CANBERRA, Australia - December 15, 2009 - On Tuesday, the Australian government said it will introduce legislation next year for a filter system to help protect Australians, especially children, from harmful material on the Internet. Critics say it will not prevent determined users from sharing such content, and could lead to unwarranted censorship by overzealous officials.
The report goes on to say that the mandatory system would make Australia “one of the strictest Internet regulators among the world’s democracies.”
Dubious honor.
Governments take away your freedoms with a smile and an iron fist. It’s easier that way.
Those slower on the uptake won’t catch on until they sign onto their computers one day and can’t find what they were seeking.
By then, it will be too late.
Communication Minister Stephen Conroy said the government would be transparent in compiling its blacklist of web sites, but he did not give any details.
Of course not.
Governments always promise transparency - usually behind closed doors or without those annoying “details”.
It’s much easier to prevent government from taking away your freedom and liberty than to recover them.
That’s a useful thing to keep in mind, whether the issue being debated is a health care plan with jail time for the non-compliant or proposed Internet restrictions by “regulation czar” Cass Sunstein.
The government will go only as far as it is allowed; politically or otherwise.
The report goes on to say that the mandatory system would make Australia “one of the strictest Internet regulators among the world’s democracies.”
Dubious honor.
Governments take away your freedoms with a smile and an iron fist. It’s easier that way.
Those slower on the uptake won’t catch on until they sign onto their computers one day and can’t find what they were seeking.
By then, it will be too late.
Communication Minister Stephen Conroy said the government would be transparent in compiling its blacklist of web sites, but he did not give any details.
Of course not.
Governments always promise transparency - usually behind closed doors or without those annoying “details”.
It’s much easier to prevent government from taking away your freedom and liberty than to recover them.
That’s a useful thing to keep in mind, whether the issue being debated is a health care plan with jail time for the non-compliant or proposed Internet restrictions by “regulation czar” Cass Sunstein.
The government will go only as far as it is allowed; politically or otherwise.