We’ve covered similar territory before, but the post at Gizmodo by Colin Jacobs from the EFA showing five ways any filter can be avoided in two minutes is well worth checking out. What exactly is this plan to create a secret government list of banned sites protecting us from again? [Gizmodo]
Proposals for web censorship might be very poorly conceived and planned, but not everything relating to controlling content has to be so stupid. Rules requiring a “parental lock” on TV equipment sold in Australia are a good case in point.
Remember that poll we featured a week or so ago asking if you’d vote for a party which supports the Labor Internet filter? Having run on 17 Australian technology sites, the poll is now closed and the results are clear: virtually no-one wants to vote for the filter.
Thinking of voting for the Greens but don’t want any preferences flowing to pro-cenosrship minister Senator Stephen Conroy? As part of its ongoing Fight The Filter campaign, Gizmodo has a comprehensive explanation of why voting for the Greens above the line in the Victorian senate won’t see any of your preferences directed his way in practice. I’m personally still planning to fill out all the numbers on my own Senate voting form — that’s the only way to balance my views on a lot of issues — but if that seems too much hassle, it’s well worth a read. [Gizmodo]
Gizmodo’s Fight The Filter campaign continues to produce great material on why Internet filtering is a bad idea, even if it’s been deferred by a year. Today’s contribution from SAG-AU member Andy Leyden offers a technical-but-not-confusing explanation of why the planned technology is doomed to failure, no matter when it gets deployed. Well worth a read. [Gizmodo]
Despite being deferred, mandatory filtering remains a key government policy and one that’s likely to feature heavily in tech-centric discussions of the forthcoming election. But will it make a difference to your vote?
I was on a plane when the government’s partial about-face on Internet censorship and filtering got announced. But a few hours delay absorbing the news makes the essential fact — that there’s no real change in policy — even clearer.
While the government is denying that its controversial mandatory retention policy for ISPs would capture individual browsing histories, ISPs who were confidentially briefed on the proposal maintain that’s on the cards, and that the plans are also rife with other issues.
News that the Australian government was considering a mandatory retention policy for ISPs that could see them recording all sites accessed by users stirred up a fury amongst Lifehacker readers when it emerged on Friday. News journalists have been busy digging into the issue since, so here’s a quick round-up what we know so far.
As if proposed mandatory censorship laws weren’t bad enough and unpopular enough, now the Federal Government is considering a proposal to require all ISPs to keep a detailed log of every site their customers visit. Yes, that’s every bit as unpleasant as it sounds.
