If Rudd continues on his brainless plan of internet filtering, not only will he make things worse, he will sign his own political death warrant. The internet provides ordinary citizens of the world with freedoms that people die for. It strikes at the heart of Democracy. Bye Rudd.
Aussies plan to block P2P and Bit Torrent Not restricted to porn and terrorists By Egan Orion Monday, 22 December 2008, 17:06
INTERNET FILTERING mandated by the Australian government will block all peer-to-peer (P2P) and Bit Torrent traffic, an Australian news site reports today.
Broadband Minister Stephen Conroy posted word on his department's bog that filtering P2P and Bit Torrent file transfers will be tested by ISPs in the pilot trial scheduled to begin soon.
Conroy wrote, "Technology that filters peer-to-peer and Bit Torrent traffic does exist and it is anticipated that the effectiveness of this will be tested in the live pilot trial."
The government initially proposed that its filtering would block only child pornography and 'terrorist' websites, in typical authoritarian appeals to 'save the children' and 'keep us safe'.
Australia's online censorship czar revealed his desire to expand the government's Internet filtering trial to include dodgy download traffic in reaction to criticisms lodged on the country's Digital Economy Future Directions website that was launched this month.
That online forum has been flooded with public commentary attacking Senator Conroy over the government's Internet filtering ambitions.
Large crowds protested against the government's plans in cities all over Australia earlier this month. Despite those protests and petitions against its proposals, the government has maintained its plans to go ahead with the blanket censorship.
The Australian government seems to think that 'free speech' merely means having the right to complain, but that the so-called 'free' Australian public shouldn't expect its views to have any effect on government policies.
Blocking P2P and BitTorrent traffic will likely lead to explosive growth in Virtual Private Network (VPN) service providers and widespread adoption of other encrypted protocols like Secure Shell (SSH). If the Australian government blocks those too, many commercial websites and online businesses that contribute to the country's economy will be shut down.
The Australian government can probably be counted on to bungle this initiative, however. The live trial of Internet filtering was scheduled to start this week, but the country's major ISPs reportedly haven't received instructions yet. µ
