Australian Senator Wants to Censor the Net

Paul writes "An Australian Senator wants Australians' internet connections to be automatically filtered by ISPs. Anyone who wants to view pornography or 'other adult material' (details not specified) must apply to their ISP to be given access to it. Another step towards becoming a nanny state."

wish in one hand...

[shams42]

Well, I want monkeys to fly out of my ass. That doesn't mean it's likely to happen.

So?

[tajgenie]

So what? Isn't the government the same as my parents? The government gave birth to me, raised me, fed me, taught me right from wrong. Surely they should be allowed to censor me?

Um ok

[dirtsurfer]

Wildly unpopular, impossible to implement and very, very expensive to even attempt.

Yup. Sounds like a winning proposal to me.

Re:WTF!

[moro_666]

I'd love to see how they manage to filter all the content on year 2005/2006, they have to add a massive park of machines for it. And even then they will be unable to do anything about encrypted connections around the internet.

  I can't imagine any possible way to do it. Unless they link all the lambs in australia into one massive quantum supermachine ...

Re:Redneck Senator

[Anonymous Coward]

Tasmania is a very cold place and it's population quite tiny

So that's where they [nationalgeographic.com] disappeared to.

Re:wish in one hand...

[khedron the jester]

Yes, and I think that loss of porn in Australia would be more than compensated by loss of the Goatse man.

Interesting /. effect . . .

[erikharrison]

The Slashdot effect seems to have left the server standing, but expired the content in their ad server, leaving only the weird animated "Default Banner" gif, which actually doesn't fit in the provided space.

http://ds.serving-sys.com/BurstingRes/Site-0/Type- 0/Dbanner.gif [serving-sys.com]

Re:wish in one hand...

[JohnnyLocust]

Well, I want monkeys to fly out of my ass

I thought I had strange hobbies.

Re:Australians...

[1u3hr]

Then again what can you really expect from a country with people dumb enough to elect Pauline Hanson to parliament.

She was thrown out after two years when it was obvious what an idiot she was. You re-elected Bush. Who's dumb?

Be a bit nicer!

[jurt1235]

(except that Tasmania is a very cold place and it's population quite tiny)

To start making remarks in which you combine cold with tiny is just not nice. It is always like that when it is cold!

Re:wish in one hand...

[raoul666]

Oddly, a goatse link would be informative in response to this parent.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:He forgets

[kfg]

"I'm anti-porn, I think it damages peoples minds. . ."

Well yeah, having your mind damaged by morality'll do that to ya.

KFG

Re:Nasties on the net

[dorkygeek]

At the age of eleven, I was surfing pornography on the world wide web. At age twelve, I was playing highly violent videogames. I was enthralled by Grand Theft Auto 3 at fourteen.

And yet you are posting on slashdot. So where's the problem?

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:He forgets

[dorkygeek]

[...] a criminule, right? I'm anti-porn, I think it damages peoples minds, but I don't like this either.

Hmmm, but without pr0n, it looks like one develops quite bad spelling.

Re:Australians...

[Xiaran]

Not only did we throw her out. We put her in prison for a bit also.

He wants more

[this great guy]

Australian Senator Wants to Censor the Net

In a separate announcement, he also reported he wanted to get a flying car, a magic wand, a six-leave clover to complete his collection, and an invisible pink unicorn.

Re:wish in one hand...

[daeley]

I thought I had strange hobbies.

Don't worry, I think the "buttnakedbroadcasting.blogspot.com" in your sig indicates you're still safely ensconced in the strange-hobby camp. ;)

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Okay by me...

[mrsev]

Dear Narcc,

Thank you for the links provided however I must ask that you send more before I can form a balanced opinion onthis very tricky subject.

Yrs,

MrSev

Re:He wants more

[meringuoid]

In a separate announcement, he also reported he wanted ... a magic wand

In the circumstances, wouldn't a robe and wizard hat be more appropriate?

Re:wish in one hand...

[myowntrueself]

Well, I want monkeys to fly out of my ass. That doesn't mean it's likely to happen

You could try a change of diet, I guess

Re:Nasties on the net

[AK Marc]

supervision your children while they use the internet!

Why would I want to watch them surf porn? What kind of sicko are you?

Re:They have a way around it...

[Chi-RAV]

New pricing scheme for internet in Australia:
Familiy Access: $14,95 (512kbps/256kbps + no pervert sites except encrypted ones.)
Pervert Access: $44,95 (1024kbps/512kbps + access to your locally approved pervert sites)


A survey by the Australia Institute called "regulating youth access to pornography" dated 2003 found that 84 per cent of boys and 60 per cent of girls had been accidentally exposed to pornographic material on the internet, while two in five boys had deliberately used the net to see sexually explicit material.
2 out of 5 boys: Gee, while looking for sexually explicit material on the net, I accidentally found it
prolly through a porn-pop-up add of a dialer their daddy put on the pc in the first place.

Re:Australians...

[Profound]

And then on a channel 10 dancing show.

Re:Australians...

[cammoblammo]

Actually, no. Water in Australian toilets doesn't swirl, it just foams and splashes in a chaotic mess for a few seconds. The episode is partly correct--the American embassy would actually have to import special equipment if they wanted the toilet to flush according to Truth, Justice and the American Way.

