Australia is kind of fucking fucked at the moment.

[naanima]

If you haven't heard already, the Australian Government is pushing to implement an internet filter that's aimed at censoring 'illegal' material on the internet. This filtered internet will be mandatory to all Australians with a second more restrictive 'clean feed' filter to protect children from harmful content.

Such a mechanism has serious consequences for free speech and access to information. On a technical side, it will also drastically reduce internet speeds in a country that is already ridiculously behind other wired countries in the world, with some tests reporting network performance reductions between 20-75 percent.

Currently, the only other countries in the world that have implemented such government filtering censorship of the internet are places like Burma/Myanmar, China and North Korea. Australia is a peaceful fully functioning democracy. A filtered internet goes against our principles and is complete overkill for a problem that should be addressed through education and parents. We don't NEED let alone WANT any kind of government censorship of the internet, and luckily, there's already a movement to fight it.

Electronic Frontiers Australia



Sourced: from _leareth @ here & here.

ETA: I'm rather curious how this will go down. I don't imagine the media or the lawyers will take this sitting down. The firework over this is going to be interesting.