Four Australian internet providers, including the country's two largest, will begin voluntarily censoring the internet next month by blocking access to more than 500 websites.
Australia's plan to filter the naughtiness out of the internet has been kicking around for years but it never seemed to go anywhere because when you get right down to it, effectively censoring the whole internet is a pretty daunting technical challenge. That doesn't even take into account the fact that a significant number of people who actually use the internet are pretty vehemently opposed to the idea. But beginning in July, internet access for many Aussies will in fact be censored, not by the government but by the voluntary actions of four of the country's ISPs.
Telstra and Optus, the two largest internet providers in Australia, along with two other small outfits, confirmed that they will begin to block access to "child abuse websites" provided by the Australian Communications and Media Authority and other unnamed "international organizations" beginning next month. The filter is being put into place despite the fact that the government dropped funding for the plan in May because of "limited interest" from the industry.
"The ACMA will compile and manage a list of URLs of child abuse content that will include the appropriate subsection of the ACMA blacklist as well as child abuse URLs that are provided by reputable international organizations [to be blocked]," an ACMA rep said.
But while Donna Ashelford of the System Administrators Guild of Australia said that concerns about reduced access speeds caused by the filter are probably unwarranted, she also pointed out that the scheme won't have any meaningful impact on the distribution of child porn either.
"The effectiveness will be trivial because you're just blocking a single website address [and] a person can get around it by changing that address with one character," she said. "Child abuse material is more likely to be exchanged on peer-to-peer networks and private networks anyway and is a matter for law enforcement."
Another worry, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is that there is no transparency or accountability in the creation and maintenance of the blacklist, which greatly increases the chance of legal websites being inappropriately blocked. It's not known which organizations are contributing to the list of forbidden beyond the ACMA , but the ACMA's own blacklist from 2009, revealed by Wikileaks, included the website of a Queensland-based dentist and other sites unrelated to illegal pornography. There also appears to be no appeals process for any sites mistakenly caught up in the filter.
But possibly the greatest concern is simply that it sets a precedent. Once the filters are in place and Australians have adjusted to the idea, is it much of a stretch to see them put to use blocking content the ACMA decides is "indecent" or controversial? "We've been waiting to hear details on this from the Government," said EFF board member Colin Jacobs. "It they turn out to be zealous with the type of material that is on the list then we'd want to have a discussion about ways to introduce more transparency."
They say this is to stop child abuse websites, but all it will do is force them into other places, or make them more angry and desperate for their kiddy fix. Take down one site like that and two more pop up.
As for the rest, its a crock of shit. At its most basic level, Australia is trying to turn into China regarding the net; first gaming freedom and now the net. I wouldn't be surprised if they reverted to using the stone wheel and burning books.
Ain't that a bitch. Hopefully it gets dropped. Or if it doesn't, hopefully it doesn't lead to many things getting censored to "protect the children" or some other stupid-ass excuse.
The worst part of this? The comment section is likely gonna be filled with people saying how much it sucks to be an Australian, or how glad they are to not live in Australia, as it always does whenever something like this happens.
You know what, fuck this censorship thing. I'm not even Australian and this pisses me off. To any Aussies that are getting hit with this crap I have something for you:
For those unfamiliar think of it as an uber-proxy, it takes a bit of TLC to get running quite right, and it's slower then regular internet, but it pretty well unblocks anything that you want once you've gotten it down.
For those that do know about Tor, well, I guess I needn't tell you about it.
Quick Edit: Yes, I know about the unsavory label that Tor has, but seriously, it has quite a few perfectly legal uses.
After a while I hope we can get this in the U.S. too so that we can phase out internet pornography and piracy.
I think that may have been the first time I genuinely laughed at a comment on the forums. Mabye it was the spacing, or the choice of words. All I know is that the way I read that comment in my head, translated to be funny. I tip my tower of hats to you.
