Australia To Test Cars That Won't Let You Speed

from the slow-down,-dave dept

About a year and a half ago, we wrote about plans by transportation authorities in London to test a system that would force drivers to slow down if they were going over the speed limit. We haven't heard much about the tests since then, but it appears that similar tests will soon get underway in Australia (found via TLF). The system involves a GPS-based device that would track where you are against a database of speed limits to determine if you were going over the limit. The system can be programmed to react in three ways. At the lowest level, it would beep at you if you're speeding. A step up from there is where it would automatically cut the gas to slow you down, though there would be a manual override if the driver needed it. Then, there's a third level, where there would be no manual override. It's unclear how widespread the use of this device would be, but apparently there are some discussions about requiring it on all cars -- or (more likely) just for repeat speeding offenders. As we noted when the London tests began, this is attacking the symptom (speeding) rather than the actual disease (bad driving).

Filed Under: australia, driving, gps, speeding

Australia Continues Down The Slippery Slope Of Censorship... 'For The Children,' Of Course

from the politicians-are-idiots dept

Australia has a long history of trying to censor the internet. As far back as 2002, we were talking about the infamous list of banned websites that absolutely no one but the government censors were allowed to know about. Australia required ISPs to block those sites, and there was no review process or appeals process to make sure those sites weren't legitimate sites. Since then, the Australian gov't has pushed for ISPs to be responsible for blocking all porn, and spent hundreds of millions of dollars on porn filters that are easily cracked. More recently, the Australian government pushed to allow the police to add websites to the banned list, again without any sort of due process. Instead, the police could simply tell ISPs they had to block any site that the police feel potentially "encourages, incites or induces," "facilitate(s)" or "has, or is likely to have, the effect of facilitating" a crime. A fairly broad description.

That's why it's a bit weird to see the fuss being kicked up over the latest policy to force all ISPs to put in place mandatory filters that can only be surpassed by officially opting-out (the equivalent of making someone go register to get a "porn license." There really isn't that much new or different here, but it does have the standard politician pandering about how this is all to "protect the children."

What's most bothersome about this story, however, is the response from politicians to those who oppose this kind of censorship: "If people equate freedom of speech with watching child pornography, then the Rudd-Labor Government is going to disagree." That's not just misleading and wrong, it's obnoxiously incorrect. In one single move, the politicians brush off anyone concerned about this program as being supporters of child porn. That's a pretty good way to kill a rather important debate. The people who are opposed to this kind of plan aren't "equating freedom of speech with watching child porn," and it's an outright fabrication for any politician to suggest such a thing. What they're complaining about is the idea that the government can force private companies to block access to certain pages on the internet itself. For those who point out that these sites are illegal in themselves, then shouldn't the government be going after those who are responsible for the sites? That's the problem that people have with this. The government is effectively blocking sites without any due process, while failing to actually go after those who may be doing something illegal. Yet, rather than deal with that issue, the politicians brush off all criticism by suggesting all criticism comes from people who want to look at child porn.

Filed Under: australia, filters, porn, regulations

Australia May Ban Plasma And LCD TVs Over Energy Concerns

from the just-replace-them-with-flourescents dept

Australian politicians are clearly concerned about energy consumption. Earlier this year, they were among the first to look to ban the incandescent bulb in favor of fluorescent bulbs. Now it looks like they're getting ready to take on televisions. New regulations may end up effectively banning both plasma and LCD TV screens as energy hogs (found via The Raw Feed). We all know that these big screen TVs are the SUVs of the electricity world, but does that really mean they should be banned completely? There are definitely efforts under way to make the systems more energy efficient, and many buyers are certainly aware of these issues (or they are as soon as they get their electricity bills). If anything, this seems like the sort of problem that works itself out without the need for the government to step in and force folks back into the world of big bulky TVs with (gasp!) small screens. Update: As noted in the comments, the Australian gov't has come out to say that a ban on plasma and LCD TVs is greatly exaggerated.

