The Australian internet "clean" filter has been green lighted.

ngaio · 17-12-09 01:02:45

I just made a bit of a rambling, ranting, probably incoherent journal entry about it: http://www.jngaio.com/journal/2009/12/1 … dirty.html

It's a little bit ranty because I'm a little freaked out. I would love your opinions and hopefully some reassurance, however!

Last edited by ngaio (17-12-09 01:03:09)

blissed · 17-12-09 02:07:33

Seriously, Rupert Murdoch's opinion will be involved in this happening. Sorry I can't offer you any comfort because I think the situation is very bad at a very deep level.

.

pcobb4759 · 17-12-09 08:58:23

This will eventually lead to censorship of political speech. I don't want you to become Belarus or similar. You need a constitutional amendment defending free speech like in the Bill of Rights here in the U. S. Fight this.

richard · 17-12-09 09:50:37

While I'm not in favour of censorship in general, I think if they can make a blacklist that filters only illegal sites like kiddie porn and sexual violence, it wouldn't be any loss to the community other than a waste of resources. Unlike the test blacklist, if a benign site or even an X rated site winds up on this one, it'll be public knowledge straight away and the government will be crucified for it. You can't keep it a secret while you're actually filtering it.

aven frey · 17-12-09 10:36:04

It's a loss to the community because it's really fucking stupid. If it's so easy to circumvent then why waste money on something so utterly useless when waiting lists for surgeries in public hospitals are so high. Apparently something like 30% of what will be filtered is going to be child pornography and so the constant use of this argument seems like political exploitation and somewhat hysterical.
The biggest issue I see is that Australia's classification system seems to be so completley outdated and so what is RC and X to that board (such as Tony Comstock's films) does not reflect the current values of our society. Things like the Kink websites which are in my opinion ethical and culturally valuable will likely be censored because of some peoples narrow concepts of sexuality.
The proposed blacklist will be constructed and ammended by means of a public complaints system. So this allows for the possibility of moral majorities (such as the religious right) suppressing minority opinions (such as mine). This is scary and stupid and wrong.
We don't really have any legal civil libertarian rights to free speech in Australia and traditionally Australians haven't really cared or probably even noticed. Now would be a good time to demand a bill of rights but I don't even think people know what the stakes are so it's unlikely to happen.

blissed · 16-02-10 05:32:45

I wonder if the weight of world opinion will have any effect, here's Googles submission. http://google-au.blogspot.com/2010/02/o … level.html

.

klavier · 16-02-10 16:36:18

Censorship and prohibition are very dangerous. It was the prohibition in the US in the early 20th century which was responsible for the stronghold of the mafia in the US today. These things will always exist and if you make them illegal they will go underground and become really dangerous. The recent discussions in Australia are curious partly because they are supported by the Labour Party (hello, left wing?!) and also because of the precedents: a orderly discussion by a group of people taking turns on a soapbox would inevitably be disbanded by the police. There's even an old story of a fellow in Brisbane who did nothing more than stand stock-still on a small box in a shopping mall holding a sign which said, 'Freedom of Speech'. He was removed by the police. Let's hope that these new censorship laws will concentrate only on child porn and violence but, on the other hand, where will they draw the line?

I remember many years ago working in Moscow and being assigned a young, idealistic Russian interpreter. A group of us (from the west) had a fascinating discussion with him and we were amazed at and almost swayed by his passionate, idealistic and well-meant defense of censorship. He basically argued that the government was a 'parent' which knew what was best for its 'children', a very understandable standpoint, although perhaps dangerous when institutionalized. Speaking of institutions, in many places religion has had or still has this function. I recently talked to a colleague of mine who is around 30 and when she was at school numerous passages in her history books had been crossed out with a black marker. These were most likely the passages about ridiculous things like evolution or the heretic and ludicrous idea that the universe could possibly be more than around 6000 years old. Can you believe this was still going on quite recently in a country which prides itself on being modern and tolerant!?

sonice · 17-02-10 03:48:11

I have another concern with this policy and that is the chilling effect it might have on sites, such as this one, that likes to experiment. What's excessive is obviously open to interpretation. I would rather leave that judgement up to your organisation than the governments. Will you tone it down trying not to be filtered? What great idea won't be pursued because of fear of the dreaded censor? I know you will keep doing great work but it would be hard not to be somewhat affected.

P.S.
Under these guidelines directors like Quinton Tarantino wouldn't be able to do what he does which is push the boundaries

blissed · 09-03-10 02:38:59

Here's another consequence of censorship.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKnViKMr … r_embedded

.

#1 17-12-09 01:02:45

The Australian internet "clean" filter has been green lighted.

#2 17-12-09 02:07:33

Re: The Australian internet "clean" filter has been green lighted.

#3 17-12-09 08:58:23

Re: The Australian internet "clean" filter has been green lighted.

#4 17-12-09 09:50:37

Re: The Australian internet "clean" filter has been green lighted.

#5 17-12-09 10:36:04

Re: The Australian internet "clean" filter has been green lighted.

#6 16-02-10 05:32:45

Re: The Australian internet "clean" filter has been green lighted.

#7 16-02-10 16:36:18

Re: The Australian internet "clean" filter has been green lighted.

#8 17-02-10 03:48:11

Re: The Australian internet "clean" filter has been green lighted.

#9 09-03-10 02:38:59

Re: The Australian internet "clean" filter has been green lighted.

Board footer