Update: Australian Internet filter
More recent articles regarding the Australian federal government’s proposal to introduce a mandatory Internet filter:
- US dumps unpopular Internet filter plan
- Internet censorship and the revolt of the masses
- Opinion - Why Kevin Rudd’s Internet censorship plan won’t work
Grass roots activism group GetUp! are running a campaign against the proposed filter. As of writing more than 93,000 people have signed their online petition calling on Communications Minister Senator Conroy to abandon the proposal. (The widget below shows the current number of signings.)
Meanwhile, the Australian Christian Lobby is running it’s own pro-filter campaign. Their “Keep IT clean!” page is a masterpiece of hyperbole, including the interesting accusation that “sections of the internet industry” are financially benefiting from trade in child pornography.
This gem in particular caught our eye (emphasis added):
The internet has become a cesspool of child and adult porn. Kids and women are degraded, violence is glorified and no one is safe from having this rot thrust in their face, even by accident.
And this is a nice touch:
It is appropriate at times for Governments to limit freedoms to limit social damage.
Interesting how flexible some religious people can be with “the truth” when they think they can benefit from such flexibility. So much for absolute morality. Also interesting that they don’t mind freedom being limited in the name of the greater good - as long as the “freedom” is somebody else’s and “greater good” means they get their own way.