Tech | October 16, 2008 | 48 comments

Australia to emulate Great Firewall of China

source: http://gizmodo.com/5064310/australia-to-build-great-firewall-down-under

Image
purplefox
The Australian government has announced that it'll be introducing its own censorship regime, set up to block what it deems illegal for its citizens to view on the interweb. The move is sold as protecting teens from the horrors of internet pornography,though even if you opt-out of the porn filter, you'll get, rather sinisterly, put on a different blacklist for “illegal” content. What's worrying is that the govt have yet to be particularly specific on what it's going to consider 'illegal' content, so there's the possibility, for instance, that they will block any website related to controversial opinions on euthanasia, drugs or political dissent.

Firewalls in Australia, email and phone surveillance in the UK... is the world turning into one big police state?
  1. groups:
    Politics,   Tech,   WTF,   Current News UK,   1 more
  2. tags:
    Politics,  WTF,  Tech,  Current News UK,  6 more
  3.     
    |

48 comments // Australia to emulate Great Firewall of China

  • PolskiArtur
  • UWAZell
    • 0
      UWAZell  

    • 3oc, cheers for that and I realised that I heard about it when the report came out. However, I still doubt that this will go through before KRudd is out and the lib's are back in.

    • 3 years ago
  • 3oc
  • UWAZell
    • UWAZell  
    • This comment was removed by its owner.
  • gforce1979
    • 0
      gforce1979  
    • UWAZell:

      Yeah, I am sure you would know a lot more than I do. All I know about Australia I learned from Bill Bryson's "In a Sunburned Country!" It's too bad us Yanks don't get more news from Oz so we could be better informed. One thing I do know is that I can't wait to visit.

    • 3 years ago
  • lordcloud55
  • 3oc
    • 0
      3oc  

    • The Internet is the only platform for the free and open exchange of ideas and opinion. Any form of filtering, monitoring or censorship must not be tolerated.

      Movies and media spin depicting the Internet dark side are popping up almost daily. The propaganda machine is only just warming up.

    • 3 years ago
  • peregrinfalcon
    • 0
      peregrinfalcon  

    • unbelievable ok yeh its believable, really stupid idea kids are extremely resourceful, now jubal's idea dot sex that seems logical, the more the government pulls this crap the more peope will find was around it, work with the people not against them mr government man

    • 3 years ago
  • arcticspirit
    • 0
      arcticspirit  

    • You know my Aussie friends are of the happiest people I have ever known. they might get unhappy if that happened.

      But seriously, a my friend got in an accident and breaks his leg in 2 places, he's like:" it's alright mate, I have one good leg, 2 arms and jaws left, I can do anything." (have to imagine that with the correct Aussie accent)

      I thought it was in their DNA to be happy. I have never asked my guy friends about their porn habits. I just stay around them because they make me happy too.

    • 3 years ago
  • Danielmklopp
    • 0
      Danielmklopp  

    • I'm in Melbourne, Australia at the moment. What a freaking PITY. I didn't even hear about this. Oh wait, it makes sense now, I've been censored !!!!!!!!!!!!!

      Speak for those of us who cannot speak for ourselves !!!!

      Danielmklopp

    • 3 years ago
  • gforce1979
    • 0
      gforce1979  

    • I love Australia but is anyone suprised? This is a country that banned over 5,000 books (Animal Farm, Catcher in the Rye...you know the ones) until the 1950's. I don't mean banned from certain schools, but banned from entering the country at all.

    • 3 years ago
  • curiositykills68
  • HolyCity2012
  • poptart_invasion
    • 0
      poptart_invasion  

    • in the words of an australian (just so i dont get a lynch mob of men with khacki super-short shorts and irresistablely muscular legs outside my house)australia's been jumping on bandwagon issues that roll in from "real countries", and then blowing it out of proportion, for a long time now. too bad they put china on that list of countries.

    • 3 years ago
  • darkhorsejim
    • 0
      darkhorsejim  

    • The only "Firewall" the Land of Oz should seriously be focusing their resources on is how to protect their country from going up in flames & turning into a desert from climate change. It's sad that their leaders have their heads tucked snuggly up their own arses just like the U.S. when it comes to establishing agendas, setting priorities & accomplishing goals that will actually make noticeable & positive changes in most people's lives.

    • 3 years ago
  • BaggyBagBaggy
  • HolyCity2012
  • UWAZell
  • PrincessTiffany
  • Venizelos
  • HolyCity2012
    • 0
      HolyCity2012  
    • Venizelos:

      wrong, wrong and wrong...

      It is already in the works, It will not be long before the internet has the same style of generic content as cable television.

      All it takes is one single "terror attack" to change everything.