Filed Under: australia, energy, lcd, plasma, tv

Australian Web Censorship Continues Down The Slippery Slope

from the this-witty-remark-has-been-censored-for-your-safety dept

The Australian government has had a long and storied history of trying to block porn on the Internet. But, this Thursday, a bill was introduced in Australia that would take this censorship even further. The bill would allow the federal police to alter the blacklist of sites currently controlled by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. With this, the federal police are empowered to blacklist any site that "encourages, incites or induces," "facilitate(s)" or "has, or is likely to have, the effect of facilitating" a crime. This brush is incredibly broad, and without proper checks and balances, it seems likely to be abused. Australian Police would be able to block any site they don't like, and claim that it is "likely" to facilitate crime. Australia's censorship trip down a very slippery slope takes a big second step here. First porn, now "criminal" sites. With this power, Australia is but a tiny step away from censoring valid free speech. Maybe Australia should just route all of its traffic through China's "Great Firewall" first -- that might be easier.

Filed Under: australia, censorship

Australian Online Forum Sued Because Users Wrote How They Didn't Like Accounting Software Package

from the safe-harbors-anyone? dept

While there are lots of problematic laws when it comes to the internet, two things that the US got right (though, in otherwise troublesome laws) was putting in various "safe harbor" provisions that protect service providers from the actions of their users, whether it's for copyright infringement (in the DMCA) or libel (in the CDA). Folks in other countries aren't so lucky, leading to all sorts of questionable lawsuits that seem to be a lot more about silencing critics than dealing with actual libel or infringement. The latest such story comes from Australia. Reader technofear writes in to let us know that a popular Australian online forum (and the guy who owns it) is being sued by a software firm because a number of forum users posted negative reviews of their software -- which the firm considers defamatory. As the article explains, the software firm is going to have quite a difficult time proving the case, because the company would need to show the statements were false (pretty hard to do when they seem to be of the nature of "we threw it out recently... many hundreds of lost hours of work and high stress levels was not worth it") and that forum owner had malicious intent... and then also show that the company lost money due to these postings. However, in the meantime, the company can tie up the owner of the site in a costly legal battle. If there were clear safe harbors, it would be much easier to fight back and hope for a quick summary judgment throwing the case out. In the meantime, some folks are pointing out that, as should be expected these days, the accounting software that got all these awful reviews is getting plenty of attention, but all of it is associated with the fact that the product isn't very good and the company apparently doesn't handle criticism well. Perhaps next time the company will learn to engage and respond to critics rather than trying to shut them up by suing the site that hosted their complaints.

Filed Under: australia, libel, safe harbors, service providers

Australian Internet Porn Filter Cracked By Kid; Politicians Get The Wrong Message

from the spend-more-money! dept

Remember a few weeks ago how the Australian government was getting ready to spend many millions of dollars on internet porn filters? We ridiculed the second part of the plan, which was to force ISPs to filter the internet, but the first part of the plan was to hand out free client-side filters that could be installed on computers by parents. The cost to the government was a mere $84 million Australian (about $70 million US). It should come as no surprise, though, that a teenager claims it took him all of about half an hour to crack the filter. Even better, he says he did so in a way that the icon still shows on the computer, so parents will think the software is still working. Of course, there are always ways to get around filters and it's not hard for many kids to figure them out. Still, rather than recognizing that the government has wasted many millions of dollars on a futile program, one of the main political backers of the program said it only highlights why the country needs to spend even more on filters, including those ISP filters that won't work either.

Filed Under: australia, filters, porn, regulations

Australian Prime Minister To Spend Hundreds Of Millions To 'Clean Up The Internet'

from the let-us-know-how-that-goes dept

Australian politicians seem to be a bit confused over the fact that any attempt to block all porn online will fail miserably. Proposals to force ISPs to block porn have been put forth by Australian politicians over and over and over again. Now, the Prime Minister John Howard has announced that the government will spend $189 million to "clean up the internet." That will include giving a list of sites to ISPs to block, though it's unclear how those lists are determined and if there's any appeals process for sites who feel unfairly blocked. The money will also go to providing free internet filters to every family in the country -- which is certainly nice for those families that want a filter. However, none of that will stop porn on the internet. None of it will stop predators from trying to lure children. There's this belief that if we just hide it away, these things will actually disappear. That's simply not true. Just as it makes sense to teach kids some sense of street smarts as they grow up, it makes sense to teach them internet smarts as well -- and then they'll be prepared to deal with whatever they come across, whether or not there are filters. Too often, people assume that once filters are in place that no bad stuff can get through. And that means that those kids are often less well prepared for what they come across online. Instead, if you teach kids to understand the dangers of the internet, it appears they are pretty good at protecting themselves.

Filed Under: australia, filters, porn, regulations