EFA alarmed at "creeping" clean feed
Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) today expressed alarm at the news that the Government's “Clean Feed” Internet censorship plan will not allow Australian adults to opt-out.
The filter, which will be mandatory for all Australians, was initially touted as a “cyber-safety” measure for homes with children. However, recent comments by experts have revealed the existence of a second, secret black list, that would apply even to homes that managed to opt out of the child-safe filtering scheme.
“The news for Australian Internet users just keeps getting worse,” said EFA spokesperson Colin Jacobs. “We have legitimate concerns with the creeping scope of this unprecedented interference in our communications infrastructure. It's starting to look like nothing less than a comprehensive program of real-time Internet censorship.”
The scheme seems at odds with the Government's campaign promise to improve the speed and availability of Australian Broadband. The Government's own research has showed that filtering lowers speeds by 30% or more even under ideal testing conditions. The same data raises serious questions about the accuracy of filters, with even the best performers over-blocking hundreds of thousands of innocuous web sites.
EFA questioned the overall wisdom of having Government policy change the architecture of the Internet. “Australian parents that want filtering can easily acquire it for their homes. Filtering the entire Internet is a bad policy, but makes even less sense technically.”
Most worrying of all is the ever-increasing scope of the filtering scheme. “The definition of inappropriate material has never been well defined,” said Jacobs. “With Government-mandated software monitoring each Internet connection, we expect the scope to expand further as time goes by. How will the Government resist pressure by Family First or other special interest groups to permanently block material considered by some to be harmful?”
– Ends –
Below is:
- Background information
- Contact details for media
EFA analysis of the proposal: http://www.efa.org.au/censorship/mandatory-isp-blocking/
EFA clean-feed site: http://nocleanfeed.com
About EFA: Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc. (”EFA”) is a non-profit national organisation representing Internet users concerned with on-line rights and freedoms. EFA was established in 1994, is independent of government and commerce, and is funded by membership subscriptions and donations from individuals and organisations with an altruistic interest in promoting online civil liberties.
Media Contacts:
Mr Dale Clapperton
EFA Chair
Phone: 0416 007 100
Email: dclapperton at efa.org.au
Mr Colin Jacobs
EFA Board Member
Phone: 0402 631 955
Email: cjacobs at efa.org.au
Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc — http://www.efa.org.au/
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I cannot comprehend why our government would want to impose such draconian measures upon the population. I can only assume the government perceives some kind of return on investment. Perhaps this ROI is votes from conservative right voters who would typically vote for the Liberal Party - an investment for the next election.
As a professional Internet systems administrator of fifteen years experience, I can verify from a technical standpoint that there will most certainly be significant repercussions in performance and quality of Internet data. The realisation of open concepts and discussions on public forums we have come to enjoy will fail. Bloggers and online journalists will be forced to curtail language, emotion and subject matter. The new journalism model that is allowing the voice of everyday people to be heard over the roar of commercial media will be dimmed.
Keeping children safe from predators has always been the responsibility of parents, not the state.
Julian Conway
What a crock. I guess its back to the libs in the next election if we cant get this thing stopped before then. I always had a bad feeling about Labor.
This is crazy, once they deiced what content we can and cannot view how long will it be before they start logging what we look at etc. How long before people/politicians with an agenda (I guess that is all of them) will start having influence over this "blacklist".
As a Patriotic Australian, I would personally donate a large sum of money to EFA if they launched a high court challenge against this action as unconstitutional, and anti-competititve (the government will now decide which online businesses are "illegal"). The Australian constitution holds an implied right of freedom of speech, and this action breaches that right categorically.
I work in IT, and I know for a fact that hundreds, if not thousands more like me would also donate money for such a cause.
Think about it, please. My logic might be flawed, but there MUST be legal recourse against such action. If not, then our Democracy is finished.
Today I'm disgusted to be an Australian.
These measures amount to outright censorship, something I find incredibly disturbing. Not to mention the physical impracticalities of such a scheme. What are the exact criteria for censoring a site? Who decides? How long before political concerns become involved? This is the thin end of the wedge.
EFA destroy this please!
Contact Whirlpool and get a donations appeal going!
