[LINK] Filtering in Oz: Australia's Foray into Internet Censorship (Brooklyn Law school)

[Crispin Harris]

Sorry if this has already been posted here, but in case it hasn't, the
paper is very interesting

Greetings Linkers...

Compliments of Crikey, I saw an American academic report on the
internet censorship debate.

Citation: Bambauer, Derek E.,Filtering in Oz: Australia's Foray into
Internet Censorship(December 22, 2008). Brooklyn Law School, Legal
Studies Paper No. 125. Available at SSRN:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1319466

This was published in the dieing days of 2008, and refers to a report
on Senator The Hon Conroy's internet filtering trial.

As Colin Jacobs writes in Crikey:
| The rest of the world has been smirking at Stephen Conroy's ill-
| conceived plan to censor Australia's Internet for a while now, but a
| new study published by Brooklyn Law School entitled "Filtering in
| Oz: Australia's Foray Into Internet Censorship" is a serious
| embarrassment.
|
| This report is important. Not only is it authored by a reputable and
| neutral foreign observer but it also focuses more on the legitimacy
| of the scheme than the technical concerns, and it finds some
| serious problems. Despite the sober language, phrases like
| "troubling", "worrisome", "politically motivated" and "unaccountable"
| are common.
|
| Contrary to persistent claims by the Minister, the study finds that
| Australia "will likely become the first Western democracy to block
| access to on-line material through legislative mandate."

This is a very interesting 31-page report, with a most interesting conclusion:

The concern is that, as filtering is increasingly adopted in Western
democracies, censorship that blocks access to material rather than
legal measures that punish access after the fact will become
increasingly seen as normal rather than problematic.
...
Censorship can be an effective tool, but it is a dangerous one.
Australia's example will have much to teach about both aspects.

Cheers,
   Crispin

--
Crispin Harris
crispin.harris at gmail.com
"Well, you know... most Catholics are so boring, you kind of expect
them to be fairly reasonable and not, say, frothing papal fanboys with
the IQ of a turnip. So he had me fooled. Not any more, though."
Thanks to Eric The FruitBat (etfb.livejournal.com)

-- 
Crispin Harris
crispin.harris at gmail.com
"Well, you know... most Catholics are so boring, you kind of expect
them to be fairly reasonable and not, say, frothing papal fanboys with
the IQ of a turnip. So he had me fooled. Not any more, though."
Thanks to Eric The FruitBat (etfb.livejournal.com)