Fayathon: You know what, fuck this censorship thing. I'm not even Australian and this pisses me off. To any Aussies that are getting hit with this crap I have something for you:
For those unfamiliar think of it as an uber-proxy, it takes a bit of TLC to get running quite right, and it's slower then regular internet, but it pretty well unblocks anything that you want once you've gotten it down.
For those that do know about Tor, well, I guess I needn't tell you about it.
They really should make this kind of thing illegal if it isn't already.
The government(And organizations like this) should have every right to block websites from user access.
Fayathon: You know what, fuck this censorship thing. I'm not even Australian and this pisses me off. To any Aussies that are getting hit with this crap I have something for you:
For those unfamiliar think of it as an uber-proxy, it takes a bit of TLC to get running quite right, and it's slower then regular internet, but it pretty well unblocks anything that you want once you've gotten it down.
For those that do know about Tor, well, I guess I needn't tell you about it.
Quick Edit: Yes, I know about the unsavory label that Tor has, but seriously, it has quite a few perfectly legal uses.
I'm not that good with the technical stuff but that sounds great! Would that mean that I could play games only available to people in the US?
Fayathon: You know what, fuck this censorship thing. I'm not even Australian and this pisses me off. To any Aussies that are getting hit with this crap I have something for you:
For those unfamiliar think of it as an uber-proxy, it takes a bit of TLC to get running quite right, and it's slower then regular internet, but it pretty well unblocks anything that you want once you've gotten it down.
For those that do know about Tor, well, I guess I needn't tell you about it.
They really should make this kind of thing illegal if it isn't already.
The government(And organizations like this) should have every right to block websites from user access.
Fayathon: You know what, fuck this censorship thing. I'm not even Australian and this pisses me off. To any Aussies that are getting hit with this crap I have something for you:
For those unfamiliar think of it as an uber-proxy, it takes a bit of TLC to get running quite right, and it's slower then regular internet, but it pretty well unblocks anything that you want once you've gotten it down.
For those that do know about Tor, well, I guess I needn't tell you about it.
They really should make this kind of thing illegal if it isn't already.
The government(And organizations like this) should have every right to block websites from user access.
I seriously hope that you are posting with a great deal of sarcasm, because reading your comments is making me want to post something that would likely get me a lot of mod wrath for doing. Acceptance of censorship of any kind is akin to letting someone tie you up, tape your mouth shut and beating you every time you complain about it.
Fayathon: You know what, fuck this censorship thing. I'm not even Australian and this pisses me off. To any Aussies that are getting hit with this crap I have something for you:
For those unfamiliar think of it as an uber-proxy, it takes a bit of TLC to get running quite right, and it's slower then regular internet, but it pretty well unblocks anything that you want once you've gotten it down.
For those that do know about Tor, well, I guess I needn't tell you about it.
Quick Edit: Yes, I know about the unsavory label that Tor has, but seriously, it has quite a few perfectly legal uses.
I'm not that good with the technical stuff but that sounds great! Would that mean that I could play games only available to people in the US?
I'm not sure, as I've not delved too much into Tor's other functions, I just run the firefox bondle if I want to bypass country blocks on youtube and crap like that. Do some digging on the forums, Tor is a communal project after all, and they're (from my experience) happy to help newcomers out with it. Just remember, tread carefully in Tor, as there are a number of highly undesirable sites that it hides.
Fayathon: You know what, fuck this censorship thing. I'm not even Australian and this pisses me off. To any Aussies that are getting hit with this crap I have something for you:
For those unfamiliar think of it as an uber-proxy, it takes a bit of TLC to get running quite right, and it's slower then regular internet, but it pretty well unblocks anything that you want once you've gotten it down.
For those that do know about Tor, well, I guess I needn't tell you about it.
They really should make this kind of thing illegal if it isn't already.
The government(And organizations like this) should have every right to block websites from user access.
So they should have the right to censor their opposition from speaking?
That's really a great tip and it's what I recommended to my girlfriend when she went to Dubai, but it does have problems with it.
