Category Archives: Internet-Censorship

Internet Censorship is the 21st century equivalent of burning books and it comes in many forms. While much of the focus is on nation state censorship my personal experience in dealing with the Anti-vaccination movement is that extremists from any faction will try to silence their critics. Everything from lawsuits to denial of service attacks. Enemies of the Freedom of Speech can get very creative.

Somebody Think of the Children!

I find it bizarre that the pro-filter mob have adopted the “Somebody Think of the Children” stance because in my opinion it should be the exact opposite. While I have no kids myself and would never want any in the first place. I do believe in protecting the rights and freedoms of the future generations. It seems appropriate to me that anyone who wants to protect children should be opposed to censorship in every way shape and form and be focused on upholding human rights, not suppressing them.

Surely any reasonable parent would want their child to grow up in a democratic society that upholds the freedom of speech and rejects totalitarian idealism that would see even the most fundamental human rights removed. We live in one of the greatest countries in the world and the freedoms we all take for granted only exist because of our modern democracy that allows the free exchange of ideas and information. The internet has played a primary role in enhancing our lives in recent decades not only because it gives us access to information but also because it allows us to contribute in return. The rise of the web 2.0 phenomena means that now everyone can contribute to the global conversation we call “The Internet” and only the most callous individuals would seek to silence it for there own ends.

So Conroy is it ok for the government to invade our privacy?

It seems that Conroy may be ok with privacy invasion so long as it’s the Government and not Google. Last week he accused both Google and Facebook of violating users privacy.

Speaking before a Senate committee hearing late on Monday evening, Conroy described Google as having committed the “single greatest breach in the history of privacy” by deliberately collecting private wireless data while taking pictures for its “Street View” mapping service.

He also had sharp words for Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, claiming that the latter had a “complete disregard” for users’ privacy. –The Registrer

However Conroy has raised no such concerns regarding the Governments intrusion into citizens private lives.

Australian customs officers have been given new powers to search incoming travellers’ laptops and mobile phones for pornography, a spokeswoman for the Australian sex industry says.

Fiona Patten, president of the Australian Sex Party, is demanding an inquiry into why a new question appears on Incoming Passenger Cards asking people if they are carrying “pornography”.

Patten said officials now had an unfettered right to examine travellers’ electronic devices, marking the beginning of a new era of official investigation into people’s private lives. –The Age

To be fair perhaps Conroy just hasn’t gotten around to commenting yet. But there seems to be a worrying trend that the government can “Do no harm” while the rest of us require constant control.

Internet access a Human Right?

There is little question the “freedom of speech” is a human right, but what about the tool that enables that right?

A study conducted by the BBC has concluded that as many as four out of every five people believe that access the Internet is a fundamental Human Right. I for one agree with them. The Internet has given our society a level of freedom unmatched by any other revolution in history and it is no surprise that the governments of the world fear there citizens newfound freedom, especially if they are addicted to power and authority. (I’m looking at you China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Australia)

Almost four in five people around the world believe that access to the internet is a fundamental right, a poll for the BBC World Service suggests.

The survey – of more than 27,000 adults across 26 countries – found strong support for net access on both sides of the digital divide.

Countries such as Finland and Estonia have already ruled that access is a human right for their citizens.

International bodies such as the UN are also pushing for universal net access. -BBC News

With the governments of the world fighting to control and limit their citizens speech and access to information I believe we are on the verge of a new revolution. If we wish to keep our freedoms and uphold our democracy we must fend off every attack against the tool that enables them, starting with the Australian Governments Internet Censorship. So long as there are power hungry tyrants with no respect for Human Rights we will need to continue defending our Internet from such attacks or risk a long downhill slide towards totalitarianism.

Senator Conroy involved in more secret meetings with special interest groups.

As if Senator Conroy’s previous secret meeting with the the Australian Christian Lobby has not already caused plenty of controversy the minister is at it again holding secret meeting with special interest groups.

This time Conroy has gone snow-skiing with Seven’s billionaire owner Kerry Stokes. Innocent enough at first glance, why shouldn’t he be able to have a social life after all. But when he later announces huge huge benefits for TV networks, that’s more than just a little suspicious.

