Windows 7 - Australia Imposes Internet Filter

THE Federal Government is pushing ahead with its controversial plan to filter the internet, saying illegal material can be blocked "with 100 per cent accuracy and negligible impact on internet speed"

Government pushes forward with internet filtering | News.com.au

That is a bummer...if that happened in the US I would be outraged

Many of us are outraged; but if the government gets it right and it only blocks "child sex abuse content, bestiality, sexual violence and the detailed instruction of crime and drug use" (quote from article), then I have no problem with it and it should be a good thing. However as an Australian, I am suspect that this 'filter' will open Pandora's box and in years to come we may find all sorts of things blocked. I don't want Australia to become the new North Korea or China of the internet.

I agree...lets hope it doesn't

GetUp! Save The Net Campaign

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...filtering.html

These things always start with the best intent ... Once you have a capability however, political pressure to modify the original construct is inevitable. Imagine this as a tool of say, Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

Kiss your sweet torrents goodbye.

I have to agree that if the government sets the basics as banned and leaves it like that then a filter would be OK...
Up here in Canada ISPs can voluntarily join a program that blocks child pornography; and, well, I don't think that very many of us know that we have a filter.

however, the Wikipedia page on blocking isn't very promising for Austrailians:

Blue; no
yellow: some
red: under surveillance
Black: Black hole.

While I would agree with your sentiment, but I have found that when a government is given an inch, they take a mile...in time, the miles add up.

The filter will block more than child porn. It is based on a blacklist of sites that are refused classification. Some of these sites are NOT illegal in any way (a few are quite harmless) Don't let this government fool you. This type of mandatory filtering is censorship: plain and simple! It cannot work effectively and is a huge waste of resources. I have seen the leaked list of banned sites and the vast majority have nothing to do with child sexual abuse. I am very passionate about this topic and will not stand by while a government tells me what I can and can't look it on the internet

Agreed. I too have seen the list, many sites are not in the category's mentioned by the article. Like I said, 'Pandora's box' and once opened who know's where we will be?