A clean feed?

Atomic just says NO to government plans to censor the net.

We've all been pretty aghast at the Federal government's plans to introduce a so-called 'clean feed' of internet material to the Australian public. In Federal eyes, it must seem that aussie adults are incapable of making informed decisions about what they will and will not watch, read or interact with online. To our minds, it's always been a pretty simply choice not to look at questionable content - don't want to see bukake? Well, don't log onto a site that features it.

Pretty simple.

Similarly the idea that such censorship is being put in place to protect children first and foremost is similarly spurious. In our minds, the people who should be doing that are parents. And, for the most part, that works just fine.

So, yeah, we've been trying to come up with a comprehensive response and smack down, but far better minds than ours have beaten us to the punch. Mark Newton - Senior Engineer at ISP Internode - has written a rather awesome letter to the Minister for Youth and Sport, and we think it's worth sharing. You can find a PDF of it here, but we'll sign off with just one of the awesome points he raises in his four page missive:

"The passing of time has shown that 1990 Senate’s concerns were completely wrong: Almost 20 years have passed since that enquiry, and Australians have enjoyed uncensored Internet access for the entire period. Society has not fallen apart, there is no emergency, children are not being raised in moral vacuums and turning into rapists and axe-murderers, parents are diligently and capably excelling in their efforts to raise their children into fine, upstanding citizens. Today’s parents are comfortable with ubiquitous access to unfiltered Internet, having grown up using Google to assist with homework assignments, publishing blogs and websites, using email to stay in touch with friends and family, and treating the Internet in its current unfiltered form as a valuable resource for the education and social engagement of their children."

And that's just a taste. It's well worth reading. If you have similar views, share them with others, and follow Mark's lead.