Thread: Australian Internet Censorship

I'll start off by saying that I think it's absolutely ridiculous. For such an apparently democratic country, we sure are having China's "system" and "values" shoved down our throats. Rather than giving the people the chance to decide right from wrong, we'll be having the government dictating what's good and what's bad for us.
Reading through a large number of different news article publications from our main newspapers in the country - it seems that they are using the fact that some countries have already implemented this as an excuse to make the idea seem decent and acceptable.

If this is the case, then how come we still haven't got an 18+ rating for games? But that's another topic altogether.

Still, it's not about the issue of visiting the "prohibited" sites but it's more about upholding the right and values of the (apparent) democracy.
Granted, there is a lot of nasty stuff out there, but if aren't capable of deciding what's good for you and your family, then don't use the internet in the first place.

Australia is a monarchy, not a democracy... a constitutional monarchy, but one ruled by the Queen and Parliament, no less. You do not have the protection of a bill of rights and there is nothing to protect you from censorship such as this. There is no such thing as freedom of speech in Australia.

What I don't understand is why most Australians voted against democracy? Perhaps that's another topic, but I suspect fear of change kept many citizens from making the leap forward.

Here is something you can do to help. Sign this petition and join other Australians in trying to Save The Net:

Say NO to Internet Censorship!

Firstly, I'd like to say, what does China have to do with Australian's censorship on internet, so let's stay on this very top of internet censorship in Australia and leave China out of it.
I don't know if it is illegal to to visit the banned sites, however, I think such filtering program will not help at all. There are millions of ways to penetrate it. I will be surfing the net just like I always have been, and writing tutorials on how to by pass internet censorship for Australians. I think the government is just trying to make everyone a IT expert.

Originally Posted by JustJenna

What I don't understand is why most Australians voted against democracy? Perhaps that's another topic, but I suspect fear of change kept many citizens from making the leap forward.

Do you mean the referendum on Australia becoming a republic? That failed because, in an attempt to sabotage it, the government of the day put up an unrealistic model that nobody would accept. People wanted to become a republic, just not johnny's model.

Whilst the government may be a constitutional monarchy, the Commonwealth itself is a constitutional democracy.

As for what China has to do with it - Google "Great firewall of China" and read up a bit. Things may begin to look a tad familiar.

Oh and:

What is internet censorship?

Originally Posted by SpecialA

What is internet censorship?

It's basically the idea of the government blocking out certain sites as they see fit, rather than the people being left to decide for themselves as to whether something is appropriate.

It's basically the system that's currently in place in communist China.

Originally Posted by iCE

As for what China has to do with it - Google "Great firewall of China" and read up a bit. Things may begin to look a tad familiar.

Oh and:

let me make my point clearer, since we are talking about internet censorship in Australia, not internet censorship in general, why bring China, which is not even in this geographical region into it.
I know there are a lot of arguments like "hey, The Chinese are doing it, so let's not to", but seriously, this is not a smart enough argument, not for Brain Stew anyway.
Sorry for hijacking the thread with the above comments, however, I don't think blocking access to certain websites will help at all, if the government seriously thinks it is dangerous for the children, run educational courses, teach them in schools, but not block the sites. It will make the sites mysteries, and more children will be curious to see them, rather than running into them coincidently.

Originally Posted by iCE

It's basically the idea of the government blocking out certain sites as they see fit, rather than the people being left to decide for themselves as to whether something is appropriate.

It's basically the system that's currently in place in communist China.

Damn..that sucks. Ha the internet censorship already tooken place in australia?
Also what type of sites would they block?