back to article Aussie government to rig filter testing

The great Aussie firewall is coming apart at the seams, as opposition mounts, and critics have a field day dissecting inept government plans for testing their shiny new filters. While the government might expect opposition from, well, the opposition, it is possible that the architect of the plan, Labour Senator and …

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  1. Martin Lyne

    Could ISPs please..

    .. filter the Young Labour portions of government websites.

    DISSENTING VOICES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED!

    They do realise they weren't meant to follow China's lead, right? It's a short step from blocking X to blocking Y(oung Labour). See what I did there?

  2. dervheid
    Black Helicopters

    This looks like it came...

    straight from the UK NuLabour Policy Manual.

    Rigging a favourable outcome?

    Never.

    Just like they're trying to rig a 'favourable' Speaker.

    "Papers, Citizen!"

  3. EdwardP
    Flame

    Now it all becomes clear.

    1. Create law requiring technically demanding censorship.

    2. Force ISPs to implement it.

    3. Bankrupt ISPs with unreasonable the expectations.

    4. Form state owned ISP.

    5. ??????

    6. Power == Profit.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Filtering at 10,000

    So at 10,000 sites there is a noticeable performance hit. Are they aware that there are BILLIONS of porno sites out there? Talk about daft.

  5. John
    Stop

    OZ going down the pan

    I have family in OZ and once upon a time there were many positive reasons to move out there and virtually no reasons not to, these days the opposite is becoming true.

    This is yet another reason I wouldn't even consider it anymore, the country is clearly going down the pan, and going by the recent press and what I've been told the government seem to be mentally impaired to say the least!

  6. CockKnocker
    Thumb Up

    Go to NZ

    Thats ok move to NZ as its even nicer and they dont have the same daft laws. Emmigrating there is also easier than oz :)

  7. David Hicks

    @John

    John, compared to the UK, Australia is a free Utopia.

    yes, they're trying to follow in our footsteps, but they've got nothing on us right now.

  8. The Fuzzy Wotnot
    Thumb Up

    10,000 eh?

    So is it 10k URLs or sites?

    Hmm, well should just about cover average online store, what about everyone else? Doesn't the BlueTack anti-corp IP list contain something like about 2.5M IPs, not including DNS aliases, not URLs!! BlueTack is just a volunteer list let alone something, I use the term losely here, government organised!

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "or it will bankrupt the ISPs"

    leaving the remaining players to form, in cooperation with a responsive government, a cosy cartel.

    Scratch mine and I'll scratch yours. Nice work if you can get it to work.

  10. John
    Thumb Up

    NZ here I come...

    @CockKnocker

    My thoughts exactly, and probably what we'll end up doing eventually! :-)

  11. LaeMi Qian
    Joke

    It's not 10,000 blocked

    10,000 is the number of sites we will ultimately be permitted to access - all moral minority approved.

    (It would be funnier if it wasn't entirely possible that this is what the arsetards are planning). :-(

  12. Scott
    Boffin

    It's not all beer and skittles in The Land of the Long White Cloud

    try this piece of new legislation:

    http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Secret_IP_pact_involving_NZ_draws_US_lawsuits

  13. lglethal Silver badge
    Flame

    Like you Brits can talk...

    You can say that Aus might be going down the tubes, but at least the people of Aus are making there voices heard - notice that part about protests in every capital city? Where are the large scale protests in the UK about ID Cards, Censorship Laws, Uber-databases, DNA not being removed from police databases, and so on?

    You have no one to blame but yourselves for the fact that your country is the way it is - you let the daily mail make the laws because the rest of you dont get off your ass and make yourselves heard!

    Give me Aus any day!

  14. Keith T
    Thumb Up

    A primary job of national governments is national defense

    Regarding privacy, there is no guarantee privacy on the internet.

    National governments worldwide already eavesdrop on international traffic. And foreign governments eavesdrop on the national traffic of other countries. Some countries already eavesdrop on their own citizens (UK and USA).

    Privacy is also threatened by the many trojans and viruses that, even if your computer isn't compromised, there is a good likelihood on any given day that you will communicate with a compromised computer.

