Will Australia Follow China's Google Ban? 280
gadgetopia writes "A news report in Forbes says that China has blocked Google with its great firewall; now the world waits to see if Australia's Minister for Censorship, Senator Stephen Conroy, will do the same following his outrageous attacks on Google."
You, sir, lack imagination (Score:4, Interesting)
Ok, so Google has this "safe search" setting. Presumably if safe search is turned off at least some of what it returns will be material subject to bans in Australia. So it seems that is a perfect justification for banning Google, or at least requiring that Google queries pass through a government-controlled proxy server that can ensure that safe-search is always turned on.
Furthermore Australia has not had the best record of transparency regarding censorship either. For example, 9 Songs was given permission for screening but Comstock Films' documentaries were not, despite those documentaries winning awards (both contain graphic, explicit sexual content). Given that the government won't let citizens see what they are banning, what makes you confident that this won't be exercised in arbitrary ways?
Re:Senator Stephen Conroy == Senator Joe McCarthy? (Score:2, Interesting)
And then there are Andrew McCarthy's columns, which, for example, accuse lawyers who render services to Guantanamo detainees of treason.
More likely we will just see a new McCarthyism rise up based on Andrew's work rather than Joe's....
Re:I would (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't know. It's still Google turning round to a country and saying "Your laws are wrong". If Google tomorrow decided that actually they were fully in favor of something we see as universally despicable (child porn, say), we'd be all up in arms about Google being immoral and acting counter to the rules of our country, I don't think anyone would be claiming that actually Google are fighting the good fight for internet freedom, and child porn images should be allowed to be distributed freely. It just depends where you draw the line between acceptable and unacceptable. Google's line is pretty far from Australia's, and far closer to that of most of the rest of the west.
Re:Lol? Sif it will happen. (Score:4, Interesting)
You're forgetting that the "tea partiers" are largely defined by Faux News. They are whatever Fox tells them to be.
My favorite was Stewart's last-night moment of Zen - they had a clip from Fox with some woman going "well we need to fight this because he's a communist!". The commentator says "well, he's not a communist" and she says "well then he's a progressive which is the new code word for communist. Glenn Beck taught me that"
I find it terribly hard to believe those people actually have any independent beliefs. If they really were annoyed about parliamentary procedures that circumvent the will of the people, how about the Bush tax cuts for big business that were done the same way?
Re:Lol? Sif it will happen. (Score:5, Interesting)
As any good democratic socialist, I believe that people will eventually arrive at the truth. Fox is damming a flood of people asking questions, and hoping that they will stick to the script. Throw in a few dark horses like Ron Paul, who doesn't toe the line on the narrative Fox likes to present, and Fox is only ensuring that they will be completely washed out once the dam breaks.
The damage they are doing to our country in terms of the destruction of the middle class, our ability to manufacture our own goods, and our outright dependence on islamic fundamentalist states for our energy needs may end up catapulting the nation into a great period of misery. That's why I'm headed outside of the fallout line.
China is scooping up every bit of available raw resources, and we're patting ourselves on the back for innovations like facebook and the iPad and air conditioned seats. Rome will fall, but how hard and how fast is largely dependent on how long people continue to delude themselves.
Re:specifically (Score:4, Interesting)
>>>1. the angry tea partiers, with their brick throwing and insane murderous anger, IS kristallnacht, on a smaller scale
You clearly don't know history. The destruction of Jewish stores/homes was perpetrated by government employees working for the National Socialist Party. Tea Party supporters are not government employees.
.
>>>2. intolerant deluded propagandized fools hording guns in the woods are the seeds of fascism
No. Hitler banned private ownership of guns in order to prevent backlash, because he knew the danger if citizens finally got fed-up and started shooting back. (See the Jewish Ghetto uprisings for examples.)
In a truly free society government does not need to fear the gun, because it is obeying the people's wishes rather than ignoring them.
Re:LOOK! Over there! A DAMN DIRTY WHIG! (Score:4, Interesting)
Unfortunately, it's no guerrilla theater. After Victoria Jackson left SNL and couldn't get any work, she went around the bend.
She's following the pattern of others that have failed in their chosen fields and have turned to right wing groups to try to resuscitate some sort of career. Dennis Miller is another. John Voight still another. I guess they figure the yahoos aren't all that discerning, so they can make a buck as long as they say bad things about liberals.
Re:Lol? Sif it will happen. (Score:3, Interesting)
Trickle-down Reagonomics has been thoroughly debunked. All those rich guys didn't get rich by giving away free money.
And I've been quite disappointed in Obama. But the things these tea partiers are going on about are all things that the Republicans have done. Where the hell were these people a few years ago? Did they spring fully-formed from Limbaugh's forehead?
Face it. This is a backlash against Obama the person, and not anything he represents. It doesn't help their cause to keep going on about his birth certificate, which just screams racism.
Guess you're a troll; I don't know why I wasted my time typing that.