Internet Censorship Clampdown Begins In One Month In Australia
A new wave of “restrictions” on mobile phone content, websites, chatrooms and message boards will be introduced in Australia by late January, 2008.
Do you like the way this has been announced only days before Christmas, and will be in place by the time most Australians return from their Christmas holidays? Surely, it’s just a coincidence?
The first push in this new wave of censorship of Australian internet content begins with what may well prove to be a ‘trojan horse’ of sorts - the almost unanimously supported push to keep children from viewing “unsuitable material”.
You are supposed to immediately think of child pornography, or graphic adult pornography, but the censorship regime is wide open to interpretation. For example, “violent imagery” also falls under these news bans. It doesn’t simply mean photographs of children being abused or raped. It also means imagery that shows the results of acts of violence. War violence, for example. The censorship body in Australia has already tried to ban imagery from a video game that showed two animated android-like women kissing, and backed down to widespread outrage and mockery.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) will be able to force content providers to take down offensive material and issue notices for live content to be stopped and links to the content deleted.
But ACMA chairman Chris Chapman said adults will not be affected by the new laws.
Of course not. Not yet, anyway.
“In developing these new content rules, ACMA was guided by its disposition to allow adults to continue to read, hear and see what they want, while protecting children from exposure to inappropriate content, regardless of the delivery mechanism,” Mr Chapman said in a statement.
Providers of live services, such as chatrooms, must have their service professionally assessed to determine whether its “likely content” should be restricted.
And what if you are a one man chatroom operator who can’t afford what is likely to be very expensive “professional assessment”? You won’t allowed to operate your business online.
Earlier this year, The Orstrahyun reported on moves to censor online content that is deemed, by the government censor, to be supportive of terrorism, or supplies information on how to carry out acts of terrorism. President Bush tells us we must read what Osama Bin Laden has to say to understand the threat of terrorism, but the Australian internet censorship body will be moving to stop you from getting access to that kind of information. Which must also mean you can forget about reading histories of Jewish terrorists fighting for the establishment of Israel, and the history of the IRA.
The new censorship regime for internet content was introduced by Howard government in September, and emulates the steel fist approach used by China. More on that here.
Back to the current story :
Personal emails and other private communications would be excluded from the new laws and so would news or current affairs services.
Is that all news and current affairs services, or just the ones approved by the government censor?
The censorship of website content will begin with tough restrictions on access to pornography and “violent images”, but the temptation will be strong to broaden the scope of what material is deemed to be unsuitable for under-18s. Or what should not be available online to Australian web surfers at all.
Pornographic images of children are clearly unacceptable to all Australians, but what about an image of children torn apart by NATO bombs in Afghanistan?
Will a particularly feisty message board about government corruption or filled with commenters voicing great displeasure at the ‘War on Terror’, with lots of swearing, fall under the censor’s blanket bans and restrictions?
Not yet.
But what about six months from now?
And what happens when independent internet media in Australia start pulling the same sort of visitor numbers as the mainstream media news sites?
This is already happening in the US, where sites like Crooks & Liars and PrisonPlanet, on a good day, can pull the same volume of readership as CBS News. Will the mainstream media work behind the scenes to freeze out the new competition? Will they push for tighter censorship and restrictions that makes it all but impossible for the independents to remain in business?
The use of the extremely distressing issue of child pornography is the beginning of the widespread censoring of internet content in Australia. It remains to be seen just how far this new censorship will go, or how far independent media and bloggers will allow it to spread before they start fighting back. Just saw this on prisonplanet.com, and wanted to post as we have some Aussies here and they might find this as news or something interesting.
source: prisonplanet.com
sux for all u aussies, next they’ll make u wipe n wash before n after u use ur pc
hahahah owned…. hope it doesn’t move to other country (most unlikely) but it already happened in Japan
Kevin Rudd FTW. You voted him in guys!
sooner or later everything will be controlled
end of the world.
guess u no learn read properly busdriver…
it said this was passed by the howard government before the election (september)…
Lol. I feel sorry for Australia. What a major blow to everyone.
The internet is supposed to be democratising. This is ridiculous. It is going to do more harm than good in the long run, why can’t they just see this?
Don’t worry. That’s what hackers are for. Somehow, there’ll be ways past this. Thank god for Ub3r G33k5.
this is unbelievable. this sounds like communist china. i thought australia is pro-freedom like america?
isnt this just that optional Internet filter that parents can obtain well reading it seems exactly like that. i dont think our net will end up like some middle eastern country..
i dont think it is being forced onto people well it better not!
use the “more” option ?!
