AU Government Censors Document On Planned Web Snooping 169
MrPPS writes "The Australian Government plans to force ISPs to record and retain all citizens' communications traffic. The Sydney Morning Herald requested that the proposed policy documents be released under Freedom of Information laws. What they received was a document that was 90% censored, in order to prevent 'premature unnecessary debate.' More discussion on the Greyhat Security site. Here is the redacted document (PDF, 3.6 MB)."
To stop 'premature unnecessary debate' (Score:5, Informative)
They did it to stop 'premature unnecessary debate', apparently.
They don't want any facts or public opinion getting in the way of something they have already decided on and that serves nobody else but themselves.
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/no-minister-90-of-web-snoop-document-censored-to-stop--premature-unnecessary-debate-20100722-10mxo.html?rand=1279849637950 [smh.com.au]
http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/354283/government_stifles_debate_web_browser_history_retention/ [arnnet.com.au]
Like they were popular enough already with the manditor filter? And comming up to an election I have to ask, WTF?
Re:The ASP (Score:1, Informative)
The only realistic vote in Australia seems to be a vote for the Australian Sex Party.
Russell Wattie (Camel) is running for a place in the Senate. He is a spokesman for the United Motorcycle Council of Queensland. He is against the anti-freedom of association laws (aka anti-biker laws), the ABCC and for a bill of rights.
There is also the LDP ldp.org.au [slashdot.org] who might prove worthwhile and if they can get it registered, for future elections the Pirate Party Australia http://www.pirateparty.org.au/ [pirateparty.org.au]
Re:The ASP (Score:2, Informative)
The only realistic vote in Australia seems to be a vote for the Australian Sex Party.
The other parties seem totally infested by moralism and corruption.
I prefer the Australian Greens. They are actually both very similar on their views (letting in asylum seekers, stopping this Internet filtering scheme) and definitely has a environmental friendly approach.
Re:The ASP (Score:2, Informative)
Oops, should have checked the link: http://ldp.org.au/ [ldp.org.au] is their site. Their policy on censorship. [ldp.org.au]
The Liberal Democratic Party supports free speech and is opposed to government censorship of books, videos, games and the internet. We:
Oppose any non-voluntary internet filtering or censorship.
Believe no film, book or game should ever be banned outright except in cases where its making involved the commission of a crime, such as abuse of children.
Support legalising the sale of X-rated pornography.
Support the introduction of an R-rating and X-rating for video games, thus legalising games that have previously been banned.
Support a review of current film and game classification criteria, taking a rational rather than morality driven approach to classification.
Re:The ASP (Score:5, Informative)
There are two major parties in Australia, the Labor party and a coalition between the Liberal Party and the National Party.
Both are pretty much the same, Labor is perhaps centre left, and the other two are Centre Right. Though in American terms they would all probably be classed as far left.
The balance of power at the moment is pretty much 45% Labor, 45% Coalition, 10% smaller parties.
The smaller parties are Independants (Generally Centre Right), Greens (Left wing), and the Family First party (Ultra right wing).
Essentially for any government to get anything done they need to get the Family First party onboard, and in general, Christian votes. The Family First party is pretty much a church group, all their candidates are former Pastors etc.
So basically:
- Christians (in South Australia) hold the swing vote.
- Most Australians think this shit is bullshit.
- Our opinion doesn't count.
Re:To stop 'premature unnecessary debate' (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Vote Tweedledum or Tweeledee (Score:3, Informative)
You have your choice in the upcoming election with a choice of up to 25 parties [aec.gov.au] for Senate and House of Representatives (Upper and Lower house respectively).
There's websites like my website ShockSeat's Federal parties list [shockseat.com] that'll give you some basic information about parties. Or you can try Wiki's list of Political parties in Australia [wikipedia.org]. Or simply look up the party names, almost all of them have websites and see what they have to say.
My last comment for those who feel demoralised at 'duopoly' of major parties and considered not voting; if you don't vote, then Australia would still continue to be represented by voters. Don't complain that you're not represented for the next 4 years.
Speaking of premature debate... (Score:3, Informative)
I started my own premature but very necessary debate [slashdot.org] over on the corporate blocking of the Sex Party story [slashdot.org] where I mentioned that the SMH article is, in fact, very misleading, and the "premature and unnecessary debate" quote was taken completely out of context. Basically, the document was censored because it was exempt from the FOI act, and it was exempt because:
a) It's some internal discussion amongst the party that's not even at the proposal stage. That is, it doesn't affect the public, and it's far from finalised, and
b) In its current form, there's no guarantee that any actual proposal that comes from this will reflect the document at all. That is, actually releasing it would be misleading.
Basically, this document didn't need to be released at all, and in certain parts, it's against the public interest to actually release it.
I also realise that my comment I linked to above was modded down, but I'm hoping that this time around Slashdotters take their own advice, and refrain from censoring dissenting opinions.
Re:The ASP (Score:3, Informative)
The Australian democrats went the way of the dodo years ago. They were a sensible, centrist party which lived up to their slogan of "keeping the bastards honest" but they're time is over. Years of very public infighting ruined it for them. It's time to move on.