This is a disgrace. I'm ashamed to be Australian now. We always took pride in our freedoms and liberties, now this? We must all stand united and fight this. The internet probably the most important tool for the people of our time. We cannot stand by and let the government take that away from us.
"We have buttiduously canvbutted the industry, buttessed what is available and buttembled the finest selection of PFI contractors for this buttignment. The filters will buttociatively clbuttify all communications and filter then, I can butture you, rebuttemble them with surpbutting exacbreastude in any quanbreasty. Consbreastuents can be rebuttured that a mulbreastude of industry compebreastors will butture quality and keep our clbuttrooms safe. EDS Capita Goatse will not embarbutt us."
(Inspired by The Daily WTF.)
How nice of the Government to help push protocol encryption in this manner. Seriously, I am worried and disgusted by this, even if this "think of the children" effort fails, all it will take is something to scare the public and the old line "they used the Internet to plan said scary event" will push the great firewall of Australia in to being.
The East German government claimed the Berlin Wall was to keep the East Germans safe from outside threats, when of course it was to keep the East Germans in. This is naturally not to protect children, in fact that is just laughable when people without them cannot opt out.
We must fight this and we must win.
Australians wanted a left wing government. And left wing politics ALWAYS comes with restrictions in freedom of speech (what lefties call 'hate speech') and restrictions in freedoms.
Should've stuck with Howard.
Australia prides itself on its freedom. Now they want to take it away. It's really frightening me. I don't want a great firewall of Australia.
What sort of action can we take from here?
Street parade outside Conroy's office?
Fucking hell. I'm moving to New Zealand and renouncing my Australian Citizenship if they do this.
@foo
Don't move to New Zealand -> http://torrentfreak.com/kiwi-3-strikes-law-081017/
nocleanfeed.com should be updated to reflect the new information.
Will there be any way to opt out from the scheme?
The Government's plan is for there to be two blacklists, one for "unsuitable for children," and another one for "unsuitable for adults."
The much-touted "opt-out" would merely involve switching from blacklist number 1 to blacklist number 2.
Did you know that asu has no freedom of speech in its constitution and thus the government can do this. They may as well take it all the way and implement the chinese system. for all those curious there are programs to avoid these implmentations regardless. tor is one of them. my advice is set it up now before you cant download that either
I'll be moving out of Australia also if this happens, I don't want to be part of a fascist country.
I don't believe that this whole filtered internet thing is going to follow through. They tried before and failed.
LOL people are complaining about this now? Man I'm seriously laughing my ass off at this and at the naivety of people who think the liberal party wouldn't have eventually come up with the filter, you ALL only have yourselves to blame. Suck it up suckers you'll take your damn internet filter now and like it.
They're slowing picking away at our freedoms in the search for repression and control, and to make matter worse they recruit the naive and ignorant to support their schemes, and not look into them with any independent thought, by making excuses for why the schemes benefit those very people from whom it takes the freedoms in the first place.
The Rudd government isn't left wing. Its about as right wing as the Liberals are except on a few populist topics.
I think a visit to your local Labor MP is good and ensure that this doesnt go through the house of reps
"Despite this report highlighting the inaccuracy of these filters and the loss of performance caused by their use, Senator Conroy announced the government will press ahead with a real-world pilot program in furtherance of Labor’s pre-election commitment to force all Australian ISP’s to filter their customers’ Internet access."
http://www.efa.org.au/2008/07/31/efa-says-filtering-trial-a-failure/
It is going to happen, if we do not take action.
Once censorship starts, there is no stopping it; especially censorship of the internet.
@batman
It is pretty sad.
"Labor makes no apologies to those that argue that any regulation of the internet is like going down the Chinese road," he said. - http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/31/2129471.htm
How arrogant are these Labor people. We though Paul Keating was bad! It doesn't matter who the party is Batman. It's not good whoever puts it up. I've already written to Conroy. I suggest you all do.
Petition
http://petitions.takingitglobal.org/oznetcensorship
Tor
http://www.torproject.org/
Everyone should get the information out. There are some leaflets available at...
http://leavethenetalone.wordpress.com/
We will not be told what is appropriate by a Government authority.