    A primary job of national governments is national defense and the protection of its citizens lives and property.

    A national firewall that does that protects its citizens against foreign hackers and cyber attacks is a good national firewall. It would be a step on the path to upgrading the internet to a higher technical level so people can start relying on it.

    If a national firewall is going to be used for censorship of opinions, and to limit news, then it is a bad firewall.

    If the national firewall censors pornographic images and video, well, we can all express our opinions in text form. So it really doesn't limit freedom of speech. (That said, a national firewall should, if it even does any censoring, only censor clearly illegal pornography, like kiddie porn, sex acts with animals, and pictures that courts have ruled on.)

    If a national firewall only stops some foreign hackers blackmailing citizens and residents, or if it only stops some foreign based DDoS attacks, it will be worth the price.

  15. Moss Icely Spaceport
    Thumb Down

    A short lived censorship

    The current Aus Government is dependent upon a very small number of independent politicians in order to pass laws. The indies are often also christian fundies, nut jobs one and all.

    Once there is a change in the balance of power, these fundies will become toothless.

  16. Mark
    Stop

    Re:@John and Like you Brits can talk...

    " John, compared to the UK, Australia is a free Utopia.

    yes, they're trying to follow in our footsteps, but they've got nothing on us right now."

    The problem with this is I moved from the UK to avoid this shit. Now there's a Nu Labour movement hear with KRudd07 and his intept band of merry morons where do I go next?

    As for the comment about "at least we're protesting" you obviously don't realise that the Brown Government has ostensibly banned protesting as you need permission first. Also, the police in the UK have a million and one laws they can abuse to grab you off the street and keep you off it until you become subservient.

    Oz is trying real hard to f*ck things up though, bless 'em.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's Labor here not Labour

    We spell it Labor as in "ALP, Australian Labor Party".

    I've noticed all you UK guys spell it the UK way, not the Aussie way ;)

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Add Canberra to the list of Capitals

    Information has been received that Canberra will be the site of protest action on the 13th December. The following comments were placed on the "Action and facts" thread on Whirlpool:

    "Newflash! Coordinators have been organised for ACT. So I present you with, the rally details:

    13th of December

    12pm – 2pm

    Garema Place (under the big screen), Civic

    http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=38717743533"

  19. Wayland Sothcott

    Thank god!

    It's not being accepted. The technical issue looks insurmountable.

    Obviously there is a drastic and very simple solution. A whitelist of 10,000 sites.

  20. Mark
    Thumb Up

    re:It's Labor here not Labour

    Let's not get started on American (and other) bastardisation of the English language, it'll never end. It is essentially a mis-spelling with Labour/Labor being represenatatives of the labourers i.e. the working man. In Australian terms the party being founded in 1891 to promote/protect the interests of the working man. It also separates it as a term from "labor - an obsolete unit of area".

    In the main it stems from the use of "English Webster's spelling-rules" in the colonies - not arrogant, but factual. Labor in Australian political party terms also used to be spelled Labour at one point (changed early 19xx) the name changed being influenced in part by the party being taking it's influences from the US labor movement.

    We'll get onto the ridicule of yoghurt/yogurt another day.

    English people couldn't, in general, give a toss about most digs at the UK but mis-spelling and bastardisation of the language is often a step too far. Ironic considering most of it is a bastardisation of various European dialects :)

  21. EdwardP
    Flame

    @lglethal

    I was hoping to come back at you with robust argument for why we *appear* to be letting them bend us over a legislative chair, and then follow it with a scathing remark about the Aussies.

    I failed completely. You're absolutly right, at the moment the vast majority of us are stupid, pathetic and lazy. Too comfortable in our tiny, expensive, borrowed houses. Too busy rushing desperatly to dead end jobs or dole queues so we can keep up this months payment on last years sofa.

    Perhaps all is not lost, I envision, one day, all of a sudden, the straw'll meet the camel and the lot of us will FINALLY wake up, and waste no time in burning all of this to the fucking ground.

    Society is only 3 meals away from Anarchy.

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