The Australian Government has officially implemented ISP-level Internet censorship. This will take effect before the Australian elections in 2010.
The censorship of the Internet is a serious topic. This move by the Australian government, though obviously well-intentioned, will no doubt cause many nay-saying opinions to be voiced.
The censorship action in effect bans several thousand RC (Refused Content) sites right out, and also gives users the option to filter out specific content types at an ISP level (e.g. porn and gambling), although this is not mandatory.
The media release by Stephen Conroy, the Australian Government’s Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (cool title!), has more details.
Wow. This could be the beginning for other countries. Hmmm. Not sure if that is a good thing. The question is what is the banning criteria. Maybe this is call for a service called: Are you banned with a country and url as input.
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Thanks for the comment Phillip. It will be interesting to see what qualifies as being Refused Content, apart from the obvious types of sites.
Certainly this kind of thing is going on in other countries: China being the strongest example. Are we moving towards a global online nanny state?
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Scary indeed. Let’s hope it doesn’t set a precedent!
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