Australia New Censorship Capital aka The Blunder Down Under
by MaxPower
Broadband, Communications and Digital Economy Minister Stephen Conroy admitted the Federal Government's $44.2 million internet censorship plan would now include two tiers - one level of mandatory filtering for all Australians and an optional level that will provide a "clean feed", censoring adult material.Despite planning to hold "live trials" before the end of the year, Senator Conroy said it was not known what content the mandatory filter would bar, with euthanasia or pro-anorexia sites on the chopping block.
A "mandatory filter" is a terrible limitation to establish, especially because no one seems to know what or why things will be filtered. It is oh so easy to see that undesirable websites could get filtered out even when they are not "illegal". Being pro-anorexia may be one of the stupidest things I have ever heard of, but that doesn't mean I want my government to come in and protect my innocent eyes from that concept. The people who really want to seek out pro-anorexia sites, for example, will likely do so even with the filter through use of proxies. And as the New York Times pointed out, this is a slippery slope. Where does the government stop censoring?