It's actually traceable now, it's bloody hard and I think it was only proof of concept but someone ran a BitTorrent through TOR and tracked it in one end and out the other. I like TOR for bypassing what I think of as 'joke' restrictions; the kind no one seriously expects the moderately tech savvy to actually obey but I'd be leery about using it when your arse is on the line.
I guess it depends how seriously they take this filter, though with a name one letter away from 'ACME' I suspect the answer is 'not very'. But seriously this really sucks for our Australian users and the country at large. I can understand there's some scary shit online but if you feel the need to clean house then clean house, don't scoop the house up and push it into the sea!
Oh and for anyone considering TOR: it's a voluntary scheme set up for people to avoid real and unpleasant censorship and to get anonymous help. It's not designed to deal with large bandwidth stuff so they'd rather you didn't use it for anything like gaming or torrenting. There are alternative onion routing networks for that but TOR are very much against that.
Fayathon: You know what, fuck this censorship thing. I'm not even Australian and this pisses me off. To any Aussies that are getting hit with this crap I have something for you:
For those unfamiliar think of it as an uber-proxy, it takes a bit of TLC to get running quite right, and it's slower then regular internet, but it pretty well unblocks anything that you want once you've gotten it down.
For those that do know about Tor, well, I guess I needn't tell you about it.
They really should make this kind of thing illegal if it isn't already.
The government(And organizations like this) should have every right to block websites from user access.
While I'm sure your heart's in the right place, doesn't it bother you that the list is generated purely by the whims/procedures of the companies involved; it doesn't even appear to be decided by an external concenus/watchdog.
They really should make this kind of thing illegal if it isn't already.
The government(And organizations like this) should have every right to block websites from user access.
So they should have the right to censor their opposition from speaking?
Of course.
If the government had the ability to stop criminals from communicating with each other, organized crime would be a thing of the past. And any other crime would be relatively manageable. So yeah, I don't see what is wrong with hindering organized crime.
Well, my Aussie friends, fire up those proxies. Nobody has any right to censor the internet, no matter how noble the reasons might be. The filter won't do any good anyway, so this is at best a tremendous waste of taxpayer money, and at worst a blatant display of the sorry nannystate that is Australia.
They really should make this kind of thing illegal if it isn't already.
The government(And organizations like this) should have every right to block websites from user access.
I have a few choice words regarding posts of this level of stupidity. Sadly, most of those go against the forum rules, so I'll leave it at this: You are wrong, you have no idea what you are talking about, you have no concept of morality, and you have no realistic view of enforceability of laws. That is all.
They really should make this kind of thing illegal if it isn't already.
The government(And organizations like this) should have every right to block websites from user access.
So they should have the right to censor their opposition from speaking?
Of course.
If the government had the ability to stop criminals from communicating with each other, organized crime would be a thing of the past. And any other crime would be relatively manageable. So yeah, I don't see what is wrong with hindering organized crime.
Okay, 100% guaranteed to be trolling now. No question. Had me going there for a second.
They really should make this kind of thing illegal if it isn't already.
The government(And organizations like this) should have every right to block websites from user access.
So they should have the right to censor their opposition from speaking?
Of course.
If the government had the ability to stop criminals from communicating with each other, organized crime would be a thing of the past. And any other crime would be relatively manageable. So yeah, I don't see what is wrong with hindering organized crime.
I was talking about political opponents. The point is, no one should have the power to choose who can say what, as then the world has to conform to them, no other view points would be allowed to be expressed.
Rainboq: So they should have the right to censor their opposition from speaking?
Of course.
If the government had the ability to stop criminals from communicating with each other, organized crime would be a thing of the past. And any other crime would be relatively manageable. So yeah, I don't see what is wrong with hindering organized crime.
Okay, 100% guaranteed to be trolling now. No question. Had me going there for a second.
If the government had the ability to stop criminals from communicating with each other, organized crime would be a thing of the past. And any other crime would be relatively manageable. So yeah, I don't see what is wrong with hindering organized crime.
