[LINK] more on the net censorship - Worm Conroy

[Jan Whitaker]

On Conroy's information byway, there's some roadkill

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/on-conroys-information-byway-theres-some-roadkill-20100326-r2z4.html


RICK FENELEY

March 27, 2010

IF YOU care about democracy, follow the worm. 
This worm has a name: Stephen Conroy. While 
Australians were distracted by another worm this 
week – top of the screen for Rudd, bottom for 
Abbott – few bothered to watch the more insidious wormling, Conroy.

We get the democracy we deserve. Our failure to 
watch the squirming Conroy, the Communications 
Minister, means we're about to get the web we 
deserve: among the most censored in the free 
world. We expect China, North Korea and Iran to 
filter what their citizens see. If Conroy gets 
his way, Australians will be subjected to a 
mandatory filter on internet service providers within a year.

Few of us seem to appreciate what he's up to. 
Fewer seem to care. Conroy received just 174 
submissions from the public on his proposal. They 
included this from a Franz Kafka: "What a joke!" 
Succinct, unambiguous, not the least Kafkaesque. Unlike Conroy's filter.

He and his government want to protect you and 
your children from images of bestiality and child 
sexual abuse. They also want to shield you from 
how-to guides on crime, terrorism and drugs, in 
case you're ever tempted to commit one, become one or try some.

Trouble is, nobody who understands the first 
thing about the web – or the behaviour of 
criminals, terrorists, drug abusers and child 
molesters – believes his filter will work. Kiddie 
porn peddlers use peer-to-peer networks, which 
will escape the filter. So will emails.

But Conroy's feckless filter will have its 
collateral damage. He rejects the experts' fears 
about internet speed, but there'll be other 
roadkill on his information byway. Google, while 
fighting for a free web in China this week, did 
the same in Australia. Its submission cautioned 
that socially and politically controversial 
material – say, educational tips on safer drug 
use – could be blocked. So could instructions on 
crimes like euthanasia. Google pointed out that 
homosexuality was a crime in NSW until 1984. 
"Political and social norms change over time and 
benefit from intense public scrutiny and debate," it said.

If Conroy found this offensively subversive, 
another corporate recalcitrant, Yahoo, warned 
anti-abortion websites could be banned.

Most worrying, the minister's black list will be 
secret. He doesn't want to advertise the stuff to 
clever geeks. And he says only material that is 
beyond X-rated – so refused classification – will 
be blocked. We can't get it in newsagencies, on 
telly or DVD, or at the cinema, so Conroy asks 
why the web should be any different. Maybe 
because it is different. Families do not gather 
round computers and watch passively while fiends 
bombard them with depravity. The web is a portal 
to a global library where individuals choose what 
interests them. If families want net filters, they can get them.

Our constitution contains no entrenched right to 
freedom of speech. We already tolerate severe 
censorship. It is an offence to watch a cartoon 
character having sex if it is deemed to be 
under-age. (When I was of a vulnerable age, I had 
a serious crush on Penelope Pitstop from Wacky 
Races and Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward from The 
Thunderbirds. A cartoon and a puppet, both called 
Penelope. It's disturbing, I know, but do we need a law against it?)

Kate Lundy is Labor's lonely rebel against the 
filter. Tony Abbott's Liberals are yet to declare 
a position although Joe Hockey has quoted the RSL 
maxim: "The price of liberty is eternal 
vigilance.” He fears it will "create the 
infrastructure for government censorship on a 
broader scale ... Some may argue that we can 
surely trust a democratically-elected government 
in Australia to never try to introduce more 
widespread censorship. I am not so sure." Hear, 
hear! Note to the Opposition Leader who opposes 
everything: bury the worm and your own worm might turn.

THEN AGAIN



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the 
world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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