Internet filtering: Listen to the people

Senator Conroy has just announced that the Labor government is green-lighting a plan to censor all Australian internet traffic with a mandatory ISP-level internet filter. Kevin Rudd’s election promise was that the filter wouldn’t be mandatory, and this backflip has dramatic consequences.

rage Internet filtering: Listen to the people

How many complaints does a government need before listening to the people they represent?

Over 120,000 Australians have opposed this scheme including industry experts and even child protection groups (with child protection being the main argument for the filter). When it comes to realtime complaints, this Twitter search is averaging a complaint per minute right now! Many people have tried to make their voice heard over the past year, from meeting with their local MPs and Senators all the way to crowdsourced phone bombing campaigns! Google Australia is behind this protest too and has particularly taken issue with the ambiguous scope of the filter.

What is scary is that the censorship doesn’t stop at the filter, but is also present in the public justification for the filter. In an even more shocking move, the Department has indicated that it may not publish all submissions, singling out submissions made by individuals using online tools like the Getup campaign (that now has over 120,000 signatures on this issue).

As Labor Senator Kate Lundy acknowledged in her post My thoughts on the Filter, the government has been supporting some really progressive projects such as the National Broadband Network, the Gov2.0 Taskforce, the Govhack Hack Day events, and more. Why then must they persist with a filter that not just lacks public support but has seen massive opposition?

As Silicon Beach’s Elias Bizannes says, it seems there is little we can do now but sit back and watch.

By Ross Hill - December 18th, 2009 at 11:31am with 722 views -

Related posts:

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  3. The Rudd Filter Has Been (Phone) Bombed
  • This issue is an interesting one, in that after the NBN community consultation, the expectation is that the government should consult the people in a similar forum for all future issues that might raise an eyebrow.
    Lundy and gov are also struggling with how to engage with the people on the new social media platforms, where unfortunately, emotional noise can drown out rational debate.
    Government also needs to be authentic for social media to work for it, and whether backroom deals can coexist with a social engagement communication policy is yet to be determined. In an emerging era of transparency and accountability, I have my doubts.
  • I'm not suggesting that the community needs to be consulted for everything, because that would not be practical or functional. There does need to be increased transparency (and accountability as a ripple effect) though - and that transparency will lead to more authenticity and better results for the people.
  • Ben
    I am not sure I like where this is going. And I don't see the opposition being opposed so it would most likely go through. It's a deal done for either personal/religious views. Linking it to kiddy porn etc just makes it emotive. Again I can see no logical explanation other than religious/moral stuff and the long term consequences once implemented are scary.
  • Surely future governments will be able to reverse it though? I see it as a huge waste of effort and resources that could be focussed on so much more effective projects, like the gov2.0 taskforce and NBN!
  • I agree. Considering the wide publicity of technical, practical, and ethical issues with the propose filter, it's hard not to see it as a kind of Security Theatre based on the false premise that it's better to do (and be seen to do) so something/anything than nothing.

    Of course this doesn't take into account the cost of having to work around (of fix) a bad decision, as this cost is not borne by the instigator, but rather the end user.
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