Is it goodbye to Aussies?

Im Australian. Its got nothing to do with second life. Its to stop kiddy porn and its going to have an opt in/out option.
Basically the government has to look like theyre doing something otherwise they get all these ultra conservative wankers lobbying them.
Unfortunately the Australian Constitution does not have any express provision relating to freedom of speech. In theory, therefore, the Commonwealth Parliament may restrict or censor speech through censorship legislation or other laws, as long as they are otherwise within constitutional power.

Sometimes Im not so sure about the freedom of speech laws in the USA anyway. If they allow people like Pastor Fred Phelps and those from the westboro baptist church to say the hateful and destructive things that they say then maybe its time the USA changed also.

What? Surely this won't get very far.

coco

Edit - read Shep: Well if you can turn it off, not so bad then.

I've never been to Australia.

But having spent some time in places ranging from Indonesia to New Guinea to the Republic of Kiribati, I'll say simply this...

...protecting the average Australian I've met from the US internet is sort of like defending the average marine shock troop from CareBear cartoons.

Absolutely ridiculous.

And god knows, they have to import it all... no homegrown naughty bits in Australia right? Yep a firewall will be effective, yaright...



Not worried about this as Australians seem to be just like northern hemisphere western society but generally with an extra dash of salt and common sense.

na it's all bullshit mate, there is no way they could take away SL

she'll be right, stop getting people worked up over nothing

-Crunch

(100 posts woo)

Er, shouldn't that be "rising"?

You've still got your head pointed north.

Yes, it is. We even get to say what we really think about any random politician.

And we have so many random politicians....

They are asking for clean feeds. These are not new and many ISP's already use them, BT for example in the UK.

This story has been blown a bit out of proportion. The Aussies I believe were able to obtain free copies of net nanny before or something like that.

Well...actually, yes. You might get punched in the mouth by someone, but if you want to burn a flag, you usually can. Honestly, if I thought I could get away with it without criminal prosecution, as the son of a Vietnam vet who eventually lost his life as a result of his tours of duty, I'd punch you in the mouth for it (not YOU, the generic "you". At any rate, I'm not guaranteeing that you can get away with it, but under the scope of free speech, I think a lot of the flag burning laws have been struck down by higher courts.

I don't know whether it's illegal to burn the stars and stripes in Australia. Ask Nina. (heh - I kid, I kid).

At any rate, if the communications systems in Australia work like they do here, this firewall would be almost impossible to put into place. Think about the scope of the internet and the size of Australia. Australia isn't some backwater third world nation with a few phone lines and a dial up internet cafe. It's a geographically massive, first world industrial giant with enough of a wealth base to make solid internet access the norm and not the exception. The communications system is monstrous. How on earth could they tap into the entire system and build the Great Wall of Morals around the entire nation. It just doesn't seem feasible. Maybe they can keep the New Zealanders out instead of the porn. (I kid!)

There have been some similar threats in the US where people looked at how feasible it would be to use laws to restrict the ISPs from allowing people to access certain content, such as gambling. The general (although certainly not unanimous) consensus is that it was just unworkable and not a legitimate threat to internet freedom.

Besides, every Australian I have ever met has valued their freedoms and rights as much as any American I've ever met. If you all of a sudden start telling them what they can and can't do in the privacy of their own homes based on some set of government imposed morals, I would expect the S--- to hit the fan, which, of course, will be rotationg counter-clockwise. (I can do equator humor, too!)

Trout, I'd hold them while you punched them, then come visit you in Jail. That being said, I am proud that someone can burn the Flag and get punched in the mothe by a wild eyed pervert in a BiPlane. I always get nervous when those anti flag burning laws get thrown around, to me its just jingoism.I have family serving now along with a long line dating back from the Civil War. I always feel they fought and died for something more than some Cloth on a Pole.

The Aussies knew about this before the election and voted for the party proposing this. Clean feeds already exist. ISP's in Australia are concerned about the costs but some must already be using them. It's being forced to use them that's the concern, but this policy was part of the election campaign.

