different question, and pretends it’s the real answer. Newton has already thoroughly debunked this – these countries have optional filtering, not mandatory – but Conroy’s persisting with it nevertheless.
There are also a couple of misspellings, including the misspelling of a Senator’s name! Ace journalism, Sunrise.
Latest: The Age: “Internet screening move hits hurdle”. 30 Oct 2008
Anyone else think that perhaps Fielding and Xenophon have shot themselves in the feet here by playing their hands too early? (Mixed metaphors R us!)
Just keep dropping those keywords, Senator. They’re not doing your cause any favours.
It’s not true to say X rated porn is illegal in Australia. As Rebekka has pointed out, it’s legal to produce it and sell it in the ACT.
OK, this from the Age in 2004.
“Under existing laws, it is illegal to sell non-violent erotic films in Victoria, but it is legal to buy and possess them.”
New link: Australian IT: “Filter to cause World Wide Wait”. 30 Oct 2008
New links: ABC: “The Media Report: The Great Firewall of Australia” 30 Oct 2008
Audio interview with Senator Stephen Conroy, Mark Pesce (Honorary lecturer in Digital Cultures, University of Sydney), and Jane Roberts (President of Young Media Australia). Transcript is available.
Conroy steadfastedly refuses, under repeated questioning, to answer even in general terms about which sorts of sites will be blocked under his plan. “That’s a debate that we will come to”, he says. Pesce talks about Gilmore’s Law, methods of circumventing filtering, and performance hits.
New links:
Defending Scoundrels (Dale Clapperton’s blog): “Can Labor implement ‘clean feed’ without legislation?”. 24 Oct 2008
Defending Scoundrels (Dale Clapperton’s blog): “Conroy misleads the Senate on ‘illegal material’”. 26 Oct 2008
More…
Courier Mail: “Adult Australians don’t need a net nanny”. 30 Oct 2008
Courier Mail: “Net filter an assault on freedom that just won’t work”. 30 Oct 2008
Xenophon seems to have recanted –
There’s a wiki gathering responses from all members of parliament. OCAU’s wiki also has an extensive roundup of media articles and links.
New Link: Australian Government Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy: ”Internet Service Provider (ISP) Content Filtering ‘Live’ Pilot”: call for expressions of interest. 10 Nov 2008
In the call:
It’s not completely clear to me whether customers will be asked whether they wish to opt in:
The planned filtering trial is designed so as to coincide exactly with school and university holidays.
The Age (Opinion): “Government uploads hypocrisy with internet censorship”. 10 Nov 2008
ABC News (Opinion): “Filter advocates need to check their facts”. 10 Nov 2008
ITWire Core Dump: “Internet filtering? Just say no”. 10 Nov 2008
Greens MPs (Scott Ludlam): “Mandatory Internet Censorship”. 11 Nov 2008
Ars Technica: “Australian ISPs pan government-mandated ‘Net filtering plan”. 11 Nov 2008
Also: Slashdot: “Largest Aussie ISP Agrees To “Ridiculous” Net-Filter Trial”. 11 Nov 2008
ITWire: “Australian government calls for live Internet filter trial”. 12 Nov 2008
Courier Mail: “Internet filter to block 10,000-plus “unwanted” sites”. 13 Nov 2008
Courier Mail (opinion): “The internet filter we still have to have”. 13 Nov 2008
Computerworld: “Optus, iiNet put filters to the test: Telcos infiltrate to get the facts.”. 13 Nov 2008
Sunrise: “Internet filter splits opinion”. 13 Nov 2008
More:
Iinet: “iiNet and Internet filtering”. November 2008
NineMSN: Video interview with Mark Newton on the Today Show. 14 Nov 2008
Hoyden About Town: ”Internet Censorship on MMM’s Spoonman Part One: with EFA’s Dale Clapperton” 14 Nov 2008
Hoyden About Town: ”Internet Censorship on MMM’s Spoonman Part Two: with Iinet’s Steve Dalby”. 14 Nov 2008
Hoyden About Town: “Internet Censorship on MMM’s Spoonman Part Three: Matthew Black and Adam Darbyshire”. 14 Nov 2008