Australian Gov't Censors Plans About Gov't Internet Censorship

from the to-avoid-premature-unnecessary-debate dept

As the Australian government pushes forward with plans to have ISPs spy on users as part of its effort to control and censor the internet, some have made a freedom of information request to see the details of the plan... and the government provided the documents with 90% of the content blacked out. Yes, the government is censoring its plans about censorship. Even better is the "reasoning" for this. Government officials defended the move by saying it:
"may lead to premature unnecessary debate and could potentially prejudice and impede government decision making".
Yes, how dare the people make their views known in a way that lets the government know they don't approve. That would be a representative government, and apparently Australia doesn't believe in such things.
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Filed Under: australia, censorship, isps, public debate, spying


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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Jul 2010 @ 5:51am

    Farce

    Why do't governments give up the farce and call citizens what they really are, property.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Jul 2010 @ 5:51am

    Slippery Slope

    They better nip this "freedom of information" thing in the bud or the next thing you know, people in Australia will start wanting things like "democracy".

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    martyburns (profile), 23 Jul 2010 @ 6:03am

    WTF? I need a lie down.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Yogi, 23 Jul 2010 @ 6:05am

    It's the Jews

    No really, it's the Jews' fault - for inventing the word "hutzpa."

    The Australian government embodies that concept admirably.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Dark Helmet (profile), 23 Jul 2010 @ 7:09am

      Re: It's the Jews

      Yogi, the title of your comment was surpremely funny, especially coming from you....

      Well done sir, although don't forget the Irish. I'm fairly certain that you'd have to drink a fair amount of whiskey to make a comment like the reasoning for cesoring the information we saw in this article, so we Irish are to blame as well.

      Damn Jewrish, screwing up a protestant nation....

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Hephaestus (profile), 23 Jul 2010 @ 8:29am

      Re: It's the Jews

      Yogi is your real name Mel?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Jul 2010 @ 6:07am

    god tell me this comes from the onion

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Free Capitalist (profile), 23 Jul 2010 @ 6:12am

    Minister of a Thousand Truths

    FTA:
    "More specifically, it is information concerning the development of government policy which has not been finalised, and there is a strong possibility that the policy will be amended prior to public consultation,
    So just how long does it take their government experts to put a 20pt. bold, red header on the document entitling it "CHILD PORNOGRAPHY LIMITATION INITIATIVE". I mean we all know government drones are inefficient, but sheesh, get ON with it already.

    At least from the article it looks like they have a Green senator starting an inquiry. Some comfort better than none.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      TtfnJohn (profile), 23 Jul 2010 @ 8:44am

      Re: Minister of a Thousand Truths

      I was starting to think that the term "former penal colony" for Australia was wrong in that it appears that far too many Aussies, if polls are correct, want someone else to make their decisions for them.

      At least someone in the Australian Senate is questioning this. As you say some small comfort is better than none at all.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Jul 2010 @ 6:30am

    We also have the pirate party opposing the idea entirely.

    There was a new poll done aswell finding against the other one, that people do want the internet censored, but that they dont want the government to do it, and better education and parenting would be better.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Big Al, 23 Jul 2010 @ 9:56am

      Re:

      The worrying thing is that the previous government, in a moment of blinding common sense, made filters similar to 'Net Nanny' available for free download from all ISPs, so that parents could take control of the filtering level on the family PC(s).
      However, as soon as the Rudd government took over these were withdrawn so that they would have an excuse to implement their blanket censorship.
      Consequently, for the past three years there has been no 'free' filter available if anyone required one.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 23 Jul 2010 @ 1:14pm

        Re: Re:

        Wasn't there a limited (try very limited) response to those filters? I seem to remember that only a small amount of people sked for them over a reasonably long period of time.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Jul 2010 @ 7:00am

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    barney rumble, 23 Jul 2010 @ 8:12am

    IDEA

    why not just tie them to the couch and put mics up there arse and stick a camera in there faces

    and internet HA you get none form now on
    and they will wire one of these wireless cameras into the back of your head and it can move around 360 degrees

    WERE WATCHING YOU FLINSTONE

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    ChronoFish (profile), 23 Jul 2010 @ 8:23am

    Open Government Promise

    Right here:
    http://agimo.govspace.gov.au/2010/07/16/declaration-of-open-government/


    I quote myself from an earlier TechDirt posting:

    "...Bottom line - can't trust the US (or any) Government..."

    -CF

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Joe Secrets, 23 Jul 2010 @ 10:04am

    Nothing wrong with that

    There are two reasons why the Australian government is well within their rights to draft and present a plan this way:

    1. Firstly, the Australian government *STATEMENT REDACT*, and *STATEMENT REDACT* with the co-operation of *STATEMENT REDACT*.

    2. Lastly, it's a well known fact that *STATEMENT REDACT*. With that in mind, *STATEMENT REDACT* and *STATEMENT REDACT* for the safety and common good of Australian citizens.

    I have no idea why you guys aren't getting it!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Imachicken, 23 Jul 2010 @ 12:51pm

    @Joe Secrets

    Right on!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    BearGriz72 (profile), 23 Jul 2010 @ 6:49pm

    Australia Will Destroy Us All

    The censoring of the censorship plan by the government censors of the Commonwealth of Australia will now commence, the resulting deformation of space-time will cause the City of Canberra to implode into a Quantum Singularity. Because of its low mass (aprox. 10,000 Metric Tonnes) this microscopic black hole would normally be expected to evaporate in just under a day, while releasing every second ~17x as much energy as the largest nuclear weapon ever tested, vaporizing the Australian continent and destroying all life on earth.

    However 23.3532861 hours would be more than enough time for the singularity to sink to the core of the earth and start forming an accretion disk as it gains angular momentum from the spin of the planet itself. As the Hole slowly devoured the earth it would increase in size to ~1/3 inch its energy output would decrease to almost nothing and its expected lifetime would grow to 5.68061034*10^50 years (That's a Freaking Long Time BTW)

    Why does the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia want to destroy the human race??? ;)

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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