US concerns on Australian net censorship.

I was originally going to post on the Australian ABC’s Kerry Obrien interviewing Obama. I didn’t watch it, as I tend to be lukewarm at best towards Kerry, and have no time for Obama. The thought of watching him piss in Obama’s pocket was a bit much. The transcript is here, and for those who are masochistic enough to watch go to this one. Kerry Obrien for my international readers is best described as what you would expect if you met the love child of Keith Olbermann and Chris Mathews, in political interviews, that is. Well maybe not quite that bad.

In searching I came across a clip from a previous report, indicating that the US has some reservations on the Rudd governments internet censorship scheme. I am not sure why as there seems to be some indication they may be on the same track:


Essentially what is proposed is for a mandatory filter to be installed where ISPs are required to block a secret list of sites. That’s right folks, you are not even allowed to know what sites you are unable to access. The reason for this is possibly the likelihood that they intend to make the censorship much more extensive than they are advertising and don’t want you to know how much more.

Another is that they do not want you top know how incompetent or bigoted they are. Wikileaks revealed a list from the governments trial of the system and it included, online poker sites, YouTube links, regular gay and straight porn sites, Wikipedia entries, euthanasia sites, websites of fringe religions such as satanic sites, fetish sites, Christian sites, the website of a tour operator and even a Queensland dentist.

New Zealand implemented a similar system recently, blocking among others Prison Planet and Infowars, so the intent over there, appears to be sinister.

Rudd feels that he can push through anything he wishes as long as he can invoke the “protect the little children” clause. Interestingly Conroy, the idiot charged with implementing it has not even viewed the content, claiming it is illegal to do so. Guys just got no sense of adventure, which fits nicely with his lack of a sense of reality.

The Australian Libertarian site, “Thoughts on Freedom” has a great discussion on the subject at present. Check it out and comment if you wish, you are welcome.