Aussies, where are your lawyers/professors/civil society/universities/press/Freedom of the press advocates/anti-trust lobbyists etc etc? Here in Canada we have Michael Geist, a prominent law professor spearheading net neutrality and has had some success. In the US, more and more stories are popping up about universities fighting the RIAA and federal judges inquiring into their methods. In the EU, M$ is getting taken apart peice by peice. For the last year, I have been reading article after article of Austrailian rights to information and privacy shot to sh*t and not a single international-worthy news article about someone who’s actually trying to stop the bastards from f*cking you sideways!
I hope this doesn’t ever affect New Zealand.
I blame world trade organization.. its a conspiracy.
@ busdriver
if you read the article, it was johnny howard who put the proposal through, please read before posting.
they alreadly closed msn chatrooms in new zealand so i hope this doesnt affect us
This could start a whole new internet meme:
“In Soviet Australia, [blank] [blanks] you!”
LOL @ the great nation of Australia and the Australians comment on China where the internet it seems will soon be more open.
You people have no idea what you’re talking about Communist China bla bla bla. Please spare us your government propaganda as none of you claiming China is communist have ever been HERE (yes I’m in China) and internet censorship is meaningless as those who know what a proxy is use one.
No disrespect to any Australians reading this however you guys will soon only hear good news about your government who will then reform the constitution to allow the prime minister to serve life long. Then you will be given the good news that all media have been shut down bar the ones endorsed by the government. Finally you will wake up to a society as described in 1984.
Once upon a time people cared, now people are too lazy and brainwashed and the tragedy is that this isn’t a problem faced by Australia but the entire world.
I’m not sure how to take this. The governments (there has been a recent change for those outside Aus) have talked about a content filter available to all parents under the guise of protecting children. I had always been led to believe this was in the form of opt-in filtering software to be deployed at the individual PC level as desired, although admittedley there hasn’t been a lot of detail that I have seen. At that level it’s a bit of a non-issue for me as I believe you have the capability & responsibility to do this for yourself according to your individual circumstances. Thus I saw this more as an election driven attempt to hit the heart string with parents in the electorate who were concerned about the “dangerous” internet etc.
If this instead is a thin edge of censorship wedge then we should be naturally outraged and be organising a concerted protest to our elected members.
Does anyone reading this thread have realiable information about this initiative …? I’m heading off to the political parties for policy statements that I hope are freely available.
Let’s make an isolated utopia together!
I honestly don’t think the majority of us australians will even see the effects of this so called ‘clampdown’. The focus will be on domestic content providers (.com.au) only and what they are allowed to display. Its not like they are filtering content thru the ISP’s.
I’m Australian and not at all worried about this. People don’t seem to be thinking about the good that this could do, they’re just thinking “OMG Government’s out to get us!” conspiracy stuff. Being the 3rd best country in the world ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index#Top_fifty_countries_.28HDI_range_from_0.968_down_to_0.2C843.29 ), I doubt we’re headed down the communism path or anything akin to China. At the end of the day there’re always proxies. =|
“Pornographic images of children are clearly unacceptable to all Australians, but what about an image of children torn apart by NATO bombs in Afghanistan?”
I’m Australian and I’m more offended by a mutilated, dead child than a naked/sexing one. =/
“i thought australia is pro-freedom like america?”
No, we’re pro-freedom as in wanting freedom for all, not like the U.S.A..
“To be GOVERNED is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To be GOVERNED is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be placed under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed; then at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, vilified, harrassed, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed, and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonored. That is government; that is its justice; that is its morality.” -P. J. Proudhon
another attempt by the government to sugar coat reality, & keep the wool over our eyes.
while this statment is true; “Pornographic images of children are clearly unacceptable to all Australians” & im all for that, but feel this is nothing more than a bureaucratic doorway to remove other freedoms. the real culprits will always find a way around ths sort of thing, while the average joe will be the one left to suffer.
This is concerning, thanks for the information. I wonder how this will affect us everyday surfers. I also wonder how they will inforce this, if this is some kinda of software that is given to schools etc i have no problem with it, but it users at home can’t read etc what they want cause its at a ISP level, then thats not acceptable.
