The Great Australian Internet Blackout
Your Internet connection will be censored
What’s this about?
Early this year, the Rudd Government will introduce a new law requiring Internet service providers to filter all Internet connections, including yours.The stated goal of the filter is to protect children, however the filter will only serve to give parents a false sense of security. It will not block the vast majority of sites unsuitable for children, nor mitigate the other, more serious risks facing children online such as cyber-bullying.
The list of sites to be blocked will be secret, and not open to public review. It comes with no guarantees about how it might be expanded later by this or future governments.
Concerned? You can help!
- Contact your federal representative
- Sign EFA’s Senate petition
- Check out more great ways to help from Electronic Frontiers Australia
Spread the word – join the blackout!
- More info about the Great Australian Internet Blackout
- Black out your online profile picture now
- Black out your website during Blackout
What’s the problem?
The Federal Government is pushing forward with a plan to force Internet Service Providers to censor the Internet for all Australians. This plan will waste millions of dollars and won’t make anyone safer.- It won’t protect children: The filter isn’t a “cyber safety” measure to stop kids seeing inappropriate content such as R and X rated websites. It is not even designed to prevent the spread of illegal material where it is most often found (chat rooms, peer-to-peer file sharing).
- We will all pay for this ineffective solution: Under this policy, ISPs will be forced to charge more for consumer and business broadband. Several hundred thousand dollars has already been spent to test the filter – without considering high-speed services such as the National Broadband Network!
- A dangerous precedent: We stand to join a small club of countries which impose centralised Internet censorship such as China, Iran and Saudi Arabia. The secret blacklist may be limited to “Refused Classification” content for now, but what might a future Australian Government choose to block?