Stephen Conroy is Nuts

The Minister for Internet Slowdown and Sham Save the Children Censorship, Phillip Ruddock? Kevin Andrews?Stephen Conroy is wrong on his nutty plan to weed out wacko internet sites and save the children.

We don't need the World Wide Wall of China here in Australia. Just invest in the infrastructure and leave it to adults and parents to make wise choices for themselves and for children about what to watch on the net.

It is impossible for the Government to block every website with illegal or inappropriate material. This just gives parents a false impression the internet is safe for their children and abrogates their responsibility to monitor their child's internet usage. Parental supervision is the only way to ensure that children do not access offensive or inappropriate material.

The Government's own testing has revealed that the technology is flawed: it blocks content that should not be blocked, it is unable to block peer-to-peer traffic that comprises of more than 60 per cent of Australia's internet traffic and it can be easily avoided through the use of an encrypted Virtual Private Network.

Government testing has also indicated that the filter might slow internet speeds by up to 70 per cent. It is somewhat ironic that the same Government that is committed to a National Broadband Network would also slow internet speeds by insisting on a technologically flawed model of government censorship.

Watching commercial television of late, I would say that there is a greater case for censorship of puerile and moronic content, leaving aside some of the adult themed programmes shown far to early in the evening. Focus on that.

Deviants and wierdos will find ways to access the type of materials that the censorship plan is set up to block. Peer to Peer and Virtual Private Networks and the like will not be regulated by this plan.

Have your say too. This is Australian Government Policy and they are moving forward fast to make your home internet more expensive, slower and more restricted. Great policy guys. A massive internet age furphy. Guess who were the masters of that style of politics. The Australian people just kicked them out of office.

Laurel Papworth is coordinating some resistance. You can too.