Those of you trying to score partisan political points against Labor are seriously kidding yourselves if you think that the conservatives will do any different when they eventually get back into power. This is a modern government thing, not a left-right thing.
And those of you who are threatening to leave Australia are also kidding yourselves if you think that it will ultimately be better in any other country. All governments want to do this, and will if they can get away with it (some already do).
One aspect of this I find particularly scary and offensive is that we will not even have the right to see the list of sites/pages that have been censored.
"Did you know that asu has no freedom of speech in its constitution and thus the government can do this"
William
Yes and no. The High Court has ruled that the Australian constitution guarantees the right to free comment on political matters. The government cannot remove that (limited) right, only the voters can via a referendum. It remains to be seen exactly how far that right will be supported by the High Court.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7968823265
Educate people.
I'm truly offended at this, I thought that the government was supposed to be working on improving the internet standards, up to that of other continents, is this truly going to do anything to help out parents? Simply put, no. This isn't going to help anyone in the long run, and we should leave it up to ourselves to protect ourselves. Just put in a law for parents to control youth access, and it'd work.
The government needs to realise that instead of trying to protect us, we should try to protect ourselves. It's not hard to make a computer safe for browsing, and it's not hard to take this into effect for parenting.
Australia is not the land of the free anymore, it isn't the land where you can get a fair chance. It isn't a land that has anything going in its will, and most of the community is dieing as a result.
This is not a land of opportunity anymore, it is simply a devoid, blank, slate that is being purged with rubbish like this.
This'll have a negative effect on Australia.
If this goes through, us Australians should do like the French...
RIOT!
I would donate money for
- huge advertisement campaign. Let's put posters, newspaper ads, tv ads - people has to be aware of the issue
- high court appeal or whatever it takes to cancel this crap
Is there some way that we (as the people) can take the Gov. to court over this? I've notice that the EFF and others in the USA have taken their Gov to court.
Personally I think a court case would be the best approach and I too would also contribute financially towards the cost as much as I can - I just have no idea where to start with something like this.
A (street) protest can be shrugged off or washed out with bad weather and boycotting the Gov. would be also something very hard to do. In my mind, a court case shows the Gov. that we mean it when we say keep your hands off my Internet.
What an obscenity. We CANNOT allow this. Whatever it takes, this Bull$hit must be stopped in its tracks.
@Tig
What the heck do we go to court for? The only reason they can challenge this in America is because they have a Bill of Rights.
@John
I was hoping with a open discussion, someone, somewhere would know what rights we as people have against a Gov. that is forcing something onto us that we do not want - or if there was something illegal about what the Gov is doing that we could use in a court of law.
@Tig
Man I would love if it was possible...
Is the "Liberal" Party of Australia supporting this? If not they could in theory team up with the Greens and independants in the senate to stop this. If the "Liberal" Party also support this then Australia is screwed, we really need a true Liberal party in Australia that is pro-freedom.
What is it you complainers are accessing that you're worried you'll no longer be able to access? You might have to fork out for legitimate music, or a movie ticket, or go back to buying pr0n magz to stuff under your pillows? There is nothing illegal about what the government is trying to do here - billboards, tv and publications are regulated by a set of rules - now they want to exercise some kind of diligence over the online world & you're crying w0lf? Comparisons to Nth Korea and China are ridiculous, like from someone who's never been out of the country (or rarely out of their dorm room). "The internet probably the most important tool for the people of our time. We cannot stand by and let the government take that away from us" - wtf!? They're not trying to take that away from you, grow up. The internet was born to spread information and knowledge - now its a breeding ground of filth, piracy and predators. "All comments are moderated as a spam prevention measure" - censorship!!
@UR Mum, You are the one who should move to China thank you very much. The vast majority of Australians are against this. If you don't like what you see on the internet, don't go on it, it's simple, but DO NOT force your opinions on others. Here's a good suggestion to you, get off the internet and go back to your tea parties in your mothers club. I and other do not want to be told what we can or cannot look at, we do not want to be told how to think, and someone who thinks like you doesn't deserve the freedoms of communication the internet enjoys.
