Australia's internet filter

[Baxter]

so what are we all thinking about it??
i go to school and we recently had an 'upgrade' of the internet filtering that was put in place by the Department of Education
various forums (including this one, and ubuntuforums.org), web messengers, email servers etc have been blocked

[solmyr]

really!

i am at university and the filter is not in place there.

so hotmail and forums and such are unaccesable. thats lame

[Baxter]

its the public school filter
absolute crap
im assuming that its going to be used as a trial for the proposed national filter
(and whichever political party proposes one, i will not vote for them)
i dont think that it started as a trial, but it will be evidence that it works
all proxies are blocked too, but not https:// sites such as gmail

[Legendary Apophis]

Since I heard about this, I'm asking myself, "Is Australia a democracy?".
Because seriously, forbidding access to illegal dowloading/porn/crack/virus'd/underworld economy sites...it's logical. But forums/hotmail/msn etc...what the heck?

[xXxsephirothxXx]

Lol solmyr its only for those punks still in high school
I remember last year it was more strict at highschool, not allowing us to go on most proxy sites to avoid the filter!

You little kids needs to be restricted anyway! vandals! while us university people live un filtered, watching tv shows and all haha

By all means, its reasonable that the school's internet is for educational means anyway, each student gets an email and has to go through the student portal to use it at their school....

[Baxter]

hehehe
i only go on game sites, hotmail etc at TAFE, where i dont get any work to do anyway
i use my gmail account to get my email from my TWO DET email accounts, and then get it to route it through them when i send stuff anyway

the internet filter for what the government is advertising it for is a good thing, but we all know that it wont stop at preventing things like child porn
if it goes ahead, australia will become the new china

[Psi Kiya Trist]

a filter, by definition, prevents free speech.

control the propaganda, control the country.

[Juliette]

Wait, Baxter. So you're complaining about your school's filter, and 'assume' it's a test of the national filter?
Where are your facts, man?

Since I heard about this, I'm asking myself, "Is Australia a democracy?".

Ridiculous. Your access to the internet is a privilege, not a right. Now, if you were Finnish.. it would be different. (See their constitutional amendment of this summer, making -fast- internet access a right of its citizens.)

[Legendary Apophis]

Since I heard about this, I'm asking myself, "Is Australia a democracy?".

Ridiculous. Your access to the internet is a privilege, not a right. Now, if you were Finnish.. it would be different. (See their constitutional amendment of this summer, making -fast- internet access a right of its citizens.)

There are things that can logically be filtered, but if you extend it to anything, then it's abuse of power and it's not in benefit of users (what's the point in having access to internet then?). Filter illegal or controversial stuff is different than filtering everything. China does it, so does Iran...but they do so because it's dictatorships who want to have complete control on anything.
Now I'm talking about the nation wide filter in Australia. Schools filters oh well...but nation filter tsk tsk. The first step to conditionned people if Australia takes NK/China/Iran path. Who knows what will follow..

Of course it's not a "right", people have to pay to access, but least expected is to have something in return to use, otherwise it's sort of a scam..

[solmyr]

Since I heard about this, I'm asking myself, "Is Australia a democracy?".

Ridiculous. Your access to the internet is a privilege, not a right. Now, if you were Finnish.. it would be different. (See their constitutional amendment of this summer, making -fast- internet access a right of its citizens.)

There are things that can logically be filtered, but if you extend it to anything, then it's abuse of power and it's not in benefit of users (what's the point in having access to internet then?). Filter illegal or controversial stuff is different than filtering everything. China does it, so does Iran...but they do so because it's dictatorships who want to have complete control on anything.
Now I'm talking about the nation wide filter in Australia. Schools filters oh well...but nation filter tsk tsk. The first step to conditionned people if Australia takes NK/China/Iran path. Who knows what will follow..

Of course it's not a "right", people have to pay to access, but least expected is to have something in return to use, otherwise it's sort of a scam..

dont go overboard jim, its no big restriction. it is in public primary and high schools. places where kids internet access is ECLUSIVELY for educational purposes. they should not need rights to forums and hotmail etc. when they get home they can gatewars and watch as much xxx as they damn well please

[Rottenking]

Wait, Baxter. So you're complaining about your school's filter, and 'assume' it's a test of the national filter?
Where are your facts, man?

Since I heard about this, I'm asking myself, "Is Australia a democracy?".

Ridiculous. Your access to the internet is a privilege, not a right. Now, if you were Finnish.. it would be different. (See their constitutional amendment of this summer, making -fast- internet access a right of its citizens.)

Their was some talk as useing it as a platform to test the filter

the main issue is the blacklisted sites for the national filter are secret, not for child porn thats cool, but if they dont have any transparency on what they block by the pubpic, thus the voters, how can wemaoe informed decisions, after all, the guvournment is suppost to work for us not against us

Hideing what they are blocking inmy opinion is cencorship as they could "slip" in a
few skeqed websites that have no real basis to be blocked

[Juliette]

Wait, Baxter. So you're complaining about your school's filter, and 'assume' it's a test of the national filter?
Where are your facts, man?

Since I heard about this, I'm asking myself, "Is Australia a democracy?".

Ridiculous. Your access to the internet is a privilege, not a right. Now, if you were Finnish.. it would be different. (See their constitutional amendment of this summer, making -fast- internet access a right of its citizens.)

Their was some talk as useing it as a platform to test the filter

the main issue is the blacklisted sites for the national filter are secret, not for child porn thats cool, but if they dont have any transparency on what they block by the pubpic, thus the voters, how can wemaoe informed decisions, after all, the guvournment is suppost to work for us not against us

Hideing what they are blocking inmy opinion is cencorship as they could "slip" in a
few skeqed websites that have no real basis to be blocked

Fair enough. I'd say that in a democracy, the government works on behalf of us, but that is just a difference in perspectives. I can see how it would concern some.

[Solus]

the main issue is the blacklisted sites for the national filter are secret...

this is one of my major concerns. aswell as other issues centering around our Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Mr. Stephen Conroy. he openly admits he is technologically impaired, and despite more knowledgeable people all over the place from citizens through to senior government ministers, he insists on pushing his agenda and keeping information secret.

one other issue was South Australia's ex Governor General, Michael Atkinson. amongst other things he tried to push for censorship regarding the 2010 South Australian elections.

~soul

[Baxter]

yes, unfortunately there is no 'proof' for this being a test-run, only hear-say
i have already found many sites that have been blocked because they arent "necessary for my education"
like this one http://www.unrv.com/ for being a "forum", when it is quite clearly a site about ancient rome. sure there are probably other sites or books that i can get this info from, but its easier for me (and those in more rural areas of Aus) to access.
unfortunately it seems that if you mention words such as "forum" "sex" etc your site will get blocked. just for my study of Ancient History (in particular Pompeii) the word "phallus" gets used, as they were seen as a symbol of fertility. phalli were allegedly graffitied several metres high on the walls of the city.
so, even by accident, sites that are actually about educational things are being blocked

[Dubby_CompGamerGeek2]

Since I heard about this, I'm asking myself, "Is Australia a democracy?".

Ridiculous. Your access to the internet is a privilege, not a right. Now, if you were Finnish.. it would be different. (See their constitutional amendment of this summer, making -fast- internet access a right of its citizens.)

Juliette, what gives you the idea that the internet is a privilege?

Is phone service a privilege?

How about sidewalks?

Primary School?

Because a person who misbehaves enough can get banned from any of the above...

and the Australian government financed a lot of the building of all of the above...



Baxter, sorry to hear that mate, hopefully the school's tech support could look at adding those sites to the whitelist?