Thank you #23
MR. X,
Props for posting a Prisonplanet article, great website for the open minded but not for the those whom are weak and easily persuaded by fear. If “The Scene” keeps up the way it does how can a “government” of any country or sort expect to stay on top of the fullness of the independent internet news publications, be it chatrooms or message boards even blogs. You cannot stop what needs to be said, what MUST be said, \\what the PEOPLE have to say//
Thats a Bloody outrage it is…
I wonder where censorship will stop in Australia, when there is nothing left to read/see, or will they still allow all the pro rudkipz propaganda to be published.
@12, I’d like to see some action as well, but I think it comes down to someone not having the cash and the balls to stand up.
Australian ISPs have been blocking content for years.
It is also illegal for the ISP release the information about which content they are required to block. This is mostly at the Newsgroup end of the market again kiddy and sick stuff under alt.binaries.blah.blah.blah, but my point is this is nothing new.
This current push will be OP-in net nanny type software which will be free to every home that wants it.
Personally I know what my kids are doing when they are on the NET so it’s not a huge issue in our house.
@26
Prisonplanet IS a site for those easily persuaded by fear.
Think about it.
as long as it’s opt in, im fine.
Anything more than that is a waste of money/time.
yeah ive been doing some reading this is to do with the optional filter. unless the sneaky gits have actually pulled a sneaky new trick on us but i doubt it and no ISP would be stupid enough to support full on soviet russia styled censorship, just think of all the abusive calls and who knows what other type of fallout the ISPs will get when many people can no longer access most of their favourite forums and not to mention all those who search for pr0n!
either way if they keep trying to censor everything all the people need to do is threaten to not vote for their local MP in the next election, you’ll be surprised how effective that can be..
ill keep searching for more news about this subject to see if what i have just typed is actually honest!
The words “child abuse” are, like “terrorism”, a free pass to do anything governments want. Of course I don’t condone kiddy porn, but neither do I go bonkers about it. It’s one of those ugly things in the world I can do nothing about.
Unless people can’t handle freedom of speech, there should be no censorship. Especially not on the internet, where everbody CHOOSES FOR THEMSELVES to view certain content. If Australia gets away with this, I think many governments will at one point follow. They’ve always wanted to control the internet, even though the can’t.
This sounds like an Australian version of the Patriot Act.
I’m sure this will somehow be construed in the media by American liberals as the evil work of George W. Bush.
Japan, Australia, USA, UK….,
It WILL happen, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it cos the world is run by a facists. Pure and simple
Do some freedom fighting and take controle over your government? Demonstrate - throw bricks in the streets - do something!
Good post, BlackPlastic
It’s a parents job to know what their children are doing and to keep them safe.
If a parent allows their child to use the internet without some kind of content blocker and/or moderation then they either have trust that their child can handle certain things or just don’t care.
It seems too extreme to try to regulate/moderate the internet because a child may view the content.. the moderation should be in the child’s computer or household and not the internet.
I’m talking about violent images and things some people find obscene not about illegal things obviously.
@13 I hope not too. Might go to the airport and tell any ocker that comes thru to get back on the plane (no offence to the rest of the aussies that are sane)
when china does it, it”s called “communism and display of dictatorship”…. when a western country does the same, it’s called “for the best interest of your child.”
and the majority of the sheep in western society (who are more brainwashed than anyone on this planet) actually buy it.
Well i just read BlackPlastic’s post and if it’s just making sure kids can download adult content on phones thats not a big deal. but if a kid has a phone his parents should know about it and maybe when the phone could be locked from adult content
About subscription sites offering adult content i say the parents should make sure their kids don’t have subscription to a adult site and the adult site should require verification a credit card is enough verification… if the kid is using a credit card to pay for adult content the card holder will know.
The great War of this century is between those who want to control the internet.
To control the Information is more important that everything else. Information is pure Power: to know what are people habits, more important than that… to know what peole think, ’cause when your surfing/donloading/uplading/buying/writing… you are expressing your thoughts.
So, imagine if all that information could be controled; 1984 would be a fary tale.
This news/*opinion piece*/whatever is a synthom that is growing all over the world and it is not compiracy. Gobalization also means controling the information and we are being controled.
This just proves that the government doesn’t know what their doing and is trying to police everything. Parents are responsible for this however most parents here are too slack and live on the dole while their high to care. If someone wants to bypass this new filter system they can with ease anyway.
Prison planet? Are you seriously quoting Prison Planet? They’re a bunch of psycho 9/11 “truthers” who need to have their heads examined.
“but what about an image of children torn apart by NATO bombs in Afghanistan?”
You sir, are a moonbat of the worst variety.