@UR Mum
I know I should not feed the troll, but I guess you have not read anything about the trails so far. Things to be worried about in no order and I'm sure I've left something out:
* 3% false positive rate at best! That means for every 33.3 pages online you look at, about 1 of them will be blocked due to the filter.
* A major slow down and bottle neck effect of web traffic. The filter with 3% false positive result had a slow down effect of about 68% (I think). The filters with more false positive results produced a much better performance (but more pages blocked that should not have been)
* Once a filter is in place, it is much easier for the Gov. or ASIO or your ISP to spy on your traffic.
* Once a filter is in place, it is easier for an ISP to 'shape' your traffic based on what you do.
* Once a filter is in place, expect ISP charges to go up as the ISP will need to handle complaints about false positives and other maintenance related charges.
There are more reasons...
@Michael - don't be silly. This is a Liberal plan coming back to life like the undead. The Libs floated this idea several times in their recent eleven year term. We're not going to get them opposing it.
Its undead nature suggests to me that there are some senior public servants really pushing this one. Rudd was a senior public servant and may well take their ideas more seriously than the ideas are due.
Freedom of speech can only happen in a free and open society. I do not want to live in a country that is a Police state. America is at a point of Revolution due to George W. Bush reckless disrespect of the US constitution. Labor can take there Orwellian, New World Order and Globalism crap and go a jump of the edge of the earth. Bring on the Republic and up with the Eureka Flag.
@UR Mum : You sound like someone who's never spent any time in the third world, where the consequences of censorship in tinpot dictatorships that torture their people are very clear.. You also sound like a pissy little fifteen year old who can't see the irony in using the internet in an abusive, uncensored fashion to rage on people who don't want the internet censored - they're actually fighting for the right of little twerps like you to spout your anger.
The real issue here as well, which nobody seems to be addressing is that this "filter" makes it much easier for the government to set up a system which gives preferential treatment to media conglomerates to provide high speed access to the backbone. So for example, if News Corp launches a movies on demand service, people will be downloading content at high speeds. But if you're a lowly independent film or tv content site who's just started up, you have no chance of competing. It's not only the anti-democratic, it's anti-capitalist
Perhaps someone should ask Rupert Murdoch the world's second largest purchaser and distributor of hard-core porn, whether he dreamt this idea up.
Just a notion not an accusation, but he sure is in there somewhere most especially when it comes to money.
I think all the 'police state' style comments are a bit over the top. We currently have, and need police, policing our state! The intent here is to target child pornography, although what peripheral monitoring this technology will enable is a massive concern. If this technology could very accurately target child pornography at the expense of a modest slowdown I would support it. However, I have grave doubts that this will be the case. Governments getting involved in cutting edge technology is consistently a horrid mess, and waste of taxpayers money. I have the feeling the companies that are tendering on this work are licking their lips at the thought of this junket as they tell a gullible government exactly what they want to hear. Those that seek this offensive material will find ways around this technology, while the general public will be left with a slower internet and massive tax bill that is my concern.
Changed username:- RRRobert: 100% re your comments about the police. Ditto child porn. The point is, the govt, via the ISP's, will effectively be the middle-man in EVERYTHING you do online. Do you buy/sell on eBay? be concerned! Do you shop online? Be concerned! Are your political views a little bit too right or left? Be concerned! Mark my words: there is a hidden agenda here, and Big Business/Big Money is behind it. They have finaly worked out that we can talk country to country, race to race, religion to religion, capitalist to communist, exiled President to terrorist. So, they seek to control. The USSR at its worst was not like this. They did it to your face, not behind our backs like these curs!
Keep Pushing Them!!!
I have to agree with most comments above. I too enjoy "my corner" of the internet. As EFA says, this needs to circulated to EVERY possible media outlet, preferebly in the forthcoming week. Its going to take lots of cash to do so, and I would be happy to donate to the cause. If it gets to a high court challenge, then so be it. It's really political suicide. I asked a few people at work today (several of them in an IT environment) about the upcoming internet censorship trials, and I was met with a "What internet censorship?" Not enough people know this is occuring as I write this. We need ACTION, and we need it NOW.
