Group items tagged

Australian censorship laws reach a new level.

I'm not certain how this fits into the RC internet filtering, but by requiring artists to lodge a $500 application for expert appraisal to certify an image 'art' as opposed to any old image that is subject to child pornography laws, you implicity RC everything else.

Classic case of RC style censorship. Facebook presumably in response to a complaint but ... who knows.. removes all pictures of this woman happily breastfeeding her twins in a completely non sexual context yet allows many overtly sexual 'titty' groups to remain - with pictures. Grassroots campaign of support starting on twitter but as the originator says.. no major media interested! Many women are starting to collect instances of other breastfeeding photos and groups being 'disbanded', 'removed' or in Australian terms 'refused classification'.

"I think Google is gearing up to be potentially quite a formidable competitor to existing telcos and ISPs, given their moves into the infrastructure level," Warren Chaisatien, research director and principal analyst at Australian firm Telsyte, said. First they're making phones, now they're putting in the pipes.

A really interesting conversation thread on Slashdot about the US Government's concern over Australian ISP filter proposals, and Conroy's denial that his office has been contacted. Posters discuss net neutrality, US and Chinese interests, ACTA, practical realities of filter implementation etc.

this is a link to the Australian Government's Technology Policy Website.

The Internet is changing every seconds and obviously getting to be worriyng in some aspects. However, free access to information, free expression and participation, and thus free access to the world is now becoming narrowed due to govermental regulations and censorship. And who is going to decide which websites should be banned or not? It seems to be worried that increasingly soficiticated leak could be created by computer geeks to retrieve the freedom of the internet.

55 000 submissions have been received under the Australian Government's review on the introduction of an R18+ rating for games in Australia.

Informative and sometimes humorous tips for Australians who want to protest against the Government's proposed ISP filtering, including links to local members of parliament, senators etc. Note all the paid advertising from Optus on the site - taking a political position?

If you missed Abbott on Q&A last night the full transcript is here (http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s2859473.htm?show=transcript) or I've extracted the main bit about ISP filtering on my blog (http://logocopblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/facebook-v-isp-filtering-via-abbott.html). This article from the Oz also provides a good recap of Abbott's comments and some analysis...

Last Australian statisitcs available about Internet suscribers and types of connexions. Main evolutions are pointed out. For instance, mobile wireless is the fastest growing technology in internet connections, increasing to 2.8 million in December 2009. This represents a 40% increase from June 2009.

Evidence that it really isn't hard to bypass an ISP filter. This provides a walk though so if you didn't know how - now you do

Founder of the infamous Australian Whirlpool Forums Simon Hackett outlines five points about the impending government ISP level filter. Interesting as it highlights the gap between the governments ideals for online family security and the realpolitik for control.

Google shows in this maps the requests that different governments have done to remove contents from their services, including the Australian government. A more than respectable effort on transparency.

Google says that this is very much a trial and they don't give details about the requests, mainly all 'legitimate', in the interests of maintaining debate out about internet governance. The site however is launched the same day that 10 governments officially complain to Google about privacy breaches and lack of general accountability, mainly in relation to maps and buzz. I feel there's less transparency than there is positioning!

surprise surprise, the MISP is off the agenda till after the election...

"we are not amused".....i don't think this can be resurrected...unless there's a huge public outcry about something and they wheel it back in.

how much time and money has been wasted on these initiatives that get shelved?

google revealed information about government agencies' requests for removing searched contents from google, Australia is the ninth.

Google Australia says here that the mandatory internet filtering is too wide and they believe that the filtering not only would slow user access speeds, but also questions the legitimacy of the measure because of the associated restrictions on access to information

The Four Corners report mapped the issue from when internet censorship was bought forward as a policy issue in a report by the Australian Institute in 2003 to how the Howard government and now how the Rudd government has approached the issue of internet censorship. \n\nNot only can you can watch the report you can also read the transcript, watch the extended interviews and there are also links to further resources.\n

Very timely for our forthcoming privacy class. Google has been wardriving. Which makes perfect sense. Useful for business and so easy to do when they're driving by. Who owns info that we put out on the street?

Google Australia will today be sent a "please explain" letter from two local privacy organisations demanding to know why the company has been collecting personal Wi-Fi network data from Australian homes alongside the images it takes with its Street View cameras. Google has taken some heat lately about its commitment to privacy after officials from 10 governments - including New Zealand, Canada and France - wrote a letter to chief executive Eric Schmidt to express their concern over data collection for Street View and the implementation of its Buzz social networking tool.

"Google sees 'everything'"\nLooks at cloud computing, benefits, and risks to security. Interesting point around search practices with Google "..everybody is constantly asking Google about the things they're working on. In effect, we're putting a tremendous amount of faith in Larry and Sergey and their claim that they don't do evil".

The Australian Government under the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has released a draft Form of a new copyright protection/regulation which affects the internet providers to be under a more strict copyright laws.