Internet 'Filtering' in Australia

The government said Tuesday it will introduce legislation next year for the 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.

This is the bane and boon of the topic. Furthermore, there are multiple topics in this event to argue.

As usual the children are used as the proverbial damsels in distress that need to be saved and TPTB are stepping in to do the job. Limiting what kids can get access to on the internet, radio and television is really the job of the parents.

Accompanying this 'filtering' is the concern that unwarranted material may be censored. This could allow governments to censor sites that try to convey truth to the masses. If caught they could claim it was a program fault of the 'filtering' program. This type of censorship was tried before and failed to function properly.

"I tried to get on ATS but it kept telling me it is a blocked site..."

In the United States, Pennsylvania briefly imposed requirements for service providers to block child pornography sites, but a federal court struck down the law because the filters also blocked legitimate sites.

Add to that that this system fails to really take care of the problem...

Such material is already banned from publication on Australian sites, but the government currently has no control over it being accessed on servers overseas.

Any 'filtering' (a.k.a. censoring) of materials is a form of control. It is a way to let others do your thinking for you. While I am not a citizen of Australia, nor is my post meant to be an attack or insult on their way of life, I am concerned that this type of thing could end up in my own back yard sooner then later.

Thoughts?

Source

This really just reminds me of schools blocking websites back in high school. It did good to keep the majority of kids off facebook and myspace and porn and all that, but those determined enough were able to find a way around it. Even if this is imposed in Australia, which I would be extremely disappointed and even slightly scared to see, I have faith that people would find ways around it. A computer is as smart as the person using it and all that.

okay... i hate to be "that guy" that posts something weird, but is anyone else thinking web bots? Australian internet censorship? i don't necessarily believe it, but it's interesting that this matches up.

does anyone agree?

sorry if i am "that guy" this time