PLEASE NOTE:
Since this group was started in January 2008, it's gone nuts. Totally bananas. And I thank you all for the support.
Unfortunately, Facebook stops allowing me to send group messages to groups with over 5,000 people in them. So that part of this group is disabled, so please, whilst I love to hear from people - don't ask me to message everyone in the group...because I can't.
I have spent 6 months arguing this out with FB customer service but to no avail.
However, as originator of this group...I am happy to make comment or speak as part of research, news, feedback or a campaign.
Thanks
SKD
www.straightedge.com.au
___________________________________________
In 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Article 19 affirms the right to free speech:
"Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."
Receive information through any media....
(note: whilst this is a UN article it was never ratified into the Australian constitution)
INVITE YOUR FRIENDS --------------------------->
Censorship of any kind is a slipperly slope. Rudd has proposed blanket filters on all Australian ISP which Australian citizens will apparently be allowed to 'opt out' from. These filters are intended to stop children accessing to child porn and other such disturbing material.
Whilst we accept that those viewing such content should be subjected to the full force of the law, where does it stop?
Will ISPs filter content with bad language?
If the 'c' word appears in a screenplay will that also be filtered?
What about independent music with bad language and alternative themes?
Who has the input as to what is restricted?
What else will suffer censorship?
Horror films? Violent computer games?
Students of biology and medicine - will they have access to research sites blocked because of content? Queensland Health have already had this problem...
Do we block access to chat rooms?
TechCrunch recently estimated that 260 new porn sites go online daily - how can a filter at ISP level possibly manage to block this content without compromising normal content?
On top of all that....
Will this slow the internet down? 'iinet' have already claimed filtering will 'affect the performance of the network quite significantly'. In a country where our broadband speeds are way behind the rest of the developed world, slowing it down even more won't help.
Where does it stop?
When will post-9pm TV become opt-in only?
What has happened to personal responsibility?
Why must the state govern and interfere with everything its citizens do?
Why should our government tell us how and when we should access our information?
Policies like this remove more and more responsibility from the individual for their own actions. Parents are responsible for the upbringing of their children, not the government. They can control what they watch and see. They can control what they eat and drink.
In short, any censorship is bad. Protecting children from illicit material - be it child porn, adult porn, swearing, violence or even junk food - is the domain of their parents, not the state.
This is a NON-political group. We're not taking sides on the political divide. National, Liberal, Green or Labor - there is no reason to start censoring the Australian people and their access to the internet, for whatever reason.
Credit to Paul Syvret at the Courier Mail for much of the content above.
___________________________________________
Any posts with deliberate off-topic attacks on political ideologies WILL BE REMOVED, irrespective of the content of the rest of the post. This is a group concerned with preventing censorship of the Australian Internet and discussions should remain around that. As has been pointed out by an officer:
"The political agnosticism of this board hardly qualifies as censorship. You are free to make your own board where you can slag off the political party of your choice. Free speech confers on you the right to say what you like, it doesn't confer on you the right to demand anyone else give you a platform to do so."
___________________________________________
State Reps:
(QLD) Simon Kenworthy-Dell
(SA) Grant Moritz
Search out your state rep if you have any good direct action ideas...
Sign the petitions:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/filtarud/petition.html
http://petitions.takingitglobal.org/oznetcensorship
Check out this action group:
http://stopthecleanfeed.com
And this protest event:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=46838735931
Other related links you might find useful:
http://www.exiledmind.net/files/081102rudd.pdf
http://www.overclockers.com.au/wiki/Australian_Internet_Filtering
http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/?tag=cleanfeed
(read less)
Join