I’m working on a letter to Senator Conroy. I’m not really happy with first 2 paragraphs as they stand.. will probably rewrite / reduce into one. Let me know if you have any feedback. I’m not really focused on the implementation/deficiencies of the tech here. I think that’s important but I think limiting freedom of access to ideas and the lack of quantifiable outcomes in terms of the protection in the proposed policy as its stands are really scary.
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It is clear that filtering (censorship) does not prevent access to child pornography (Enex TestLab Report, 2009: Circumvention Testing). It is not clear how mandatory filtering protects children. How does this approach do anything to prevent exploitation of children through child pornography?
(Maybe delete first paragraph)
It is also clear from the ISP Filtering – Frequently Asked Questions that Australians can have confidence that governments with a majority in both houses of parliament can use this technology to censor information from public access.
This is bad policy that will do long term damage to the freedoms we enjoy in this country and espouse throughout the world, while doing nothing to curb the production of child pornography or to prevent access to child pornography to those who seek it. It is also an extremely blunt instrument to protect children from inappropriate material on the internet, something that parents should either take responsibility for in the restricted access services they give their children or by participating in their children’s activity online.
While I feel strongly about many issues that the government and opposition debate, I’m taking the step of writing this letter to you because what’s the point of any of the other policy positions you or I may care about now or in the future if we can’t guarantee open and uncensored forums to discuss them in.
(update 2)
Resources:
nocleanfeed site by EFA
#nocleanfeed on twitter
Tags: censorship · nocleanfeed2 Comments
