Comments on: Conroy Lays the First Brick in the Great Firewall of Australia http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/ Social Media and Coaching for Business Sat, 27 Feb 2010 07:47:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Charly Leetham http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/comment-page-1/#comment-2387 Charly Leetham Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:14:53 +0000 http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/#comment-2387 Well I must say that I am beginning to feel like a naughty child as opposed to a fully grown adult who can make my own decisions. This government is ridiculous - instead of addressing the things that really need addressing, they are pouring money into a product that will see our rights eroded. Let alone the fact that I'm obviously not responsible enough to look after myself - I obviously aren't responsible enough to protect my children from the Internet. Although I notice that nothing is said about what we expose our children to on TV or at the movies.... that's probably next on the list of things to censor though.... then it will be our books..... These guys didn't have my vote to begin with and they haven't won me over yet.... Well I must say that I am beginning to feel like a naughty child as opposed to a fully grown adult who can make my own decisions. This government is ridiculous – instead of addressing the things that really need addressing, they are pouring money into a product that will see our rights eroded.

Let alone the fact that I’m obviously not responsible enough to look after myself – I obviously aren’t responsible enough to protect my children from the Internet. Although I notice that nothing is said about what we expose our children to on TV or at the movies…. that’s probably next on the list of things to censor though…. then it will be our books…..

These guys didn’t have my vote to begin with and they haven’t won me over yet….

]]> By: Can Australia Really Censor The Internet | Charly Leetham http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/comment-page-1/#comment-2386 Can Australia Really Censor The Internet | Charly Leetham Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:03:55 +0000 http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/#comment-2386 [...] Des Walsh too, has his say in Conroy Lays The First Brick In The Great Firewall Of Australia [...] [...] Des Walsh too, has his say in Conroy Lays The First Brick In The Great Firewall Of Australia [...]

]]> By: Bob http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/comment-page-1/#comment-771 Bob Thu, 10 Jan 2008 01:27:30 +0000 http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/#comment-771 Note: there's a bug in the post I just left. It shouldn't say "inveitable workaround now in effect". Note: there’s a bug in the post I just left. It shouldn’t say “inveitable workaround now in effect”.

]]> By: Bob http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/comment-page-1/#comment-770 Bob Thu, 10 Jan 2008 01:26:28 +0000 http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/#comment-770 So it happens at last. The new government, who we all supported, screws us in a matter of weeks. -Inevitable workaround now in effect- Sorry about that. Anyway, yeah. If parents want their kids to be protected from all this, then they don't put computers in their kid's rooms! Wow, I didn't think of that! In fact, maybe everyone else will! Wait, Mr Conroy says they won't, in fact the problem is so bad that every Australian will now need a connection-slowing filter that the government controls so that kids are protected, even though half of Australian internet-linked homes have no kids, and only currently filters a few thousand sites out of the millions of porn sites in existence! My currently-unfiltered connection is supposed to run at 8mbps. If I get it to run at 100kbps, it's going fast. I really don't want it slowed down to dial-up speeds. So I opt-out. And get identified as a potential terrorist/sex offender. No thank you. The other thing I'm noticing is that most citizens aren't into child porn anyway. So why are we censoring it? And yes, the government probably will at some point start stepping on sites that don't support them. In short, Mr Conroy, step off. If this gets through, you ain't getting my vote. So it happens at last. The new government, who we all supported, screws us in a matter of weeks.

-Inevitable workaround now in effect-

Sorry about that. Anyway, yeah. If parents want their kids to be protected from all this, then they don’t put computers in their kid’s rooms! Wow, I didn’t think of that! In fact, maybe everyone else will!

Wait, Mr Conroy says they won’t, in fact the problem is so bad that every Australian will now need a connection-slowing filter that the government controls so that kids are protected, even though half of Australian internet-linked homes have no kids, and only currently filters a few thousand sites out of the millions of porn sites in existence!

My currently-unfiltered connection is supposed to run at 8mbps. If I get it to run at 100kbps, it’s going fast. I really don’t want it slowed down to dial-up speeds. So I opt-out. And get identified as a potential terrorist/sex offender. No thank you.

The other thing I’m noticing is that most citizens aren’t into child porn anyway. So why are we censoring it?

And yes, the government probably will at some point start stepping on sites that don’t support them.

In short, Mr Conroy, step off. If this gets through, you ain’t getting my vote.

