Here's the link....

http://www.news.com.au/technology/story ... 39,00.html

I have a sneaking suspicion that the government won't even make it to the next election....

The reasoning and effects of the proposed filter are mind boggling in their stupidity.They probably don't even realise how many potential ports there are for p2p traffic to be transmitted across, let alone that the majority of programs allow the user to encrypt their data. The "Protect the Children Against Evil" argument is absurd, the money the government is going to sink into this zurückgeblieben idea would be better spent educating the stupid masses to be better parents. It's far better to educate somebody to analyze the content of a message than to attempt to silence thought.

Society prefers the quick fix though - it's a pandemic that has plagued it since the dawn of time. They prefer to live in a glasshouse and pretend something doesn't exist. But living in a bubble prevents one from moving anywhere outside of the bubble. As White says, make sure kids know what to expect and how to avoid pedobears. You can't silence thought. As countries under strict censorship (China, Russia, Singapore) have shown, the underground/illegal market will find a way.

The people trying to fuel support for that plan are just....*insert preferred euphenism here*. It's the fear-mongering you'd expect to see in America. Baseless propaganda based on lies that stirs up fear and keeps people gripped by it to the point to follow it. I seriously hope Australians won't be that stupid. Then again, this country kept Howard in power for 12 years. -_-

I've heard rumours that Family First (the party that demanded the filter in the first place, as a condition of their support for a bunch of stuff in the Senate) are reconsidering their position on the grounds that "there are better ways to protect children".

in the meantime, Tor rules.

Dhumahn wrote:I have a sneaking suspicion that the government won't even make it to the next election....

Maybe, but if the filter is implemented before the next election, and liberal are voted in, who is to say that they won't just leave it in place?

There have been many instances in the past where one government has implemented something (eg GST, Workchoices) and while the opposition promised to abolish it once in power, it has been found that it is impossible to actually do so.

If labor do go ahead with this, I just hope it takes so long that it won't be ready to implement until well after the next election. Then they may well find themselves on the other side.

On the bright side, the Liberals are utterly opposed to it. They are not feeling confident that Minister Conroy should have absolute decision on what is blocked and what isn't.

Apparently there is a black list of 1300 sites that would be blocked by the filter and 10,000 or so others that are also being considered.

We'll be a laughing stock if this gets through.

Last Exile wrote:On the bright side, the Liberals are utterly opposed to it.

Only because they didn't think of it first. Remember, it's the party that banned all porn that includes dangly bits (except in Canberra)

I remember alright. But I'll settle for a majority opposition to this stupidity regardless of who it comes from.

edible_hat wrote:

Last Exile wrote:On the bright side, the Liberals are utterly opposed to it.

Only because they didn't think of it first. Remember, it's the party that banned all porn that includes dangly bits (except in Canberra)

Exactly. If the liberals do get back in next election, what's to stop them from suddenly deciding to implement their own filter? And, of course, labor will be totally against it.

Another example - back in the 80s, labor wanted to introduce GST. The liberals were fully against it 100%. Come 1992, Dr John Hewson, leader of the liberal party at the time, decided to push the introduction of GST (of course he didn't get in at the 1993 election), and again in 2000, the liberals are pushing GST again, with labor still fully against it.

Politics is complete bullshit. The party in power wants to do something, and the opposition are dead against it, even if they tried to do it themselves in the past. Then they get into power, and the roles are reversed. Repeat ad-bloody-nauseum.

This is getting in to a political debacle.

The issue is the internet filter.

The filter will not work period. Just as in the case with DRM we will find that filters can be bypassed. lets look at this in another light.

With DRM, this is designed to prevent the copying of software therefore making it easier for the player to use and so that the studios get their money. WRONG!

Look at the current issue with gears of War for PC. During the last day of January people who actually purchased the game could not use it because of a time stamp that is on a certificate that is based on DRM management. However hackers and people who have cracked the game (not buying it) managed to avoid this issue.

What does this have to do with internet censorship?

It will be the same... People who are law abiding citizens will keep having these restrictions placed upon them. people who are in the business of being able to get through the censorship "firewall" will do so the same way they are doing it now. Through Proxy servers. VPN etc.



But i do agree with whats being said above.

Governments are stupid.

Hopefully Rudd and the current Gov will learn it quicker than the Howard gov did. (Which they didn't anyway)