@Robert
I say this not knowing what news you see or read but if you get your information from the Australian mainstream media, then you are already getting a sanitized and bias version of the news. With recent RNC protest in St Paul - Minneapolis, police is full riot gear were throwing stun grenades and tear gas into crowds of peaceful protesters. On other occasions, police would lead then into a direction where the protesters ended up be surrounded by police and then one by one they were arrested for no reason. I have seen many a things that are happening in America from Independent News sources and I would say that America is on the verge of a police state.
If you want to see child pornography then view this video (2 minutes and 33 seconds in).
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RjOp574Wc0k
Now if you wondering what that video is about, then you better ask the elites of American society like George W. Bush and Henry Kissinger since this is their club.
So... If I find the ALP website offensive to me (reason: I find the term "working family" to be offensive language), who can I call to arrange to have it added to the national blocklist?
If I am the legitimate victim of the filter incorrectly blocking my legitimate site, how can I get it sorted out?
Would I have grounds to sue the pants off the government for loss of business if my legitimate e-commerce website was blocked incorrectly?
Seriously, who decides what is "in" or "out"? What right of appeal do we (any of us) have to get sites allowed/disallowed? How would this be handled? how long would it take? Would it be done by (useless) web-robots or by (taxpayer funded) humans? How much would this cost me?
There are just so many more questions, and these schemes simply can't address these issues satisfactorily. I wonder if the proponents of these schemes have really thought through the potential lawsuits they are exposing the government (well really, us taxpayers) to..
I like my porn. The government can stick this law up thier crack.
Stuff the children, haven't these a$$holes heard of parental control....
Interpol and the AFP recon the reason that it's so hard to catch the lowlife that deal in child porn is because they use encryption: No filter can stop this traffic, end of story.
Why is no information going to be available via the freedom of inf act as to which sites are actually blocked?
Valid reasons for blocking sites.
The mainstream media is very accommodating in not reporting what the government does not wish to be publicly known the internet is not
Any site with political content the government disagrees with can be blocked.
Any site critical of the same can be blocked and the list goes on.
Learn all about "onion" routers such as Tor and how no amount of filters can block your access. Protect your own right to information and free speech
It is extraordinary that those who oppose Sen. Conroy's plan for blocking internet access are described by his spokesman as "extremist".
The only extremists I see in this debate are in the government and Sen. Conroy's office in particular!
Thankfully programs such as TOR and FreeGate (designed to get round the Great Firewall of China and Iran and Burma's blocking systems) will be available.
I have no interest in or desire for the muck on the net but I do not want or need Sen. Conroy (or Sen. Fielding) deciding what I do or do not read or see.
Already the international internet press is awash with stories of the government's plan ....the response is one of horror and surprise that a so-called democratic government would even attempt this sort of attack on the rights of its citizens.
This sort or creeping censorship is a blight on Australia.
The price of democracy really is eternal vigilance!
VPN, Anonymous Proxies, TOR, FreeGate, FreeNode, this will not work.
It just reminds me of them damn christian do gooders in the simpsons.
OH BUT YOU HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THE CHILDREN.
There is no way to describe proscribed content in a systematic, content or intent-based policy. So any content proscribed is either arbitrary, and does not address the problem, or is identified through some bias, such as publisher. people invent new forms of communication to communicate banned subjects, so perhaps it is just a publicity stunt or diversion...
Eat my @$$ rudd, they cannot be serious. This page will be on the list soon.
Internet Censorship!!!
this is freaking extreme,
any company who has the words or combination of words as prescribed by the filter would have to have their identities changed because their websites would more than likely be banned, doctors who do research or post research on 'sex' for example would be blocked, as their sites would be blocked, I'm assuming based on a wide spanning block.
come on, we have gone from such a democracy, to having ruled by an iron fist. don't get me wrong, though I though this was a 'free country'.
I think the people of australia have to have a say about this, not just by the big wigs whom we've elected in. As the policies affect all people here.
The truth is (and there's no way Senator Conway doesn't know this) is that there's no way this will stop child pornography. People involved in any universally-despised activities like child porn will have a system of transient sites, and non-internet-based networks to allow themselves to continue what they do.