]]> By: Russell Blackford http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/comment-page-1/#comment-708 Russell Blackford Wed, 02 Jan 2008 08:03:13 +0000 http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/#comment-708 To be honest, I'm not so woried about the immediate impact of this. I'm sure the material that gets blocked on Day One will be confined to nasty stuff that morally healthy people don't want to see: obviously, child pornography is the main target. BUT, it's still a dangerous step. Once any government starts to control what is or is not appropriate for its citizens to see on the internet, we should all be afraid. How do we know that more and more things will not be deemed "iappropriate" by future adminuistrations? Are we really supposed to sit back and just trust future governments about this? Tell me another one. Admittedly, we have some constitutional protection of political speech in this country, but it's no more than an implied limitation of legislative power, and it's scope is much-debated. It does not appear expressly in the Constitution, and it could easily be weakened or eliminated by future High Court rulings. I think it's important to acknowledge that there will be an opt-out provision - and we need to be honest, rather than misrepresenting the facts. But of course, a future admininstration could water down or eliminate this protection. And then there's the issue of who will have records of who opted out. Will such records be available to the government or the police? Will they be able to be used in police investigations? Will it be possible for adverse inferences about individuals to be drawn from them (e.g. by police, bureaucrats, and the courts)? No matter how well-intentioned this move is, it's a step on the path towards official control of what we can see and read, and every single such step needs to be opposed bitterly. Don't go down the Chinese Road. To be honest, I’m not so woried about the immediate impact of this. I’m sure the material that gets blocked on Day One will be confined to nasty stuff that morally healthy people don’t want to see: obviously, child pornography is the main target.

BUT, it’s still a dangerous step.

Once any government starts to control what is or is not appropriate for its citizens to see on the internet, we should all be afraid. How do we know that more and more things will not be deemed “iappropriate” by future adminuistrations? Are we really supposed to sit back and just trust future governments about this? Tell me another one.

Admittedly, we have some constitutional protection of political speech in this country, but it’s no more than an implied limitation of legislative power, and it’s scope is much-debated. It does not appear expressly in the Constitution, and it could easily be weakened or eliminated by future High Court rulings.

I think it’s important to acknowledge that there will be an opt-out provision – and we need to be honest, rather than misrepresenting the facts. But of course, a future admininstration could water down or eliminate this protection. And then there’s the issue of who will have records of who opted out.

Will such records be available to the government or the police? Will they be able to be used in police investigations? Will it be possible for adverse inferences about individuals to be drawn from them (e.g. by police, bureaucrats, and the courts)?

No matter how well-intentioned this move is, it’s a step on the path towards official control of what we can see and read, and every single such step needs to be opposed bitterly. Don’t go down the Chinese Road.

]]> By: Controlling The Internet One Country At A Time | Coffee With Allan Cockerill… http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/comment-page-1/#comment-707 Controlling The Internet One Country At A Time | Coffee With Allan Cockerill… Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:54:47 +0000 http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/#comment-707 [...] As Des Walsh says, this isn’t an issue just for Australia, it is significant for citizens of any democratic country… [...] [...] As Des Walsh says, this isn’t an issue just for Australia, it is significant for citizens of any democratic country… [...]

]]> By: Riayn http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/comment-page-1/#comment-705 Riayn Wed, 02 Jan 2008 03:11:34 +0000 http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/#comment-705 I thought that parents were suppose to control what their children acessed on the internet, not the government. Can you imagine the outcry if government regulated every movie and television show so that it was suitable for a 12 year old child? Why should the internet be any different? I thought that parents were suppose to control what their children acessed on the internet, not the government. Can you imagine the outcry if government regulated every movie and television show so that it was suitable for a 12 year old child? Why should the internet be any different?

]]> By: Des Walsh http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/comment-page-1/#comment-699 Des Walsh Tue, 01 Jan 2008 04:43:09 +0000 http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/#comment-699 Doug Your comment reminds me of the young man who was on Oprah, had been both a victim and perpetrator. One of the key things he said and repeated was for parents to get the computers out of the childrens' bedrooms. Probably far more effective than clumsy attempts by government to control the Internet. But it needs education. Doug
Your comment reminds me of the young man who was on Oprah, had been both a victim and perpetrator. One of the key things he said and repeated was for parents to get the computers out of the childrens’ bedrooms. Probably far more effective than clumsy attempts by government to control the Internet. But it needs education.

]]> By: Douglas Karr http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/comment-page-1/#comment-698 Douglas Karr Tue, 01 Jan 2008 04:28:19 +0000 http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/#comment-698 Another example of government keeping honest people honest simply to save face with the voter. Every modern router has the ability to limit traffic and many of them offer parental controls. And every person who wishes to get to this material knows exactly how to thwart these controls. My issue with it honestly isn't the censorship part (surprisingly) but the stupidity of the people involved to think they will somehow be able to impact the issue at hand. Another example of government keeping honest people honest simply to save face with the voter. Every modern router has the ability to limit traffic and many of them offer parental controls. And every person who wishes to get to this material knows exactly how to thwart these controls.

My issue with it honestly isn’t the censorship part (surprisingly) but the stupidity of the people involved to think they will somehow be able to impact the issue at hand.

]]> By: How To Censor The Internet One Country At A Time | Coffee With Allan Cockerill… http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/comment-page-1/#comment-697 How To Censor The Internet One Country At A Time | Coffee With Allan Cockerill… Tue, 01 Jan 2008 03:50:26 +0000 http://deswalsh.com/2007/12/31/conroy-lays-the-first-brick-in-the-great-firewall-of-australia/#comment-697 [...] great post by Des Walsh adds another perspective to the [...] [...] great post by Des Walsh adds another perspective to the [...]

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