What's the Current Reaction to the Great Aussie Firewall?

[INRM]

Have the Australians just rolled over on this issue -- a huge IP filter that will not just filter out viruses and bugs, but also filter out content (so called illegal content, which currently sounds reasonable, but can be changed without recourse or scrutiny -- what if one day government criticism gets labled as illegal content?)?

I know they were very pissed off before, are they still voicing their opinions and protesting this issue?


INRM

[rwguinn]

Have the Australians just rolled over on this issue -- a huge IP filter that will not just filter out viruses and bugs, but also filter out content (so called illegal content, which currently sounds reasonable, but can be changed without recourse or scrutiny -- what if one day government criticism gets labled as illegal content?)?

I know they were very pissed off before, are they still voicing their opinions and protesting this issue?


INRM
I don't know--
But we have not been able to email or have Netmeetings with Our Australian folks since last Thursday.

[gtc]

Its summer down here so there has been no real movement on the issue either way.

I suspect they will spend a heap of taxpayers dollars on the issue then realise that it be horribly intrusive and wouldn't work anyway.

[Alareth]

Australia has more pressing concerns ... (http://kotaku.com/5145230/)

[INRM]

GTC,

Whether it's summer or not you're freedom from censorship is in serious jeopardy. You guys need to start caring.

Australia could turn into China


Alareth,

What's wrong with World of Warcraft? Why is it illegal?


INRM

[Zep]

GTC,

Whether it's summer or not you're freedom from censorship is in serious jeopardy. You guys need to start caring.

Australia could turn into China.It won't happen. Both politically and technically, it will not happen. It's a sop to a tiny bunch of evangelism-inspired twits with their knickers in a twist about teh evul internets.

And we do not have any problems with censorship. It's the USA that puts pixellation on arse-shots and plumber's cleavage on TV, not here. We don't even bleep out swearing in news reports or pop songs on mainstream media. And then there's plenty of cable porn and violence on Pay-Per-View...

So internet censorship? Seriously, get a grip. :rolleyes:

Thanks for caring, but look to your own first.

[Alareth]

Alareth,

What's wrong with World of Warcraft? Why is it illegal?

Australia has a "Classification" system for games and it's illegal to sell unclassified games.

There is some odd quirk to the classification laws where MMO's aren't able to be classified under the system as currently written (I think the classifications were designed only for single player games).

Because MMO's cannot be classified they are illegal to sell.

[lionking]

Australia has a "Classification" system for games and it's illegal to sell unclassified games.

There is some odd quirk to the classification laws where MMO's aren't able to be classified under the system as currently written (I think the classifications were designed only for single player games).

Because MMO's cannot be classified they are illegal to sell.
That's just sad and embarassing. Mark me down as a recent law breaker.

But to the OP. I am not at all confident it is a dead issue. One of the people holding the balance of power in the Senate is Family First's Steve Fielding, a bible-basher par excellence. The government is desparate to get the the $A40 billion economic stimulus package passed. Internet censorship is a small price to pay, particularly as Prime Minister Rudd is a fellow bible-basher.

[gtc]

'Hard Core' pornographic material is banned by the states but they rarely go after it unless it involves the violence, children or animals. I doubt they are going to go after people for buying World of Warcraft.

[INRM]

What defines an unclassified game

[gtc]

What defines an unclassified game

One that hasn't been classified by the OFLC.

Generally material has to be classified to be sold in Australia. So if it has not been submitted for classification or if it has been refused classification because of too much violence or sex then it can't be sold legally. However, some material may be 'exempt' from classification (like news and documentaries I think).

There are two issues with games in Australia. Firstly, videogames that are found to be too extreme for 15 year olds are refused classification so some games are modified or not sold here. Secondly, is the question whether the CD-Roms that are sold to give people access to WOW or other such MMORGs count as videogames.

[Zep]

Nah, KeThat's just sad and embarassing. Mark me down as a recent law breaker.

