Net censorship update

By David Hollingworth
Mar 18, 2009 | 18 Comments
Tags: Net | censorhip | ACMA | wikileaks

Essential linkage: The ACMA's censorship plans just keep getting sillier and sillier.

Our pal Asher Moses over at SMH Online has posted an ace little article updating the ongoing saga of the Australian Communications and Media Authority and its proposed net censorship scheme.

The latest chapter is the adding of numerous pages from Wikileaks to ACMA's black list:

The Australian communications regulator says it will fine people who hyperlink to sites on its blacklist, which has been further expanded to include several pages on the anonymous whistleblower site Wikileaks.

Wikileaks was added to the blacklist for publishing a leaked document containing Denmark's list of banned websites.

And that's on top of news that the ACMA recently threatened broadband news site Whirlpool with an $11,000 a day fine for hosting a black-listed link. To add insult to injury, that list is secret, by the way... uh huh. Makes perfect sense.

It's a great article, and very worth reading if you're at all interested in the ongoing debate.

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18 Comments

Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.

iamthemaxx Mar 18, 2009 1:21 PM	I think I see Barbra Streisand heading our way....
Ishta2000 Mar 18, 2009 3:26 PM	The Government is full of Shit and everyone knows it. Soon they will be telling us what we can and can't do, say or write anymore. WTF K Rudd.
ahsoka Mar 18, 2009 3:47 PM	QQ
Athiril Mar 18, 2009 4:10 PM	This makes me rage. I think I might watch V for Vendetta tonight.
MagnumXY Mar 18, 2009 4:26 PM	WTF anyways i dont think its rudds fault just senator conroy *shudders
t8y Mar 18, 2009 4:32 PM	who does he take orders from? if it wasnt him itd be some other stooge pushing this crap on us to keep family first and other special interest groups happy for the preference votes in the last election..
CptnChrysler Mar 18, 2009 4:55 PM	So lemme get this straight. If I link to a site on the ACMA blacklist from an Australian served site I'll bet fined $11,000 per day. But I can set up a site on a foreign server bitching about the ACMA blacklisting said site and containing the link to the 'offensive' material and link to that with impunity? That is until the ACMA blacklists the new site bitching about the ban.... Anyone see the problem here?
emccat Mar 18, 2009 5:11 PM	hehehe good point..... i still hate kruddy any way
Blue Fire Mar 18, 2009 6:00 PM	Hmmmm... it looks like the ACMA is starting to abuse their own powers.
Girvo Mar 18, 2009 7:03 PM	What the fuck. You get fined for posting a link to a site on a blacklist. A blacklist that you _have no possible way of knowing what's on it_ because it's "secret". That's just ridiculous. I'm stunned.
Athiril Mar 18, 2009 7:21 PM	Why are you stunned Girvo, we all had plenty of warning what would happen from others and that the gov are a pack of lying cunts
AMTP10E Mar 18, 2009 7:26 PM	Elections have consequences. You mob voted for these ass clowns so you shouldn't be surprised when they act like ass clowns.
Athiril Mar 18, 2009 7:46 PM	I dont recall voting for Conroy. I think you should read up on the history of the filter.
Takoma Mar 18, 2009 10:40 PM	Good grief. Who comes up with this stuff?
Paranoid_Android Mar 18, 2009 11:14 PM	What we elected was a government better than the previous for most of its policies, most of us didn't vote for Rudd so that we would have our net filtered, we voted for the miriad of other policies that they offer better than liberal alternatives (i.e. workchoices), the way to cut the bad policy decisions from the better party is to engage in intelligent discussion, thats the reason this particular policy will be knocked back even if it does take some time for the message to get through...
moofactory Mar 19, 2009 1:41 PM	Oh this is bullshit. Theres quite afew websites on there that are perfectly legal.
Dumb_Computergeek Mar 19, 2009 2:28 PM	moofactory, how do you know your clicking on an illegal website if you can't see the illegal website list?
c2006 Mar 20, 2009 10:47 AM	DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER!

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