The meeting came a month before the Victorian-based Senator Conroy cut licence fees paid by Seven, Ten and Nine for the next two years, depriving the Government of about $250 million in revenue.

The decision was controversial because Senator Conroy said it was to protect Australian content – but it included no binding requirement for the networks to spend the money on Australian content.

Instead, it went directly to their bottom line.

Both Mr Stokes and Senator Conroy refused to say what was discussed.

–News.com.au

This is the same Senator who argues that the Government Censorship Regime will have propper oversight, the same department that has exemption from Freedom-of-Information requests. The minister has also called for a Piracy Code of Conduct.

The biggest problem for copyright holders at present is that they can’t easily access the contact details of people who are caught pirating content through protocols like BitTorrent, which advertise their IP address, but nothing else. ISPs do not give up the details of which customer was using what IP address at particular times without a court order.

–APCmag.com

One of the key concerns about the Government having the authority to control content and speech on the Internet is that special interest groups will be lining up to have there personal distastes eradicated, in fact they already are. Do big media already have Conroy feeding out of their hand because it sure seems that way.

Can we really trust a man who looks after special interest groups at the expense of everyone else? What shenanigans will Conroy be upto next?

 

Australian Christian Lobby urges supporters to thank Conroy for ‘protecting kids’

Three simple quotes to accompany my ideology.

I found the following quotes that accompany my ideology of freespeech.

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. –Evelyn Beatrice Hall

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. –George Washington

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. –Benjamin Franklin

 

 

 

Who has the right to speak?

Do Neo-Nazi’s, White Supremacists or Jihadist Muslim groups have the right to free-speech?

In my opinion they absolutely have the right to speak no matter how hateful or offensive their speech may be. However that does not mean I have to agree with them nor lend them my platform to speak from. However if I do not respect their right to freespeech then I cannot reasonably expect society to respect my right to freespeech in return. It is not alway’s easy to defend the rights of people that we so thoroughly disagree with but supporting those rights does not mean we have to agree with them and can in turn exercise our own rights when we speak out against opposing view points.

When we deny free-speech to one particular group of people we eradicate the justification for our own and the downward slide towards totalitarianism begins. First we block the neo-nazi’s then the white supremacists and who’s next, Atheist’s? we do have allot of religious politicians so is it really that far fetched to expect that Atheist websites may one day find their way onto the blacklist.

 

Who is going to decide what should or should not be added to the blacklist? What if the person adding sites to the blacklist has an opposing opinion to that of your own, what if they are a Muslim and you are a Jew, what if they find violent video games offensive but you enjoy playing those games, what if you hate opera but they love it. This list is potentially limitless, the Human race is so diverse that any attempt to have a Human decide what is or is not desirable content is a complete failure of logic. The blacklist is inherently flawed due to the vast differences in interest and opinions within Human society.

 

Censorship is cumulative it may well start by blocking only the “worst of the worst” but is it really that hard to imagine a gradual expansion of the list, especially with all the special interest groups lobbying like crazy to have their personal dislikes added? I find it especially alarming, although not surprising that the Australian Christian Lobby has been very pro-censorship and has an especially powerful influence over religious politicians. This is demonstrated by the fact that Senator Conroy, a Catholic provides the Christian Lobby with special privileges.

 

This is only the beginning of Australia’s landslide towards totalitarianism.

Censorship in Australia: A quick overview.

This is just a brief over view of a critical situation that affects all Australian citizens please check the link the the bottom of the page.

 

As some of you may or may not know the Australian government is planning to introduce Mandatory Internet Censorship here in Australia, similar to that used by China, North Korea and Saudi Arabia. We will be the first Western “Democracy” in the world to have such a system.

Here are a few known facts.

 

  • No other Western Democracy in the world has mandatory Internet Censorship

 

This filter will set an incredibly dangerous precedent for the future by providing future governments and corporations with a powerful weapon against free-speech.

 

Click Here To Find Out What You Can Do

or Read More about censorship in Australia.