But to the OP. I am not at all confident it is a dead issue. One of the people holding the balance of power in the Senate is Family First's Steve Fielding, a bible-basher par excellence. The government is desparate to get the the $A40 billion economic stimulus package passed. Internet censorship is a small price to pay, particularly as Prime Minister Rudd is a fellow bible-basher.Nah, Kevin07 is a rice-Christian. He puts up the bible-basher facade pretty much only for political convenience or gain. His real religious affiliations seem to be much milder, very mainstream. It's one of the few negatives I have about him, but it's a big black mark in my opinion.

To be honest, this issue of internet games censorship is tiny potatoes just now. I doubt it's any bargaining chip, or that they even think about it at all.

[Graham2001]

Nah, KeNah, Kevin07 is a rice-Christian. He puts up the bible-basher facade pretty much only for political convenience or gain. His real religious affiliations seem to be much milder, very mainstream. It's one of the few negatives I have about him, but it's a big black mark in my opinion.

To be honest, this issue of internet games censorship is tiny potatoes just now. I doubt it's any bargaining chip, or that they even think about it at all.

You also have to remember that it is Kevin Rudd who is proposing/backing this, had the previous lot proposed this then everyone would be out in the streets protesting.

[Obviousman]

I am TOTALLY against it. I have both e-mailed and written to my Federal Member, The Minister, and the Prime Minister.

LEAVE MY INTERNET ALONE!

[lionking]

BTW, how is this a conspiracy?

[Damien Evans]

Have the Australians just rolled over on this issue -- a huge IP filter that will not just filter out viruses and bugs, but also filter out content (so called illegal content, which currently sounds reasonable, but can be changed without recourse or scrutiny -- what if one day government criticism gets labled as illegal content?)?

I know they were very pissed off before, are they still voicing their opinions and protesting this issue?


INRM

What's it going to take to get through to the people who keep posting this crap here?


How many times do you have to be told that this will never happen before you get it?

100? 1000? Just let me know.

[Damien Evans]

That's just sad and embarassing. Mark me down as a recent law breaker.

But to the OP. I am not at all confident it is a dead issue. One of the people holding the balance of power in the Senate is Family First's Steve Fielding, a bible-basher par excellence. The government is desparate to get the the $A40 billion economic stimulus package passed. Internet censorship is a small price to pay, particularly as Prime Minister Rudd is a fellow bible-basher.

Yeah no. It wouldn't even get through the lower house.

[Zep]

You also have to remember that it is Kevin Rudd who is proposing/backing this, had the previous lot proposed this then everyone would be out in the streets protesting.But they did enact then too. Have you not looked at the current ISP laws in force? Your internet is already being (allegedly) censored. Notice any limitations? No? Because there are none! The extant laws are useless.

You remember Howard! He was the one with the motto: Onward to the 1950's! His "internet technology team" truly believed computers lived in big labs and belched steam a la Metropolis.

Yes, this stuff is proposed. Doesn't mean it's passed into law. Even if it did, it won't make one whit of difference to the internet here in Oz. Just like in China, external ISPs will offer anonymiser services that will go right through any "filters" like a hot knife through butter.

The other point is that the only computers likely to be running a government-supplied NetNanny or equivalent in future will be those that are already running the extant commercial versions. That is, those households committed enough to do so.

It's as effective as passing laws against tennis-balls. :rolleyes:

[Obviousman]

Zep,

My position is this: Yes, it can be circumvented and it will be totally ineffective.... but it must not be allowed to even be given consideration. I am not a CT (as my history will attest to) but we must not allow even the notion of this happening.

[Zep]

Zep,

My position is this: Yes, it can be circumvented and it will be totally ineffective.... but it must not be allowed to even be given consideration. I am not a CT (as my history will attest to) but we must not allow even the notion of this happening.Start a petition to your local member. Truly. This is a valid, legal way of bringing about change in legislation. Start here: http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/cens1.html

Oh, and get Derryn Hinch and This Day Tonight on the case. ;)

[lionking]

Zep,

My position is this: Yes, it can be circumvented and it will be totally ineffective.... but it must not be allowed to even be given consideration. I am not a CT (as my history will attest to) but we must not allow even the notion of this happening.
I agree, but the trial involving Optus and iiNet, while put back, is still going ahead. Conroy is a determined and ambitious politician and has a horde of bureaucrats whose careers depend on the project getting off the ground.