Meh, I’m not bothered i’m over 18! =D
and as for the banning of ‘terrorism sites’ i couldn’t care less, it’s not like i would willingly look up that stuff, why would anyone in Australia care about terrorism. Also I’m fairly sure that this filtering would just be an option, that ISP’s will HAVE to provide as a free option to clients that may want their internet filtered for whatever reason.
My 2 cents..
John, number 40, that’s why we left Europe and came to China. I have more freedom here than I did in the UK, which makes the UK more fascist and dictatorial than China and all the people in the Western world do is blindly swallow the propaganda poured down their throats.
An avalanche begins with very small events that cascade into a major catastrophe and the way governments are doing their best to censor the internet is simply another attempt at preventing us from seeing the truth.
Regardless of how significant this little law is, if expanded it can easily encompass everything from porn to independent news and other media and child protection is nothing more than a new method of control.
@45 cobra, “why would anyone in Australia care about terrorism”
Are you sure you’re over 18? Slightly blinkered opinion, doncha think?
Gotta love the paranoid, disillusion waffling that the internet is becoming the great facilitator of.
It’s not a free speech issue, it’s not a call to arms, it’s just another twit with too much time on his/her hands and the ability to use a keyboard.
I agree with BlackPlastic that RLS Log is better than this.
OMG im aussie
why does this crap always happen to meh lawl
thats a good move, i suport it fully
they should introduce this in the U.K too
I agree Kay. The porno on the internet is rampant and any child can simply click “yes, I’m 18″ when his parent’s aren’t looking. (The idea that every parent should be watching over his child’s shoulder while he goes on the internet every single time is ridiculous). If there were peep shows that allowed children to watch, people would be outraged. Yet, when a country finally decides to do something about internet porn, you get comments like the one above.
New World Order is comming!!
AJ Rules!
Good read, Prison Planet is also a website thyat everyone should check out, thanks for posting Mr. X, i honestly feel bad for australians, but it could be coming to the USA soon…
America isn’t for freedom, if you think that your in cloud cuckoo land.
It will be the same everywhere, the rich and the laws put in place to keep them rich will win every time, because people are just too gutless and apathetic to do anything about it!
they’re called governments for a reason - they govern: control, manipulate, etc. look up the word in any dictionary.
governments can’t look after your children. children deserve parents. lack of attention is abuse so don’t let the government persuade you to abuse your children. take the time to be a parent.
they know it won’t protect children. what bans have protected children so far? drug bans? weapon bans? and before the net kids looked at porn. i know i certainly did.
i suppose they think controlling and manipulating children’s thoughts is the best way to ensure that when they become adults they will think and behave as the government wants…instead of looking for porn they’ll be working hard for the economy. lol.
“The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.” - Edmund Burke
It’s not just Australia, Europe is on the same direction.
The 4th Reich is on it’s way, only this time you’re the Jews.
Read #35. There’s nothing to “feel bad” about. It’s a b0llocks article.
Prison Planet is a site full of bogus bogeyman scare material to keep conspiracy theorists happy. It’s simply a trashy newspaper site, like any tabloid newspaper.
If you believe everything you read on the intellinet, I feel sorry for you!
And I back up BlackPlastic by saying to RLSLog - please don’t post rubbish on the site!
It’s insulting - just look at all the hoo-ha in this post by people who believe that article, yet it’s a complete fabrication. Not a good look.
hmm… for a site like this that wants to “inform”, linking to information like this is pretty much mis-informing.
To misquote Dragnet - Just the facts man!
Even the communist’s have more rights now than we westerners think we do.
#22 Windir wrote:
“I’m Australian and I’m more offended by a mutilated, dead child than a naked/sexing one. =/”
You are sick & need help,I hope you don’t live anywhere near my suburb.
Denmark will NEVER have censorship. That i can promise you… 1. We are sane. 2. We have a REAL democratic society (look it up). 3. We would throw over the government, if it happened.
Just like the Ozzies, they ban this but encourage stuff like sheep-shagging, the 180 million odd sheep are being abused in that place, like the limey northern monkeys do in Yorkshire.
Eh!!!!!!!
I can’t wait for my mandatory RF implant, I won’t have to carry any money, I.D, or even any vestige of humanity. C’mon admit it; When you live in a world where the bad guys can be cut out of the loop by the flick of a switch, pretty soon we’ll all be cheering in the streets and aghast at our predecessors who couldn’t figure out the simple fact that all violence and crime in the world can be cured by our leaders and betters farming us poor deluded idiots.