As always with discussions on "censorship", I think it's important to note the difference between private actions and government actions.
This is actually a benevolent sort of action, because if individuals are offended by the actions of private companies in blocking access to certain sites or categories of sites, they can seek elsewhere. They can switch ISP's. They can seek out services that enable them to bypass the block. They have options and no one can stop them from taking those options.
ISP's are not under contract to provide people with access to anything and everything. They have the absolute right to control what information flows through their hardware. If they're stupid and irrational about it, they will go under. They are not indispensible.
When a government does this kind of thing, however, THAT is censorship, because it means the installation of legal barriers--the threat of force against those who might choose to violate a ruling.
There is a world of difference between "we're not going to supply this service" and "we're going to confiscate your money, put you in jail, shoot you if you don't obey us". The former ultimately harms only the party responsible for instituting it if they are wrong in their judgment. The latter harms an innocent person not responsible for the decision and likely incapable of influencing it in any meaningful manner.
If the government had the ability to stop criminals from communicating with each other, organized crime would be a thing of the past. And any other crime would be relatively manageable. So yeah, I don't see what is wrong with hindering organized crime.
Wow, you really seem to trust the government.
I was going to say, if government was restricted to its proper functions instead of attempting to dictate people's behavior to them, there wouldn't be organized crime, either. Giving the government more power in order to enable it to deal with a problem that it created in the first place is not the solution. Might as well hire a thief to guard your belongings.
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Australia's Internet Filter Switches On In July
Four Australian internet providers, including the country's two largest, will begin voluntarily censoring the internet next month by blocking access to more than 500 websites.
Australia's plan to filter the naughtiness out of the internet has been kicking around for years but it never seemed to go anywhere because when you get right down to it, effectively censoring the whole internet is a pretty daunting technical challenge. That doesn't even take into account the fact that a significant number of people who actually use the internet are pretty vehemently opposed to the idea. But beginning in July, internet access for many Aussies will in fact be censored, not by the government but by the voluntary actions of four of the country's ISPs.
Telstra and Optus, the two largest internet providers in Australia, along with two other small outfits, confirmed that they will begin to block access to "child abuse websites" provided by the Australian Communications and Media Authority and other unnamed "international organizations" beginning next month. The filter is being put into place despite the fact that the government dropped funding for the plan in May because of "limited interest" from the industry.
"The ACMA will compile and manage a list of URLs of child abuse content that will include the appropriate subsection of the ACMA blacklist as well as child abuse URLs that are provided by reputable international organizations [to be blocked]," an ACMA rep said.
But while Donna Ashelford of the System Administrators Guild of Australia said that concerns about reduced access speeds caused by the filter are probably unwarranted, she also pointed out that the scheme won't have any meaningful impact on the distribution of child porn either.
"The effectiveness will be trivial because you're just blocking a single website address [and] a person can get around it by changing that address with one character," she said. "Child abuse material is more likely to be exchanged on peer-to-peer networks and private networks anyway and is a matter for law enforcement."
Another worry, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is that there is no transparency or accountability in the creation and maintenance of the blacklist, which greatly increases the chance of legal websites being inappropriately blocked. It's not known which organizations are contributing to the list of forbidden beyond the ACMA , but the ACMA's own blacklist from 2009, revealed by Wikileaks, included the website of a Queensland-based dentist and other sites unrelated to illegal pornography. There also appears to be no appeals process for any sites mistakenly caught up in the filter.
But possibly the greatest concern is simply that it sets a precedent. Once the filters are in place and Australians have adjusted to the idea, is it much of a stretch to see them put to use blocking content the ACMA decides is "indecent" or controversial? "We've been waiting to hear details on this from the Government," said EFF board member Colin Jacobs. "It they turn out to be zealous with the type of material that is on the list then we'd want to have a discussion about ways to introduce more transparency."
Source: News.com.au
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