The Null Device

The Great Australian Firewall

Details have emerged of the Australian government's internet censorship scheme. Under the system, Australian internet users will be placed by default on a connection which filters out adult content, though will be able to opt out to a second feed, which only filters content which is illegal in Australia (which includes things such as video games unsuitable for children and advocacy of euthanasia, for example; Australian governments are rather fond of banning things, and the general public are apathetic enough to let them, leaving the puritanical wowsers of the socks-and-sandals brigade as the sole voice lobbying for policy):
“Users can opt-out of the 'additional material' blacklist (referred to in a department press release, which is a list of things unsuitable for children, but there is no opt-out for 'illegal content'”, Newton said.
“Illegal is illegal and if there is infrastructure in place to block it, then it will be required to be blocked — end of story.”
Online libertarians claim the blacklists could be expanded to censor material such as euthanasia, drugs and protest.
Of course, this isn't going to do much to help Australian internet speeds (already lagging behind the rest of the world; for example, a 2-megabit ADSL connection in Australia costs more than an 8-megabit one in the UK).

There are 4 comments on "The Great Australian Firewall":

Posted by: me Wed Oct 22 02:10:09 2008

get fucked. stupid goverment :@

Posted by: VERY ANGRY USER Thu Feb 19 09:58:52 2009

Don't know who's going to read this but what the government is doing is wrong. you know what? I am just gonna loose the internet i'm gonna save $50 a month and i wont feel raped by my own government and peers. The tech exists today that can monitor a politician 24/7 so we can tell if they go to a brothel, if they are fixing the books or break the law in any way at all. Because illegal is illegal and if there is infrastructure in place so we can watch the people in charge 24/7, then it will be required for the people of Australia — end of story. Its only what my peers would expect of me rite?

Posted by: tjs0067 Tue Feb 24 14:51:52 2009

Just another way the gov is FUCKING us over.

Posted by: James http://digitasia.wordpress.com Sun Jan 17 11:35:30 2010

It saddens me that western countries are critical of China's Great Firewall when they fail to practice what they preach. The Great Australian Firewall is just another example of western hypocrisy- and just another reason for China to rightly resent the west.