Clean feeds do not block all porn, but they very much exist and have been in use for quite some time.

Whoa whoa

I dunno what its like for you but we take free speech pretty seriously over here.

In the city I live they even had to allow a neo-nazi march. And police were called in to keep the peace.

Because of free speech. They also allowed a counter march.

It was very unpopular to allow it but the first amendment is the first amendment.

Free speech is why people can say so many outright lies about President Bush on every Blog from here to Sunday and they don't get shut down.

Just like they have done about every President (technology allowing) we've ever had.

Even Lincoln, the biggest of the free speech squasher in American history primarily only clamped down on that speech for people suspected of aiding the South's war effort.


And much to many citizens and politicians Ire, Flag Burning is completely legal and protected by the first amendment and upheld by the supreme court.

We mess lots of things up, but America's free speech record compares favorably with any countries.

I agree with everything you say here, except I'm not a pervert. I'm a degenerate. Big difference. Degenerates are perverts that also gamble and drink.

The fact that America has protected free speech for so long you would think would cut down on any interest in flag burning.

I mean are people upset they are allowed to protest?

The flag burning would be a symbol that the government was oppressive after all.

------------------------------
I could see it from other countries, feeling that America was oppressive in the War with Iraq. Of course for nearly any European country I could find a more aggressive invasion in their own past.


And that was something I thought about Austrailia too, that they were fiercely independent. Wouldn't think they'd want the government telling them what website they could go to.

I think, rather, that while there are many US citizens who would be quite happy to restrict freedom of speech in many different ways, they simply _can't_ without serious changes to the legal structure of the country. An unusual state of affairs, a historical quirk, and one which should be protected as long as possible.

"The Simpsons" lied to me? I don't know who to believe anymore.

very true.

Yes, but there are people here who feel that our government is oppressive and/or they have a lot of hatred for the US for a variety of reasons. They respond by burning the flag in protest. I support their right to do it, but I harbor a strong desire to punch them square in the mouth for doing it. I wouldn't, but I can fantasize about it.

Despite Ciaran's argument to the contrary, I believe Australia is a country of independent people who value their freedom, and I doubt this will go anywhere.

Besides the post you quoted was just me taking offense at being called a mere pervert when I am in fact, a complete, utter degenerate.

oh, i hope not. fun fun people with crafty senses of humor!

Yup..That's a swell system they have there.

As an Australian, I've gotta say that my response is "I'll believe it when I see it". Why is that, you might ask? Well, I remember a few years ago there was a big government push to make local ISPs liable for the contents they hosted. Despite various Expert Opinions telling them that this was (a) dumb, and (b) impractical, they went ahead and tried to implement it. I was one of the people marching in the street protesting it - it was all rather upsetting at the time. But what happened? Big Fat Nothing. Sure, there was a body implemented to investigate complaints about "inappropriate material". But they didn't actually seem to DO anything. Rather like peeing in a wetsuit really - the whole exercise gave the politicians who instituted it a nice warm feeling, but nobody else really noticed anything.

I'm rather inclined to think this current scheme is going to turn out to be something similar. They've announced a "We've gotta protect the Children from the Eeevil internet" programme and mentioned sweepingly impractical plans to do so. No doubt the scheme will get its Five Minutes Of Fame then get swept back under the carpet again when (surprise surprise) it turns out to be difficult to implement. Politicians have very short attention spans. I think I'll hold off getting too worried for a while yet. :-7

Judging by the Aussies I've encountered, if such a firewall were put in effect, it would last about as long as it takes to mount the Australian version of a recall election...

i got totally distracted when you said 'mount the Austrailian'....

Yep but better Kevin Rudd than the big bad Johnny, it's like the lesserof 2 evils. And some people's sterotyped views on Aussies make me pmsl! Yep, I'm a Queenslander and proud of it!

Christ, they'd be pissing off Nina, that alone would make me think twice.

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It's too bad that the UK and Australia elected conservative governments. I'm sure the Labor parties of those nations would never have considered such restrictive legistation.
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