Meanwhile the rest of Australia suffers under the Maoist regime of censorship & hysteria. Senator Conway will continue to label the 70%+ of Australians who don't want the Internet censorship as 'pro-child-porn'. This has everything to do with Digital Media Rights (will only partially work as people will establish other methods and networks) and bending over backwards for special interest groups.
The general good-will behind the scheme may be fine in theory, however in practice, the golden numbers were around 30% network reduction speed, up to 75% for the "more effective filters" according to the Tasmanian test report.
As a personal thought, I believe that the money would be better invested in Law Enforcement if the senator were truly trying to take these sites off the internet, and not trying to impress special interest groups, including those with interests in Digital Media Rights.
Taking away all non-public transport because of drink driving won't stop the problem, it'll only extend the lengths people will have to go to get at it. Blanket solutions don't tend to work, and labelling those who speak out as pro-child porn will in the long run just paint that as the Hon. Senator's catchphrase for years ahead.
Absolutely typical, the government is treating us like children, last time I looked, I was classified as an adult, capable of making my own decisions, like being able to choose what I want to look and not look at on the internet.
If this madness of a filter gets through, it will ruin the internet in Australia and we can thank the government for that, as far as I'm concerned, they can stick it where the sun don't shine, Senator Conroy is a fool and nothing more.
Just coming up to speed on this. It's encouraging to read so many excellent, thoughtful and feisty comments.
I've written an article entitled 'Building the Great Australian FireWall, brick by brick' that may be of interest.
It's at http://www.cairnsblog.net/2008/11/building-great-australian-firewall.html and focuses on my primary concern, which is political censorship by the back door. I suspect the 'child protection' angle is a ruse.
Good luck to all of us, as the Irish say.
You Aussie folks just let me know when this filtering stuff takes effect and I'll be glad to launch a geostationary communications satellite and position it over your country so you all can get your totally UNfiltered and UNcensored internet directly from my satellite, okay? I'd like to see your country try to find a way to stop this solution, because short of shooting it down I don't see how they could, do you?
:)
I work in the IT field also (although not in Australia at the moment). The modern economy runs on a backbone of technology, and, if there's not sufficient legal grounds to halt something this extreme, an equally extreme response comes to mind.
Time to start organizing service providers and IT professionals for some national downtime? The government might be able to legislate it, but they certainly don't keep it running. I can't think of a better way to hit them where it hurts, politically speaking.
Tunnel your traffic out via an encrypted ssh (secure shell) client and the filter won't be able to filter anything as it is encrypted gobbleygook.
LOL I see a business opportunity
search google for ssh tunnel and squid proxy.
Listen here all you wingers....... very easy implementation without any loss of speed:
Only sites allowed *.gov.au Piece of cake!!
Peter; Hope you're only taking the pi$$. Seriously, Peter, I think that might be just what they want. Remember TASS?
As I'm out of the country, all updates on this matter is greatly appreciated. I plan on moving back home in the years to come, but would like to know just what's going on regarding this specific matter.
If this does go through what assurances do we have that blocks won't be extended to other information in the future? What assurances do we have that the Government of the day won't bow to pressure from self-appointed "baby-sitters" such as FF(A) & DFA to extend blocks further?
There are nationwide protests being organised on December 13th. Currently there are protests being planned in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart, as well as a Perth protest which has not yet been confirmed. See http://www.stopthecleanfeed.com for details.
Also, if you're interested in helping to organise protests, online or offline (eg. making posters, putting up posters, etc) please go to http://www.nocleanfeedforum.com
It took 5 letters each written to both my local member and to Senator Conroy before I got a response and it was a standard reply, in other words, they are full of sh**. Has anyone else who's written to their local member had to wait so long for a response to a letter you've sent them?? I'm still going to write a letter every week to these politicians until this madness stops and it was a letter I found on this site, which is perfectly written for this situation.
If this filter ever works properly and that's a BIG IF, I've decided to NEVER vote for the labor party again, both federally and at state level, this will be my protest against these ****holes, they can stick this filter where the sun don't shine.
Don't forget this whole plan is 'exempted' from the Freedom of Speech Act.