[LINK] 'Net filters "required" for all Australians, no opt-out

[Tom Koltai]

Danny Yee Wrote:
>Even if this is a manually maintained black list (and not automated in
as one assumes the "inappropriate" filters >will be), it's still a
significant problem that it is going to be kept secret, with no
provision for updating it.  >What happens when domains or IP addresses
change hands?

>Also, note that Refused Classification under film guidelines is a lot
broader than you think.  It includes 
>anything with "unacceptable" fetishes, for example, and euthanasia
advice.  It is possible that the "block for 
>everyone" list won't extend to all RC material. OTOH, it's also
possible that the "block for everyone list" will >be set at the same
level as the current "take down" criteria in the ACMA complaints regime,
which would include 
>X-rated material. (It's effectively illegal to host X-rated content in
Australia, so if "illegal" is understood 
>broadly...)


Very little has changed in the last decade or so. My comments in
relation to the fltering of content from 1995 still stand.

in http://www.aph.gov.au/SENATE/COMMITTEE/comstand_ctte/online2/c03.htm

In Section 3.24 I apparentely said:

Arguments that regulation of on-line services cannot be done are more
complex, having technical, jurisdictional and enforcement elements.
Managing Director of Ausnet Services Pty Ltd, Mr Thomas Koltai, told the
Committee that:

          o the content of the Internet cannot be regulated because of
the 'sheer volume';
          o there are technical difficulties in achieving regulation
because, no sooner is information filtered from one source, it becomes
available from another site;
          o graphic image format (GIF), such as a photograph or a
digital image, is very difficult to automatically scan for offensive
content, since to a computer it is a series of bits and bytes;
          o as the Internet grows, even more people will want to publish
material, making control even harder; and
          o anti-porn software filters on the receiving computer in the
home or school work only on text, but then have difficulty coping with
the volume. Filtering of multi-media messages, involving animation,
video or voice, is impossible. (Evidence, 12.10.95, pp. 137-8).


And these days, I guess the following link applies.

http://tools.rosinstrument.com/proxy/ and according to Google 61,300
other sites advertising similar services.

So to any politician reading this, there is a way to filter the
internet, but only if you own at least two root servers and an AS number
less than (checking oz AS advertisements) less than AS 870. As we dont
own any - ok - maybe some of us do, (partially) as Australia doesnt own
any - except for the Telstra and Optus mirrors of the "J" server - I
guess any filtering efforts undertaken by the suits will fail.  (I know
I used to wear a suit, but Im not really a suit - 21 years in Darwin
cured me.)

So folks, as the scheme is bound to fail - with workarounds in about 3
seconds after policy is instituted - why are we wasting bandwidth on
this issue.
Not all content can be filtered.
Some innocent sites will be filtered.
Public outrage will mount.
The failure will again repeat the failure of the Iranian Government, the
Chinese Government, the Indonesian Government and certain agencies of
Uncle Sam who have all tried this before. (And the US Agency had nearly
2 terraflops of super-computer to do it with.)

Mind you if you banned all satelite up/downlinks and nationalised all
international fibre points and to boot placed a forced proxy with a 3000
person human analyst officer staff to vet all incoming data - eventually
you would get a "clean" web.

Lets see who else mooted these types of idealogical cattle control.
I think the nazis, the socialists, the facists and even a few religious
groups have all enjoyed their book burning pogroms.

To the Politicians of Australia. Filtering the Internet is akin to the
actions of burning books. Sure you might burn a lot of the bad books,
however you burn many more good books and force Australia to be
relegated to the same third world status that our politicians are so
often sending troops overseas to free us from.

I think that the money should be spent on advertising to the young
people of Australia.
Porn is bad. It makes you want to Masturbate. Masturbation will make you
go blind.

Signed - A reformed Roman Catholic (Who now wears glasses, the priests
were right - dammit.)