Australia trials national net filters

Australia trials national net filters

news.bbc.co.uk

The official watchdog, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has been conducting laboratory tests of six filtering products, and the government plans a live trial soon.

"Although the internet has opened up a world of possibilities and benefits for Australian children," noted communications minister Stephen Conroy when he announced his intention to police the internet earlier in the year, "it has also exposed them to continually emerging and evolving dangers that did not previously exist."

(visit the link for the full news article)

I thought this was only being rumoured, however, the article suggests live testing is going to be undertaken soon. This really peeves me off, how dare the government censor something like the internet.

These blockers are generally incapable of distinguishing between the good and the bad debates of illegal topics and generally wipe both out.

We are not China, we are meant to be a democratic nation with free speech. Free speech means that we are allowed to express ourselves online as much as we can offline.

The only way i see this being semi OK, is if the government offers FREE internet to Australian households, however, the catch is that they need to run this 'blocked' version. Let the normal ISPs give us 'normal' internet.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

You will find very little interest in your post...

There was a previous post about this already, and i voiced my opinion loudly of what is going to happen, and most just don't seem too phased about it.

I guess they will only start caring once they try to access the abovetopsecret website only to find they are not allowed to access it.

I don't know who to believe on this...I'd like to believe the Senator who claimed that the plan can be opted out of, but at the same time the scenario in which 2 Black Lists are introduced sounds more realistic, at least to me.

Even if this content restriction isn't mandatory, I'm afraid this creeping censorship cannot go anywhere good. Good luck to my Australian brothers and sisters.

lol! ATS is not on the filtered website list!

Originally posted by Th0r
lol! ATS is not on the filtered website list!

Yet...

Slippery slopes are don't appear to be a danger until you fall over the edge.

reply to post by Romantic Rights




What will irritate me the most is the fact that this firewall will slow down the internet by as much as 22%

We allready have such slow internet, and who is to say this little filter does not deem abovetopsecret innapropriate ?

In the end people will start using proxies to bypass the filter anyway, I stand with what i said...

If this goes through and we will have internet censorship I WILL CANCEL my internet service completely.

I can only hope that enough people get fed up enough with this to cancel theirs too, it would certainly send the govt and the isp's a clear message, if enough ppl did this they would remove the filter because too much money would be lost...

don't have any hope for that happening though.

reply to post by Th0r




it might not be on the list...

But it was shown that 10 000 out of every 1 000 000 websites gets blocked incorrectly, who is to say ATS with it's vast amount of topics don't get filtered out ?? it is a very big possibility.

Originally posted by Th0r
lol! ATS is not on the filtered website list!

can you give us a link to any list that shows all of the filtered web sites that are filtered in the US.

from my search of the US search engines there list are a closely held secret.

the clue is that none of the list have child porn sites listed.
if there list do not contain these sites (i agree that child porn sites should be listed) what else is filtered but not listed. i know that some racist sites are filtered from users in many countries.
how do we know what they filter if something you are looking for is filtered and you have not been able to find that subject.

there my be ATS type sites that are filtered and we would never know because they are not listed as filtered and no one has found them.

I also have a problem with google filters.
google changes my filter setting from off to filtered bout twice a month and i have to reset it just to do some of the medical research i do.


The really strange sites i have found are about 3 times a year i find completely encrypted sites. with encrypted photos. (automated IP address search that identifies and logs web sites [AIPS]).
The only way you can tell they are sites is the html sets to lay the page out are not encrypted

The encryption is in a AES/AESII / DES Encryption type.

It is my understanding that the child porn traders are now using encryption to hide there kiddy porn sites from the government and IP host.

[edit on 26-10-2008 by ANNED]

i knew we were going to lose our internet when i got a fail propoganda pamphlet in the mail under the guise of "protecting the children".

since when is it the governments job to do parenting?

if they really care about kids why do they permit the vile filth on early morning weekend TV; like the music charts which include material from "artists" such as usher promoting videos about having sex in nightclub bathrooms.
i remember while growing up they used to ban inapropriate videos.

i was shocked to overhear my 9yo niece singing VERY adult lyrics from the song "my neck my back" by khia

want to see porn? just turn on regular tv at night after prime time & you will see endless commercials on every channel peddling practically naked prostitutes, writhing in bed mocking same-sex acts, promoting sex text messages and obscene graphics for cellphones.

even the newsagents are displaying huge blowups of magazine covers; selling sex, out in public for every eye to behold.

and then theres the countless violent acts repeatedly bombarding viewers.

we, as a country need to reject the demoralising content.

GET RIGHT WITH GOD

Well the chances of this happening are very slim anyway. This is why;

Australia has a relatively high amount of internet traffic even though we only have roughly 7.2 million internet subscribers, with 1.5 million still on dial up.

