Conroy pushes through internet censorship while Australia distracted

What's more odious ? A government that points fingers at developing nations while removing Kyoto protocols that legally bind it to reduce emissions, or a government that tries to sneak through censorship while everyone is paying attention to something else. Luckily, I don't have to choose, because we've got both here in Australia with the current Rudd administration.

Senator Conroy, the Australian Comms Minister today tried to sneak through wildly unpopular (except for Christian conservatives and crazed right wingers) in the guise of child protection technologies, despite wide-spread industry condemnation from ISPs, technical experts and privacy advocates.

Let's review why these things are bad :

1. Censorship is anathema to modern democratic principles of free speech and freedom of information
2. Governments, no matter how well intentioned initially, continually abuse these laws to silence critics and control information
3. Sites always get censored which shouldn't be, restricted critical information to people
4. The filters in question never work against their purported targets, and so only end of restricting information and access to those who need to see it

To see the future of the internet here in Australia, please check these critical links.

• human rights
• infrastructure
• censorship
• privacy
• australia