I know this is old news, but it seems to have died in the headlines being swamped by the Cory fuckwit who trashed his parents house, and now is being lined up for jobs in the entertainment industry. Also, he's now connected to what could potentially be called child pornography.... But that's a different story...

This internet filtering thing scares the shit out of me. The government believes it knows what is right, moral and correct, and its only going to allow you to view what it wants you to view. Oh, and the cost of having this filter placed on your account, it's going to be yours....

To quote http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/12/30/australia-joins-china-in-censoring-the-internet/:
"To be censored by the Australian Government is “pornography and inappropriate material.” X rated pornography is illegal online in Australia, as are casino style internet gambling, certain forms of “hate” speech and R rated computer games. BitTorrent would be a possibility, even if certain downloads for personal use may be legal under Australian law, sharing those downloads would not be. How far “inappropriate material” may extend was not made clear, for example questioning Government policy where it comes to Aboriginal people could be deemed to be discrimination under Australian law and hence blocked by the censorship regime. Worst still, bloggers or those (such as forum owners) who allow users to comment or post could find themselves blocked under this proposal should someone say or post the wrong thing. If there is one certainty in any country that implements broadscale censorship, once they start blocking content it doesn’t stop, and certainly every do-gooder group and special interest lobbyist will be wanting the Government to add to the list."

This could well mean that Destructoid could be blocked under the Australian plan, due to the fact that games that are classed as 'R' in Australia are talked about at length on sites like this, because they can be sold almost everywhere else in the world.... So any comment about what goes on in such 'Inappropriate material' could be classed as being illegal...

Now, rest assured, there is an "Opt-Out" option open to us as users, never fear. But, could you imagine what a government could do with a list of "Free Internet Users"? People that don't wish to listen to the government and might get classed as being 'subversive' and 'troublesome'.

Lastly, they say that this is being brought in to "Protect the children" from viewing anything inappropriate... Are parents now entirely redundant? Its like they just have to have sex, give birth, and maybe change a nappy (Diaper for you US types) every now and then, maybe feed it once in a while, if you're keen. But every aspect of raising and teaching the children is being taken away... Almost willingly, which is scary...

I have no children. There is 0% chance of ANY children entering my room here in Brisbane, Australia and witnessing such horrors on the internet on my computer. I have NO intention of having children any time soon. Well, I simply lack a host with which to impregnate to create the children... But that's another story.

With that, I ask, with no children in my vicinity, why must I have my internet filtered, and the cost of such filtering covered by me.

As much as it sucks to say, the previous government had it right by sending out CD's so the parents could decide if they wanted the net filtered or not.

This government, I feel, has been bending over for a certain right-wing neo-christian senate party called 'Family First', who would be demanding this filtering, in exchange for Steve Fielding's vital senate vote.

Sometimes I fucking hate democracy... 1 extreme right-winged senator gets power over a supposedly left-wing government.... Something is wrong in the land of Australia...