In Australia, the government has launched an e-democracy website:
Sigh.Predictably, hundreds of the comments published so far have criticised Senator Conroy's plans to introduce a mandatory clean feed for all Australian internet users, which would introduce a level of web censorship that's far beyond that of any other Western democracy.
"I am offended that Senator Conroy has likened censorship opponents to child porn supporters. It is a straw-man argument and offensive to basic principles of democracy," one reader wrote.
This has been coming for quite some time.
ReplyDeleteSorry James. The above 2 comments were mine, but I am having problem with two faulty keys.
ReplyDeleteI think the rest of the western world will follow Australia's lead soon enough.
Outspoken, political bloggers such as yourself carry a great deal of weight in a medium so far unregulated, which clearly makes our overseers feel threatened.
No doubt certain bloggers are probably already on a 'list to watch' which has probably brought about the desire for government control.
It's an outrage that open, reasonable communication should be regulated with the intent to stifle. The whole sphere should come together to fight this affront to our freedom of speech and access to information.
I have read and re-read Conroys comments, and no-where do I find Conroy likening censorship opponents to child porn supporters or the like. That is a total misconstruction of his statement.
ReplyDeleteHe said that *IF* people want to equate freedom of speech with watching child porn then the Rudd Gov will disagree.
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It is a massive stretch to now claim that he stated that those seeking freedom of speech were porn watchers.... lol... Give me a break. The statement clearly addresses those who want to watch child porn and claim freedom of speech as their right to do so, and the Rudd Gov disagrees with him.
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Sounds like pretty desparate protesting to me. You can twist just about any statement around if you are subjective enough.
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And I have not yet seen any viable alternatives to begin blocking child porn from flowing across Australian Internet networks yet, just a lot of really really outraged people getting upset about their "Internet Freedom", while crims continue to make megabucks selling their child porn unfettered across the 'Net...
When governments want to regulate they use the most likely card to surpass peoples objection,them not recognizing it is the toe in the door, the child porn issue the smokescreen to conceal and facilitate their true agendas.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading with interest because obviously I'd like to have more data at this point. Thanks to the above so far.
ReplyDeleteMost of the child porn on the internet flows on peer to peer networks, facilitated by ISP and bandwidth. The arrests this week in Australia, include a QC. Nothing that Conroy proposes would address that use of the internet.
ReplyDeleteI am interested by the widespread opposition to this plan from a a wife range of views. It looks like nutty public policy more in tune with some of Howards looney tune ministers like Kevin Andrews.