How many times do you have to be told that this will never happen before you get it?

100? 1000? Just let me know.


Damien, I am certain some new filtering and censorship regime will be legislated and ISPs will be required to take some action to enforce them. But, like Zep, I do not believe that it will be effective. Copyright laws are broken every microsecond, but these laws are extremely difficult to enforce.

[Obviousman]

Start a petition to your local member. Truly. This is a valid, legal way of bringing about change in legislation. Start here: http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/cens1.html

Oh, and get Derryn Hinch and This Day Tonight on the case. ;)

I have already mailed my Federal Member, the Minister for Communications, and the PM himself. I've signed the petitions.

[Cuddles]

BTW, how is this a conspiracy?

I was wondering that. A conspiracy involves a group of people secretly either planning to break or actually breaking the law. Openly passing laws seems about as far from that as you can get. You can certainly debate whether the laws are right, but there's really no question of this being a conspiracy.

[Aidoneus]

From the various CTer boards and forums I've seen though, internet censorship/regulation is just part of the proof of the evil NWO.

[INRM]

Aidoneus,

It is not necessarily proof of some kind of NWO. However, I can tell you that it is a bad sign -- complete internet censorship is a very very bad thing.

No free society should be engaging in this sort of behavior -- This is something that totalitarian governments engage in.


INRM

[Thunder]

clearly, the evil mossad-jews are causing the fires. they can then blaim them on the ragheads.

those pesky jew-mossads.

[lionking]

clearly, the evil mossad-jews are causing the fires. they can then blaim them on the ragheads.

those pesky jew-mossads.

Did you read the OP?

Even if you did, if this "joke" is about the recent bushfires in Australia you should apologise. If intentional, this post is disgusting.

[Psi Baba]

When I read the phrase "great Aussie Firewall" my first thought was of some high-tech version of the rabbit-proof fence.

[Sword_Of_Truth]

GTC,

Whether it's summer or not you're freedom from censorship is in serious jeopardy. You guys need to start caring.

Australia could turn into China

Yeah, you'll let us know right away if the Australian government announces a "cultural revolution" or "great leap forward" and kills 80 million people.

Or if ANZAC tanks run over 3,000 people in front of the Parliament in Canberra.

[Damien Evans]

Yeah, you'll let us know right away if the Australian government announces a "cultural revolution" or "great leap forward" and kills 80 million people.

Or if ANZAC tanks run over 3,000 people in front of the Parliament in Canberra.

That would be quite a feat, as first first you'd have to get the participation of the NZ part...

[Cuddles]

That would be quite a feat, as first first you'd have to get the participation of the NZ part...

What, you think they'd turn down the opportunity to run over 3000 Australians?:)

[Nosi]

From what I've seen of Australia's cyber-firewall adventures by reading forums such as Slyck.com (I can't post URL's yet) is the designers creation doesn't work real well. They end up spending lots of cash, yet end up wearing a lot of egg-in-face.

What they do block is often laughable; a dentist's website was blocked. Another incident was when a list of blocked IP's was released on The Pirate Bay.

A 16 year old kid broke a version of the Australian 'wall' 30 minutes after launch. Blocklists and Internet Safety programs don't block much from determined teenagers. A Google found the Internet peppered with hints & tips given by teens on how to bypass those pesky little leashes usually downloaded to machines left alone, helpless in a teen's bedroom. The teen consensus was the only safe computer was a computer in the family room with parental EYEBALLS on it at all times.

The problem with WOW and like multi-player games is going to lead to a lot of under-the-table transfer of discs or clever re-classifications.