By 2011 Australia will no longer have a free and open internet. Australia has introduced web filters to censor the internet country-wide. Banned websites will be selected by an “independent classification body guided by complaints from the public”, said Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy.
The Australian government conducted a 7 month trial of the web filter system that they plan to use and claim that the technology is “100% effective”. One report says that the government already has 10,000 sites that they are prepared to censor as “unwanted content”. Senator Conroy said that they will be testing the filters against the ACMA blacklist of prohibited content, which is mostly child pornography, as well as filtering of other unwanted content.” He also said “the list would contain illegal and unwanted content but we still have to see what would end up on that list.”
I can see it already. Not only will they block disgusting and illegal websites but the censorship will not end there. I promise that technology such as this will be abused and the freedom of all will suffer for it.
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Instead of merely blocking these websites why don’t they shut the websites down and criminally charge those who are running illegal websites or child porn rings? Why block the content and leave it on the internet if it’s so bad and unlawful? Why can the government decide which websites are okay and which are not okay if they are not breaking any law? Can the government decide what you are and are not allowed to know? If you are an entrepreneur or an internet publisher like myself, should the government be allowed to decide if your new business or website gets the same traffic speed as everyone else who pays for the same services you do? Should they be allowed to block your website or business from the internet if they don’t like what you have to say? I don’t think so. The government needs to stay out of people’s business and stick to what it’s supposed to do which is run countries properly, lawfully, and with respect for its people and their privacy.
We can not let what has happened to the internet in China and Australia happen to our internet here in Canada, the United States, or anywhere else that has not already succumbed to the anti-internet freedom movements coming from the corporate owned government officials from around the world.
The Public Interest Advocacy Center (PIAC) published a report called Staying Neutral: Canadian Consumers and the Fight for Net Neutrality. You can read the whole report here. In the report the PIAC says:
“Canadians are frustrated by interference with their Internet connections and want their rights protected. It’s not clear to them that the Internet is neutral enough in Canada.”
Canadians need to show support for net neutrality. Without net neutrality entrepreneurs could be pushed out of the market by big corporate entities who pay internet providers for the good positioning on the web. Political groups could be slowed by internet providers or their corporate masters. Innovation would be stifled, we would lose access to information, and competition to the corporate masters would be limited. We can not allow this sort of corporate government manipulation of the internet to happen in our country.
The internet is our most important tool and until now we have been enjoying what has been termed Net Neutrality for many years since the internet was launched publicly in 1992. Net Neutrality means that those who own the Internets infrastructure must maintain the integrity of the data that passes through the network. This has kept networks from blocking, degrading, or prioritizing content, services, or applications based on who owns, uses, or created them.
Common-Carrier laws have long regulated the way telecommunications services have been operated. They require communications carried over the telecommunication networks to be carried without discrimination. Since most people’s internet connections are run through telephone DSL lines I’m pretty sure that these rules apply to the internet in Canada as well. Canada’s Telecommunications Act states:
Unjust discrimination
27.(2) No Canadian carrier shall, in relation to the provision of a telecommunications service or the charging of a rate for it, unjustly discriminate or give and undue or unreasonable preference toward any person, including itself, or subject any person to an undue or unreasonable disadvantage.Content of Messages
36. Except where the Commission approves otherwise, a Canadian carrier shall not control the content or influence the meaning or purpose of telecommunications carried by it for the public.
Please show support for a free and open internet and support net neutrality! Write to your government officials and tell them that you want net neutrality and that they should support a free and open internet. Don’t let them take away the most useful tool known to humankind!
Hi, I'm Mitch this site is about everything from health and freedom, to UFOs and conspiracies... If you like my blog, subscribe to my newsletter! If you don't like my blog, then get the hell off my internets ya big jerk! :)
