Welcome to websites being blocked in Australia

An interesting article today in the news paper, sadly I don't think its going to get the attention it deserves.

www.news.com.au...

MORE than 1200 websites were accidentally blocked after ASIC tried to bar access to a fraudulent website.

Ok you say, so a few websites didn't work. But, that's not the point of this.

The website of independent learning organisation, Melbourne Free University was blocked for six weeks, during which time it had no recourse to find out why, its co-founder Jasmine Westendorf said.

The university said it was informed by its ISP Exetel that its website had been blocked by Australian authorities. "The Attorney General's office, ACMA, and the AFP all said they weren't involved but they still couldn't or wouldn't give us any information about why we were blocked," she said.

Senator Conroy issued a statement on Wednesday night confirming that ASIC had begun requiring ISPs to block suspected fraudulent websites.

Here is the most critical statement in the news piece

ASIC said it had exercised the power extended to it by the Telecommunications Act "numerous times over the past nine months".

lets go back a few quotes

The university said it was informed by its ISP Exetel that its website had been blocked by Australian authorities. "The Attorney General's office, ACMA, and the AFP all said they weren't involved but they still couldn't or wouldn't give us any information about why we were blocked,

See the point?

The Government now has the ability to instruct ASIC to block certain websites under the ''fraudulent'' banner, without having to give any information into how, why or who.

It took 6 weeks

The website of independent learning organization, Melbourne Free University was blocked for six weeks

for them to allow access to this legitimate study website

It was only because the university was able to mobilise groups like The Greens and Electronic Frontiers Australia to investigate on its behalf that it was able to get any answers, Ms Westendorf said.

I had a look for the act: www.oaic.gov.au... but found jack.

.. what happens if they accidentally say ATS is a fraudulent website and ASIC blocks it.. 6 weeks later we finally get access, I doubt many here have the ability to get the Greens and Electronic Frontiers Australia to investigate every restricted website.

dangerous days ahead!

I agree ..this is another step towards a controlled and restricted internet.
The loss of personal privacy, and the freedom to live unmolested by government......devastating developements for us pleebs

This pack of Politicians we presently have in office are the worst pack of bottom feeders i have ever come across,they didnt like the way the media portrayed them so they also tried to muzzle them with failed legislation,they are all globalists every last one of them,problem is Australia is a very laid back sort of place and its going to get worse before it gets better at the end of the day you only deserve the rights your willing to fight for

Originally posted by stirling
I agree ..this is another step towards a controlled and restricted internet.
The loss of personal privacy, and the freedom to live unmolested by government......devastating developements for us pleebs

Deep web is the answer, it cannot be restricted.

reply to post by Agit8dChop

.. what happens if they accidentally say ATS is a fraudulent website and ASIC blocks it..

They can't do that!

Come over to the U.S. we'll 'save you'. (do you c the pic in my avatar? do u c how friendly we r?)

reply to post by Agit8dChop


5 words for you buddy, use a Virtual Private Network.

Problem solved I imagine, then you can look at what ever you wish without your governments draconian tactics being an issue. Works for me every time my ISP(Sky) try's to block TPB.

maybe somebody should call on anonymous to give your goverment a scare thats if they are for real whats ths secret signal again

Not like this is breaking the law. Every site has a ban list.

It's all at the soul discretion of the website owner/mods no matter the site or subject matter. Same goes for what the government censors in different areas of the world.

We in the US don't see Korean news unless it's from MSM right?

Nothing wrong with the AU government blocking sites that stir # up in their country.

Originally posted by andy06shake
reply to post by Agit8dChop

 

5 words for you buddy, use a Virtual Private Network.

Problem solved I imagine, then you can look at what ever you wish without your governments draconian tactics being an issue. Works for me every time my ISP(Sky) try's to block TPB.

edit on 17-5-2013 by andy06shake because: (no reason given)

And only $5 a month for 44,000 Random IP's!

Or use Opera Turbo mode, free of charge.

reply to post by luxthepoet


I have that blocked using IP2Country files on my website. I use IP2C like Peerblock, but for my website.

BTW OP'S SOURCE GIVES A POP UP FOR MALICIOUS SOFTWARE. W-32 type virus used for targeting ads and data mining. Not being a troll, just stating fact. Do not update your flash player when you get the pop up from the OP Source Website.

reply to post by Agit8dChop


dark web / deep web & the onion browser fixes all attempts of filtering your I/net viewing !

reply to post by billy565


We are on our way.. NOT !!! LOL.

reply to post by TruthSeekersRUS


"And only $5 a month for 44,000 Random IP's!"

In point of fact you don't even need to pay the $5 since the free version works just fine!

Originally posted by maxrockerfella
reply to post by Agit8dChop

 

dark web / deep web & the onion browser fixes all attempts of filtering your I/net viewing !