Long live the multinationals and god bless the banks!
@12 Atlas
I would like to think you were right. As commented above (apart from ‘busdriver’) it was little Johnny who pushed this through (students of Aust politics will be aware that his party had an absolute majority in BOTH Houses prior to the election - and still does in the Senate until July 2008) - the man made Genghis Khan look positively Left wing. It is hoped that we (Australians that is) will get a better deal under Rudd, but there is still a worrying trend of increasing Right Wing / orthodox Christian puritanism - it’s what kept Johnny in power for so long (until the ‘don’t really care, they’re all w*****s anyway’ voters kicked JH out). America also shows a disturbing ‘moral majority’ preference - and I keep reading about new PC laws in EU. Seems the ‘let’s dumb everything down’ police are everywhere. Like the article says no-one has problems with banning child porn (well almost no-one) but these things spread to encompass things they were never intended to catch - or things which the proposers never admitted they wanted to catch.
@63, your an idiot! & a well misinformed one at that.
LOL, Mr.X posting another redundant post… BlackPlastic is 100% right… it’s not censorship, unless you wish to label sites like youtube as being censored just because you need to register to view the flagged content…
But as a side note, China actually has something to gain by filtering the internet, ie. steering their consumer population to chinese owned sites… no country wants to play fair with free trade, only the ones that can benefit from it…
Searles - December 23rd, 2007 | 09:03
“Lol. I feel sorry for Australia. What a major blow to everyone.”
I’m an Australian and I feel sorry for gullible Americans who read hysterical articles from PrisonPlanet.
Seriously, was this not in the “good news” section on that website? Compared to the ever pending total enslavement of mankind in concentration camps by the NWO it sounds downright great.
BTW, if a single person here can name a single Australian website they have ever visited for uncensored images of violence, you’re a liar. You haven’t.
There might be a law banning me from eating cheese from Turkjikisan. Much like this, that would effect zero people too.
Darq - December 23rd, 2007 | 18:52
“The 4th Reich is on it’s way, only this time you’re the Jews.”
Except there were Jews in Germany.
Have you not noticed the distinct lack of examples of websites this will effect?
The repeated posts from nobody claiming that “oh no this will mean I will no longer be able to see images like this on Austrlian-hosted sites like…. um…. er….. well….. um….. ”
Seriously, if you read PrisonPlanet, what ISN’T like Nazi Germany ?
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071223-australia-to-enforce-a-ratings-system-on-web-track-users.html
OMG if you are an Australian you will no longer be able to access all those Australian-hosted porn sites like…. um…. er….. well….. um….. nevermind.
Well said, BlackPlastic. Here here.
what do you expect?
australia has no educational standards. it’s just a place to have fun in the sun.
all the remotely intellectual people emigrate to england or the usa
the government and business are notoriously corrupt…don’t forget it is the homeland of rupert murdoch!
so of course there is no principled, educated opposition
Yes I read about these laws pre election and the Howard goverment knew nothing about the internet…even Broadband, claiming it was for gamers and porn watchers!
Our so called free market democratic system is in real danger of becoming what the cold war was all about…communism. Where the goverment can control our lives at there whim, by using a few fear based words…terrorism is the main one for the last few years.
We need to take away your rites to protect you. We need to film you where you go to protect you, we need to be able to tap your phone to protect you..
Yer ok.
Seems like the terrorist have won the battle already. wait maybe we should look to our own countries and not the middle east for the real terrorists!
This will just piss off us ‘normal’ people, while the pervs will find another way to bypass the ‘censorship’. Of course this ‘ban’ will be for the masses and not for government personnel and law enforcement.
Nice freedom you aussies got there. even the Chinese have more freedom than you now! LOL!
There’s no such thing as a free market…. thats what they WANT you to believe. Multi-billion dollar hand outs, tax breaks, nationalization….. that’s called intervention.
No wonder Howard got the boot. Sucks to be Oz.
A.Bundy: ” Nice freedom you aussies got there. even the Chinese have more freedom than you now! LOL!”
Idiot.
Aaron: “Where the goverment can control our lives at there whim, by using a few fear based words…terrorism is the main one for the last few years. We need to take away your rites to protect you.”
This is about stopping kids under 18 getting porn on their mobile phones, bringing that content in line with movie classifications.
I dare your stupid arse to come up with any angle to that which involves terrorism or your rights.
I trusted my government, and now I glow in the dark?