We need to save the internet from Conroy, and the Governments proposed Internet Filter.

To quote the South Australian Facebook Event:

The Australian Federal Government is pushing forward with a plan to force Internet Service Providers [ISPs] to censor the Internet for all Australians. This plan will waste tens of millions of taxpayer dollars and slow down Internet access.

Despite being almost universally condemned by the public, ISPs, State Governments, Media and censorship experts, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is determined to force this filter into your home.

What is the Government’s plan?

Although the final details of the filtering plans have been kept under wraps, the Minister is on record as being firmly committed to a mandatory clean-feed internet to Australian homes, schools and public computers. A trial of filtering software by the ACMA has already been performed, with a “live” field pilot to follow later this year. We must act fast before millions of dollars are squandered on this technically impractical and democratically unworkable solution in search of a problem.
What do we know so far?

• Filtering will be mandatory in all homes and schools across the country.
• The clean feed will censor material that is “harmful and inappropriate” for children.
• The filter will require a massive expansion of the ACMA’s blacklist of prohibited content.
• The Government wants to use dynamic filters of questionable accuracy that slow the internet down by an average of 30%.
• The filtering will target legal as well as illegal material.
• $44m has been budgeted for the implementation of this scheme so far.
• The clean-feed for children will be opt-out, but a second filter will be mandatory for all Internet users.
• A live pilot deployment is going ahead in the near future.

What we don’t know is just as important.

• What age level is the country’s Internet to be made appropriate for? 15? 10? 5 years old?
• Who decides what material is “appropriate” for Australians to see?
• How are lists of “illegal” material compiled?
• Who will maintain the blacklist of prohibited sites?
• How can sites mistakenly added to the list be removed?

All of us want to see children protected from content that could be disturbing or harmful. The clean-feed filter is not a good way to go about this, and could actually reduce the safety of children online.

There is a Nationwide protest for against the filter that will be occuring in South Australia on Saturday December 13th from 12 noon to 4 pm at the steps of Parliment House.

Please RSVP to the Facebook Event and invite all your friends along.