ZDNet Australia reports that the federal government has announced plans to amend the Broadcasting Services Act, which will require all ISPs to block unapproved content on overseas servers. The legislation will be introduced around mid-2010 and the filtering technology will roll out over a one-year period thereafter.

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That country is just too sensitive to whatever they consider inappropriate. Seriously, I've read up on some stuff that's already banned and censored and some of it is just downright laughable. I feel bad for gamers that live there too... as they cut out all of the good stuff. They might as well just have L4D with zombies that explode sunshine and puppy kisses. I would just import everything from the US if I lived there.

WOW....that is unreal in a democratic country. And of course they kicked up a huge fuss by banning L4D2 unless they edited out the blood, body parts and killings. You'd think we were reading about Iran.

If I were living in Australia I I'd be checking out my options to move to another country. What's next? They going to park themselves in front of your bedroom door to make sure you're having sex "the way they think you should?"

Proxies will suddenly become common.

There is certainly room for this to be abused. However i am probably in the minority here that thinks this might be a good idea. In fact I would be glad to see a way to get illegal sites and scam sites blocked instantaneously. Maybe i have just had to save too many relatives from too many scam sites that should have been shut down long ago, and seen first hand the devastating effects of pornography/gambling in friends lives and marriages and am just hoping that this helps cut down any of those even slightly.

I guess the devil will be in the details but at least face the facts though that most of your internet activity is already monitored and recorded by Google who also doesn't care about your privacy. I guess because they aren't the government and so far haven't been restricting access to things that they aren't as bad though.

Thank GOD i wasn't born is that country.

It would be interesting to see a poll or survey done of the Australian populace to see if that's what they really want.

No one wanted this apart from the religious fringe and those stupid enougth to believe the goivernment spin. Conroy and his government is going down on this one.

without a doubt comp, however you cant be free when the government is spending its time and enacting laws to save you from yourself. this is the slippery slope, where do you stop? and whats next? will you have to show your cholesterol card to be able to get an order of fries? if you think that way out there, Google New York and the UK on trans fat.

Don't we criticize China for the same thing. I live in Australia and think we are going back to the dark ages with governments deciding what I see and think. Dumb idea

whats the difference between australia and china now? why dont they just ban facebook as well?

Proxy's and $5.00 per month Lynnodes will become common place and younger net users will discover old school IRC software, Porting 80 via a SSH tunnel, the list goes on and on. The communist Australian Labor party is yet again wasting millions of another flawed idea nobody wants. All to help Mr Rudd realize his dream and get a position on the UN council? Power hungry twit. It makes me embarrassed to say I'm Australia.


Brett

Im an I.T tech in Sydney

i cant wait for the Government to do this, as i might make some good money

i can see my next advertisement,

Cant download your music or movies?
Cant get online for Mulitplayer?
Ring Rob For a Fast Proxie Setup !

I cant wait

This is hugely unpopular and I really can't see it coming to fruition.

Steve {Western Australia}

Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings. ~Heinrich Hein

To limit the press is to insult a nation; to prohibit reading of certain books is to declare the inhabitants to be either fools or slaves. ~Claude-Adrien Helvétius

If it was easy to move to another country the only ones left here would be the government.
They may as well call us a concentration camp Republic of Australia. Where we have no rights or freedom of choice.
Where you are told how to think, live, work and play, soon they will replace our brains and all be robots
The government is doing a questionaire on R+18 ratings for games which closes in February 2010.
Maybe they should do one for censoring the internet and see what the Australia People want.

I'm not really surprised by this. Pissed off on behalf of Aussie citizens, but not surprised. They elected a socialist president, just as Americans did, and now they're finding out why they shouldn't have.

LINK:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6818010/Australia-plans-Chinese-style-internet-filtering.html


Barack Obama criticises censorship in meeting with Chinese students
Barack Obama, the US president, has strongly criticised censorship in his first public appearance in China, veering directly into one of the most sensitive areas of Communist party policy.
Mr Obama told an audience of 400 Chinese students that freedom of "expression, and worship, of access to information and political participation" were "universal rights".

He said: "They should be available to all people, including ethnic and religious minorities, whether they are in the United States, China or any nation".

Actually the Australian president is a social conservative. Australia is a very religious and socially conservative country. It is funny how you compare him to Obama, considering a lot of Obama's economic policies has helped out capitalistic big businesses such as the banks and financial sector.