International journalist advocate body Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders) has put Australia on an “under surveillance” list of countries with increasingly rigorous control over Internet information flows.
The addition puts Australia in company with South Korea, Malaysia, Turkey and several other countries in a group that sits just below RSF’s “Internet Enemies” list, which hosts 12 of the usual suspects including Iran, North Korea, Burma and China.
Australia’s inclusion is based on the following:
Under the guise of fighting child pornography, the government wants to set up a filtering system never before seen in a democracy. The State of South Australia has passed a law prohibiting online anonymity in an electoral context.
With Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey joining the calls for the Internet Filter to be stopped and now an International reporting organisation joining the cause too, it’s starting to feel like the No Clean Feed message is getting some real heavyweights behind it.
Hopefully, this is just one more step on the path to making the Government understand the proposed filtering system needs to be reviewed as a matter of urgency.
Common – censorship? How far is too far? A democracy? Freedom? Why is it that governments feel that they need to take total control? 1984? George Orwell? Big Brother?
Readers will, no doubt, have noticed all named offenders are either Left Wing Socialist Democracies, Dictatorships or Theocracies. How nice to know Australia has joined that club.
Joe Hockey is a heavy weight. Did you see Mr Angry Fat Boy rolling around on the ground like a barrel at the Rugby? Very fat. Very Heavy Weight.
South Australia is a state or what?
I think your full stop (period) key may have changed places with the question mark key.
haha – i notice the pun when writing the post but thought it was just me being a bit immature. Guess not :)
Yeah, South Australia is a state in the, um…south of Australia. – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Australia
When did the government get the idea that they tell the people how to live rather than the people tell them how to govern. Who the hell do they think the represent? I know the Christian minority has always pushed their agenda through their stranglehold on government, but this is going too far. It's time for the silent majority to be not so silent and fight this government. We no longer live in a democracy. We live in an Idiocracy!
That's so strange! I mean, how it can be so controlled? If the others can manage the Internet and use all the necessary tools to make it safer then the others should be able as well.