I don't recommend going down this road unless you are tech savvy, to many nasty things you can catch if you get my drift.

Originally posted by TruthSeekersRUS
BTW OP'S SOURCE GIVES A POP UP FOR MALICIOUS SOFTWARE. W-32 type virus used for targeting ads and data mining. Not being a troll, just stating fact. Do not update your flash player when you get the pop up from the OP Source Website.

edit on 17-5-2013 by TruthSeekersRUS because: (no reason given)

I'm not sure whether to be surprised or not that a MSM news website wants to install a virus...

So it looks like they went ahead with their internet filtering anyway.

reply to post by Agit8dChop


I remember when this was being considered, and then when it was passed.

Unfortunately, Australia is not the free, liberal and democratic nation it pretends to be. I have a family member who moved to Sydney a few years ago, and now she's planning to come back to the UK because she's seen the country becoming more right wing and less free since she emigrated.

Over the last couple of years there have been numerous violent assaults on protesters by police, in both Melbourne and Sydney. There is video evidence of both police forces using excessive violence and force against peaceful protesters at the Occupy movement events.

There have also been cases of homophobic abuse at the hands of police in Sydney, with this years Mardi Gras severely affected by intimidation tactics and recorded police abuses. One young man was assaulted by police officers at Sydney Mardi Gras and other officers then tried to prevent evidence from being recorded. Other attendees reported similar instances of police brutality, being violently tackled and restrained before being arrested for "unspecified crimes". There were even reports of police conducting strip searches of crowd members, with unspecified reasons, and intentionally using that threat against crowd members as some form of humiliation.

Australia might look nice and sunny, but it's certainly not the beacon of diversity and tolerance they like to pretend it is to tourists.

I recall when these internet blocking measures were suggested, there were people attacking it saying that it was just the start and once it was passed there would be more powers added and less accountability - until the state had total control of what the people were allowed to see.

Even though this was denied, that is clearly what has happened. There is no accountability, no explanations and no recourse for those affected.

There is now nothing to stop the government or a regional authority from blocking something in an effort to silence political thought or expression, prevent discussion and debate, silence news or force moral opinions onto the public.

People rightly accused the Australian government of applying the methods of a dictator and using a hammer to crack a nut, and those critics have now been proven right.

If you think this is limited to just a few countries, think again. At the same time the USA and UK were drawing up plans for internet controls, and much of Europe was doing the same. All of these seemingly independent plans were very similar, in fact they could have almost been copied from one nation to another. They were all pushed into the public arena in all these countries at the same time, coincidentally not long after the first economic protests began in Greece and the Icelandic government was forced from office!

This was a concerted effort by global governments to steal control of the internet away from the people in order to prevent then from being a target of protest and revolution. It is being done because they know that they have no control of the public discussion when it's happening on the internet.

Political leaders know that the economic collapse is far from over, and that the hole we are now in cannot simply be filled with austerity measures and increased taxes. The USA could run all their printing presses for the next ten years, tax every citizen 100%, and stop all spending on everything from military to medical programs, and they would STILL not fill that debt hole in 50 years.

They cannot fix the economic problems they have created, and they know that protest is coming.

reply to post by Agit8dChop


All these website blocks do is to make normal law abiding people into 'criminals' as they adapt their computers, browsing habits and computer skill to circumnavigate them.

I'm sure that most people won't stop using their favourite websites if they are blocked, they just upgrade themselves in whatever way they can, I know I will.

reply to post by Rocker2013


Firstly, we are not under continuous 24 hour surveillance, nor do we have strange street signs being erected in any major city centre, see this, www.abovetopsecret.com..., so overall then, probably a shintengas load more freer than you and others, if you’ll pardon the grammar.

As for any lack of freedom, well, I live mostly in the bush so good luck with restricting any of that.

The police forces in this country have and continue to have a demonstrated capacity for corruption and clear criminal intent. While I suspect the vast majority of all forces are blind to this reality, I’d suggest that the shenanigans going on here are, in general terms, ” fully gay” with respect to the malarkey going on elsewhere. I’d say a brief review of ATS threads over the last couple of years relating to police brutality should give you a clear perspective.

As for the interweb and the blocking of websites , well, that’s what you get when your living in a technocratic nanny state. For all you university educated people out there who think your just a cut above the rest, I mean you. We’re all entitled to our opinions; some just can’t keep it to themselves and, subsequently, develop a sense of righteousness that gets us to where we are now.

Protest. What?. Don’t you feel complicit in the dealings that got you to where you are, or were you perhaps a “sheeple”, suddenly awoken to the fact that the flock was full pelt toward the cliff and now you’re “awake” or whatever that whole thing is, good luck with that one.

Getting back to the OP, I'll quote myself, "that’s what you get when your living in a technocratic nanny state".

Regards
Myselfaswell