I had to have a few extra flushes the first time I used an American style toilet because the whole thing looked so orderly and nice. Ironic really, given what I'd just done to the poor thing.

Re:wish in one hand...

[xmodem_and_rommon]

as an australian, i am going to look at that for as long as i can without throwing up...to make the most of my right to while i still have it

Re:WTF!

[Fred_A]

This politician is apparently terrified that the new generation won't grow up to be as horrified as he is when seing a naked body.

Apparently he wants the australian population to die out because people will be to scandalised by the very idea of having sex.

(damn I think I uncovered his master plan)

Re:wish in one hand...

[Baddas]

The Giant Coffee Filter of Internet Unbaddenating

This wonder of the world is located in Southern Australia, near the capital city of Canberra.
Visible from space, the Giant Coffee Filter also blocks all sunlight in the capital, thus allowing the growth of the magnificient megafungi you see in these slides. Also, another interesting sideffect, the subspeciation of humanity into Homo Morlock, adapted to live solely within the confines of the Great Coffee Filter's shadow.

Re:Nasties on the net

[TheKnave]

Even better - comment objectively on their taste.
Show them your stuff.

Look bored.

Aside from being the coolest parent ever you're likely to have a kid who doesn't hide stuff from you.

The world has changed.

Shhh...

[Anita Coney]

Everyone be quiet. We don't want W. to hear about this idea!

Re:They have a way around it...

[ThJ]

...parents must acknowledge their responsibility and duty of care to ensure their children do not become victims.

Yesh! We all know that boobs are weapons of mass seduction!

Re:Nasties on the net

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm a 17 1/2 year old American teenager and I'm a virgin by choice. (read: I'm not a virgin because of inability to attract a mate)

Re:WTF!

[Directrix1]

Well, I'm sure they'll cut them off based on IP address. But seriously, I don't see why Austrailians really need the internet for porn. Australia's government seems to be the biggest pussy on Earth. And I thought America was too PC.

Re:They have a way around it...

[IAmTheDave]

More like: Even if you don't normally enjoy porn you should sign up just to show you oppose the law.

"Aw cmon baby... we have to take a stand! I look at porn only as an expression of my inalienable freedoms and protest against... wow... I didn't know you could fit that there... um, protest against government censorship!"

Re:wish in one hand...

[Pseudonym]

Well, I want monkeys to fly out of my ass.

Just so long as you don't look at pictures of that, you're fine.

Australia, Australia

[Grand High Wonko]

This doesn't surprise me in the slightest. When I went to Australia, Sydney was a wonderful place and though I didn't go I heard that Melbourne is too, but the rest of it? It honestly felt like how the world would be if Mussolini had won the war, a nation of trumped up bureaucrats out to exercise their power by making the lives of those around them slightly worse in all the ways available to them.

Australia isn't becoming a nanny state, it is a nanny state looking to become a police state. You can tell the world's completely off kilter when the First World nations that seem to be making the most sense at the moment are the Germans who can't even elect a leader and the French who don't bother to respond to massive riots for two weeks.

Personally I've noticed a serious bent towards totalitarianism in all the major players in the "Coalition of the Willing". Australia, Britain and America all keep passing these scary laws restricting free speech and removing rights from citizens and conferring them on corporations. It's a pity too, couldn't happen to nicer people, pretty much every single one of the ordinary citizens I've met from your countries I've liked and respected.

Here's some rules I learned from growing up in an oppressive society that eventually became free. I know it seems unlikely that an Aussie could learn anything from a South African, but they proved true here, watch out:

• Censorship never works because wanting to be a censor is the first sign that you shouldn't be one. We banned Black Beauty on the assumption that it was inter-racial pornography. The same will happen to you, it may start with pornography but that can then be happily inflated to include into anything that doesn't promote "traditional" values. The haven't even passed the law yet and they've already started, note the phrase "and other inappropriate material"
• No amount of government intervention will stop your children from finding out about sex, death or unpleasant political facts. Talk to them now and prepare them so that when they encounter it they act maturely. While they might not be adults that's not the same thing as being stupid.
• No matter how many security laws you pass terrorists WILL still strike you again. No amount of policing will stop a determined terrorist from striking only diplomacy will.
• Bad news for soldiers in Iraq. After an unjust war the soldiers will always be remembered poorly regardless of how heroic they're individual actions are. You will be painted with the same brush by history and it will be Abu Ghraib that will be remembered, not the time you saved your unit's lives.
• Any church that allies itself with an oppressive government is evil. If your church overtly supports the current situation change now to a different one. If you're religious and are going to save anything start by saving your soul.
• Distrust any politician who uses religion for political ends they are inevitably either corrupt, power-hungry or secually deviant. There's nothing preventing them from being all three.
• Like all companies, large companies with a cosy relationship with the government will do everything they can to maximize their profits. The difference is that they have more power with which to do so. Beware of them.
• Don't be afraid of immigrants or people of other races, religions or orientations. New talent and ideas from other countries and cultures won't destroy your culture, they'll make it richer. Underneath most people are the same and all they want is a good place to raise their kids.
• Apathy is not a choice. If you don't like how things are going protest, organize a new political party, do something, as your indifference will be interpreted by the government as support.
• Never underestimate the power of a government to suppress or control mainstream media, get your news from as many sources as possible.

If you do ignore this list, please at least just be Australians. Toss some meat on the barbie, knock