Roughly 40% of internet subscribers have a connection Faster than 2Mbps (which is surprising really)

1, 500, 000 have a connection speed less than 256kbps

2, 555, 000 have a connection speed between 256kbps and 1.5Mbps

1, 444, 000 have a connection speed between 1.5Mbps and 8Mbps

1, 390, 000 have a connection speed between 8Mbps and 24Mbps

262, 000 subscribers have a connection faster than 24Mbps


Although the general consensus is we have a bad broadband network this is not true, what is bad is out connection to the rest of the world.

To put this in perspective for the month of June 2008 20, 971, 520 GB was transferred into Australia, yes that's only incoming traffic and yes that's 20 million GB a month.

This is where things get sad, from Dec2007 to Jun2008 Australia's monthly incoming traffic has stayed almost exactly on 20PB a month.

Every 1st world, 2nd world and almost every 3rd world country post a 20% to 25% increase in incoming traffic every 6 months. Yet Australia has not increased at all. Some reports are showing negative growth.

What does this all mean, well it means Australia is on the verge exceeding the limits of our international links.

So if this filter does indeed get implemented it's going to bottleneck our already struggling international links, this couldn't possibly come at a worse time, because this year, ever since the dawn of commercial internet, HTTP traffic has actually exceeded P2P traffic because of social networking sites and HQ flash video, Youtube alone accounts for 15% of the entire traffic on the internet! amazing.

So NO this filter will not happen, because inspecting every single http packet is simply an insane thing to do, almost, almost Impossible!

Originally posted by ANNED
can you give us a link to any list that shows all of the filtered web sites that are filtered in the US search engines there list are a closely held secret.

Someone at the ACMA did leak a 'draft copy' I can not link it to you sorry.

Before anyone asks me for links, or sources of what I have just posted it's as accurate as it can be, no one really knows for sure how much data is actually consumed by the internet, or countries. (except T1 backbone networks but they will never release raw data)

reply to post by Alucard Hellsing


Let me say this-As an Australian: If this censoring goes through I would happily burn the flag, fight for an army invading Australia and more to the point I will be leaving the place and shredding my passport (assuming I get another one)-this is far worse than anyone seems to realise.

Ruddy-boy may as well bend over, place his head between his legs and kiss his ass goodbye if this actually becomes the standard practice. There is no way Internet loving Aussie public is going to stand for this. The fact that it will porportedly slow down our internet is not on. Censoring it is DEFINATELY not on. I have high-speed broadband for a reason and if I get slowed down because of this there is going to be war I tells ya.

The pollies making these decisions are obviously not avid net users. They have no idea the impact this is going to have.

well I hope this still means that I can watch porn every so often lol........ Seems yet again Australia is the testing grounds for projects that will eventually make there way into the greater populace......

Not good at all....

You can shred your passport and go to another country, and then a couple of months down the line that country will do exactly the same thing...

Governments and corporations want the internet privatized and controlled, just like tv, this is what u pay, thi sis what u get.

Using the children as an excuse to filter the internet...don't make me laugh...


Go ahead and seach "world internet censorship" , and it will list all the countries wanting to have the internet censored or have done so already...

It's just a matter of time, it's real sad.

Originally posted by Disclosure Agent
well I hope this still means that I can watch porn every so often lol........

It is ludicrous.

Softcore pornography will be allowed under the proposed filtering but hardcore which involves viewing of penetration will be banned.

Online Casino's and Online Gambling is also illegal and would be blocked.

These are two of the biggest $$ makers..

Like I said above this filtering is not going to happen... so relax. seriously.

reply to post by Th0r


So what do u think is going to happen ?

I mean they have it all sorted, they are going ahead with a live test within the next few days, what makes you so certain they won't implement it completely ?

Originally posted by Alucard Hellsing
reply to post by Th0r

 

what makes you so certain they won't implement it completely ?

Because if the politicians know what's good for them, and want to be re-elected, then they will forget all about this.

Originally posted by Alucard Hellsing
what makes you so certain they won't implement it completely ?

Did you read my post above? I went into detail explaining why it is basically Impossible.

This is a political stunt, they may run some limited live test with some participating ISP. But it is all for show, if/when something horrible happens that can be blamed on the internet the current administration wants to appear like they tried to do everything they could to prevent it.

I will say, a blanket Tier 2 filter that is opt out and only blocks pornography sites could happen, but still I think it is unlikely, ISPs today are required by the Government to place pornography filtering if the subscriber requests it.

[edit on 26-10-2008 by Th0r]

reply to post by Th0r


Ah, ok, i get what your saying...political insurance of sorts..

That makes sense, and i rly hope you are right!