Australian Internet Censorship Plan Torpedoed 308
An anonymous reader writes "The Australian Government's plan to introduce mandatory internet censorship has been scuttled, following an independent senator's decision to join the Greens and Opposition in blocking any legislation needed to start the scheme. Anti-Gambling Senator Nick Xenophon previously supported the filter because it could also block gambling web sites, but today withdrew support saying 'the more evidence that's come out, the more questions there are on this.' This week surveys found only less than 10% of Australians supported the censorship. Censorship Senator Stephen Conroy has consistently ignored advice from technical experts saying the filters would slow the internet, block legitimate sites, be easily bypassed and fall short of capturing all of the nasty content available online. Conroy expanded the list to block Adult R18+ and X18+ web sites, and this week said it would also block sites depicting drug use, crime, sex, cruelty, violence or 'revolting and abhorrent phenomena' that 'offend against the standards of morality.' Last week an anti-abortion website was added to the blacklist, and Conroy said he was considering expanding the blacklist to 10,000 sites and beyond."
Block The Internet (Score:5, Funny)
So the filter would block the Internet?
Re:Block The Internet (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Block The Internet (Score:5, Funny)
Senator likes his internet porn me thinks. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Censorship (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Block The Internet (Score:1, Funny)
Don't give them any ideas!
Re:Block The Internet (Score:5, Funny)
If they applied the same filter to television, most channels would only display white noise.
How is that any different from the award winning programming currently broadcast on TV? ;)
Re:Censorship (Score:5, Funny)
Please, won't somebody think of the causality?!
Re:Quick, somebody grab the cluestick! (Score:5, Funny)
Next, he'll find the only five or six sites on the web that depict bestiality!
Exactly! There's so much bestiality on the net now, that if you google for "People having sex with goats on fire", google responds with "Too many results. Please specify type of goat."
Re:Block The Internet (Score:3, Funny)
[subject censored in the public interest] (Score:3, Funny)
If they have an inch, they'll brag to the girls that it's at least a foot. And promptly try to block any access to evidence and squelch any opinion close to the truth.
Look carefully at any would-be censors, for they likely have something to hide, and merely seek to conceal it behind a bigger screen...
R18 and X18? (Score:5, Funny)
Is there like a master list of all the R18 and X18 sites...? I think I need to check it over to make sure they all deserve to be there.
Re:Block The Internet (Score:2, Funny)
I'll guess [leasticoulddo.com]
Re:Block The Internet (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Censorship (Score:5, Funny)
In Soviet Russia, self-referenced paradoxes cause you!
Ow. My head hurts just thinking about that one.
Re:Xenophobe? (Score:5, Funny)
"Pluriphobe would be a better description, for want of a better word. In Holland we would use the phrase "more pious than the pope", but I know of no English expression that can explain his thickheadedness."
How about dickhead? nobend? tosspot? Here in England we've mastered our language to produce plenty of simple yet effective and widely applicable words for situations and for people like this. For additional effect you may prefix a language construct which could only be defined as a pre-offensive such as "fucking".
Hopefully we will soon update our finest Oxford dictionaries to include these useful and flexible language constructs and terms.
Oblig. Bash.org (Score:5, Funny)
<FreeFrag> Thats why I recommend Telstra ADSL.
Re:Block The Internet (Score:5, Funny)
Given that definition... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Block The Internet (Score:3, Funny)
"abhorrent phenomena that offend against the standards of morality"
Depending upon your perspective of what defines morality this could also mean
1. US congressional members that look like TV evangelists with homosexual closet fetish's they act on in airport restrooms.
2. US congressional members that look like TV evangelists that test how many prostitutes they can bang on a quick road trip across state lines.
3. US congressional members that look like TV evangelists, but have a secret fascination with young make interns and sodomy in quite back room closets.
Heck, Senator Stephen Conroy might even be one of these just waiting for his moment to make the headlines.
Re:Censorship (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Block The Internet (Score:3, Funny)
Easy. White noise is at least soothing and tolerable. :)
Re:I am not an Aussie... (Score:5, Funny)
That's easy, you send your money to Conroy - you'd be surprised what politicians would do for money.
English Language Lesson (NSFW) (Score:4, Funny)
Meanwhile, on the other side of the puddle, we already have this useful word fully incorporated in our official lexicon, even to the point of being included in English language lessons, such as this one [youtube.com] (though the atrocious spelling might also be indicative of something...).
The useful and versatile F word is one of the few that may be used in just about every major grammatical category -- sometimes even all in the same sentence.
(And, lest I miss out on the Meme Train:)
Also, fuck you. :)
Re:Block The Internet (Score:5, Funny)
No commercial interruptions!!!
Re:Block The Internet (Score:4, Funny)
Actual it can't apply to politics the high court has ruled that in order to have a free election politics can't be censored
Sounds simple if it went through. Got a site that is blocked? Want it UNblocked? Add some political commentary to it... I can see it now...
Naughty Nurses Narrate Politics!
Tiny Teens showing you just where to stick your vote!
Bound, Gagged and Beaten - how to vote with sign language!
Favorite Fetish - Why we all like to fill in an election card differently!
Gay Political Watch - Is your bread buttered on the other side?