    • 3 years ago
  • Venizelos
    • 0
      Venizelos  
    • Venizelos:

      holycity, that is wrong.
      there have been all sorts of attacks and crazy things going on in the internet.
      privacy invasions, hacks of government websites, online suicide, child pornography, all sorts of illegal pics videos and other content.
      the internet simply cannot be cencored because its too big. there are too many people posting all the time. and they can do it anonymously.
      you simply can't censor its content because you can't watch EVERY website there is. some of the biggest "hubs" like 4chan, ebaums, YTMND are closely watched, the rest can't.

    • 3 years ago
  • HolyCity2012
    • 0
      HolyCity2012  

    • Here is video showing the supreme leader of
      Australia and a few says later his counterpart
      in Canada giving the SAME EXACT SPEECH in support
      of the US invasion of Iraq?

    • 3 years ago
  • kevinthedude
  • jubal
    • 0
      jubal  

    • Any attempts to censor the internet by a government is an oppression of free speech; period. I agree that porn access needs to be restricted, and that could be accomplished easily by setting up a new domain. Instead of using dot coms, they could use dot sex.

      www.porn.sex for example, all the porn sites would have the dot sex designation and any company operating a porn site using any other domains would be cutoff, while access to the dot sex domain would require a membership verification of age and legal right to view the restricted material.

    • 3 years ago
  • Trypnotik
    • 0
      Trypnotik  
    • jubal:

      Aint happening. One organization tried to create the .xxx TLD a couple of years ago. After all of the time and money they spent approving the TLD and creating the infrastructure, The White House passed some anti-obscenity thing that shut them down for good.

    • 3 years ago
  • jubal
  • Weepowopo
    • 0
      Weepowopo  

    • If the majority of the people on the web see nothing wrong with porn or political issues then why should the government care? It just does not add up. A the things the government will want to block will be things that the majority of the population do not take offense to.

    • 3 years ago
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  

    • Disgusting.

      Seriously, what is happening to our world? Did we all just simultaneously stop trusting each other? Or is this just U.S. policy creep?

    • 3 years ago
  • Alex_French
  • DoubleHeadedEagle
  • teddymafia
    • 0
      teddymafia  

    • I hope this is not true..

      Surely the government realises the best hackers Australia has produced were teenagers??

      Do they really think this will stop them from accessing what they want to see??

      It sounds like an excuse to sell the idea to the public or the policy makers really have no idea.. I just hope it is not true..

      The 12 Gig per month dowload limits are bad enough restrictions on Australian internet access.. Don't make it worse..

    • 3 years ago
  • subsecret
  • HolyCity2012
  • ninepounds6
  • phillyharper
  • J_Jammer
  • div
    • 0
      div  
    • J_Jammer:

      No, this is the world the citizens were duped into creating. We aren't told every little step by step what is going on before it happens, and sometimes we aren't even given a vote if we do know. Did we elect our leader? Yes. Did we expect them to screw us over? No. Does that excuse their behavior and decisions made just because they were elected? No.

    • 3 years ago
  • ii386
  • J_Jammer
    • 0
      J_Jammer [removed]  
    • J_Jammer:

      This world is a product of the citizens that are on it. The leaders exist because people promoted them and refuse to go against them strong enough to force change.

      However, even if that did happen then those that those citizens put in power would soon become the same.

      it's an endless cycle.

    • 3 years ago
  • tanyetta
    • 0
      tanyetta  
    • J_Jammer:

      not Citizens, but this is the world that people made. Not everyone can be a citizen but I know that everyone still has a say so in what people around them do, and also what they do. That is how we work!

    • 3 years ago
  • arcticspirit
  • petarro
    • 0
      petarro  

    • Do not fear my fellow American's. If such thing keeps happening an eventual, alternate Network will appear.

      How about if we start collecting money for the private satellites?

    • 3 years ago
  • InformedTexan
    • 0
      InformedTexan  

    • What happened to Australia being a democratic society? The government feels that the potential of porn pervasiveness is so dangerous that it has to forget the rights of its citizens - a dangerous feeling in itself as it can easy be precedent to many other right-trampling policies "ensuring safety."

    • 3 years ago
  • islek
    • 0
      islek  

    • I do believe that the Internet is full of sinkholes. Access to child porn, for example. How do people still manage that? That's the sort of policing I'd like to see more of.

    • 3 years ago
  • Saladin
  • islek
  • HolyCity2012
  • Johnny_Danger
  • cottenpicker
    • 0
      cottenpicker  

    • we are already under govt. control in the good ole usa. don't be so sure that there not monitering what is going on the web now. you say the wrong thing you go to often to a radical web site. you get tagged. don't think for a instance that they cann't read your post,edit your emails. BIG BROTHER IS HERE AND GUESS WHAT WE INVITIED HIM IN IN THE INTEREST OF SAFETY.

    • 3 years ago
  • grandinferno
  • abbym0308
more from Tech:
from the community

top videos