I’ve briefly mentioned this particular issue in passing with regards to the Great Firewall of Australia and to a lesser extent the persecution of South Australian gamers, but now I’m going to rant and complain about it for an entire post. Two words: caramel macchiato. Wait, I got distracted. Two words: brain drain.
I apologise, I know I only just posted about The Great Firewall of Australia again, but this quote was just too good to pass up:
Just when we thought this nonsense couldn’t get any worse, ZDNet Australia is reporting 80% of respondents to a phone poll support Labor’s plan for a mandatory internet filter.
"This is a fabrication. We all know [Australian currency] can be used to buy food, drink, houses, and cars. And it can also be used to buy drugs, guns, ammunition, and even prostitutes. Can you say that the [Aussie Dollar] is illegal and committing obscene acts?"
That in fact wasn’t a quote regarding the upcoming Great Firewall of Australia, it was originally about the Great Firewall of China. That the same point can be made for both should be terrifying.
It’s that nonsensical idea we thought common sense and overwhelming evidence against its effectiveness would kill once and for all, but here we are on the brink of the introduction of the Great Firewall of Australia. Whooptie-friggen-do.
It seems with each passing year since 2007 things have happened that have made me less optimistic and more cynical about the world. In an attempt to find the good in it, I’ve attributed this slide in my opinion of humanity to simply growing up and becoming more realistic. Well, another thing has happened -__-.
This is probably an Optus phone company problem and not an issue with the iTelephone, but on the off chance that I actually got a 3G signal here in Mawson Lakes over these last few days the data connection is so unreliable nothing finishes loading before I’m given an error. Case in point, my Twitter clients routinely return a secure connection failed error, and it took me over 45 minutes to download the latest Into Your Head episode over 2G. The irony was 45 minutes was still faster than 3G because the latter just kept timing out.
I’d call Optus using my iTelephone to complain, but the phone connection is so spotty I keep having dropped calls. I would hate to wait on hold with Optus for 6 hours only to have the call drop when a customer disservice representative finally answers.
So here’s my idea, why not spend the money Stephen Conroy wants earmarked for the Great Australian Firewall to fix Australia’s lousy phone networks? Because the other irony is crappy networks are doing a much better job than his proposed filter at blocking content and communications!
I sense a conspiracy brewing.
I’ve been told by the folks over at GetUp that the Australian Federal Government will be trialling their Great Australian Firewall internet filtering system shortly, despite the overwhelming evidence presented that shows it will be ineffective and only serve to further slow down Australia’s comparatively poor telecommunication infrastructure suffering from decades of chronic underinvestment and decay.
Dear Ruben,
A decision on the Government’s internet censorship filter could be just weeks away. It’s crunch time for our campaign.
Live trials are nearly complete on the filter technology which will allow the government of the day to add any "unwanted" site to a secret blacklist. This isn’t China, Saudi Arabia or Iran – we could see a mandatory filter of all internet traffic right here in Australia as early as this year.
In response do this issue I’ve decided to do three things. Firstly, I will continue to blog about this issue as I’ve done in the past using the NoCleanFeed tag. Be it ever so humble my blog is still on the intertubes and the more this issue gets discussed the harder it will be for people like Steven Conroy to merely sweep this issue under the electronic rug. You think that’s a metaphor, but I reckon people like Conroy actually do believe such a thing exists. It’s a flat surface above all them tubes.
Secondly, I’ve decided to try getting myself filtered by continuting to blog about anime series I’m watching, some of which occasionally have scenes which are considered by the Western media to be a bit "too sexy" compared to the blood, gore, graphic autopsies, gang warfare and gun violence on dramas and shows like A Current Affair which they consider perfectly acceptable for the viewing public. Thanks for the moral lesson guys!
Thirdly, I’ve decided to take the advice of GetUp and write to my local federal memeber of parliament and to Stephen Conroy directly:
Stephen Conroy
The Canberras
Australian Capital TerritoryDear Hon. Senator Conroy,
Dude.
Sincerely,
Ruben Schade
When appeals to logic, common sense no longer apply, how else do you approach problems? It’s like dealing with people whi think Cheez Whiz is a food. Did you get me my Cheez Whiz boy?
On a somewhat related note, is Nick Xenophon still supporting the Great Australian Firewall so he can block gambling sites? In other words good intentions wrapped around a poorly executed and ultimately fruitless endeavour?
by xenobyte (446878) on Monday March 23, @05:35PM (#27295215)
Good for them if they did.
This whole censorship scheme is deeply flawed and morally bankrupt. Any society that feel the need to implement censorship in order to ‘function’ is already badly broken and censorship will only prolong the suffering and delay the inevitable, making it unavoidable. If there really is a need to prevent access to something, use sound advice and education so the need to access ‘the forbidden’ goes away. It is this need to will be the downfall of any society that use censorship because the human spirit can never be kept in a cage, no matter how many bars and locks you add to it.
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@SilkCharm There are 76 unique Australian Twitter users. The rest are Fake politicians.
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I'm Ruben Schade, welcome to my labour of love mix of tech, anime, thoughts and nonsense from Singapore and Australia. Thanks for stopping by.
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