Oz anti-censorship site is censored
What's that Skippy? A satirical website's been taken down?
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The Australian company that runs the .com.au domain registry has been accused of abandoning its own procedures to censor a website satirising communications minister Stephen Conroy's ISP filtering regime.
On Friday afternoon, Sapia Pty Ltd, the company behind stephenconroy.com.au, was told by auDA that they had three hours to explain its use of the domain or it would be withdrawn.
"After several attempts at convincing them to give us reasonable time to reply we made a last-ditch attempt at 4.10pm stating that we provide a consultancy product with 'Stephen Conroy' in it's name," the firm said on its new site stephen-conroy.com.
"We hoped that this would at least enable us to stay up over the weekend, but they didn't want to know."
Stephenconroy.com.au was subsequently taken down by 5pm.
The move has prompted accusations of censorship against auDA. It denied any political interference.
"We were not contacted by anyone in the government," CEO Chris Disspain told ZDNet.com.au. "This was picked up by our normal checks and balances."
Groups opposed to the Australian government's ISP filtering regime were particularly outraged by the three-hour deadline imposed by auDA.
Sapia Pty noted it was an "unusually short period of time for domain eligibility complaints to be arbitrated". "This time frame was manifestly inadequate to obtain representation and prepare an appropriate response," it added.
Disspain said the domain had so far only been deactivated, and that the firm had two weeks to establish its eligibility to use the name again. He blamed the short initial deadline on the fact it was being checked on a Friday and auDA would not want an ineligible domain to remain in use for a further two days.
Stephen Conroy has been vilified by many in and around the Australian internet industry as the driving force behind the country's forthcoming ISP filtering programme, which will target material on "bestiality, sexual violence, detailed instruction in crime, violence or drug use and/or material that advocates the doing of a terrorist act".
On Sapia Pty's new site, outside auDA's control, Conroy is satirised as "minister for fascism". ®
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COMMENTS
Government controlled Net
Expect to see this thing throughout the EU & USA very soon as the powers that be try to stop us seeing evidence of war crimes, torture, Israel harvesting organs from Palestinians, Obama vowing to keep Israel's nukes a secret, Bay of Pigs, Panoma war crimes, MP acting illegally, etc, the list of waiting to be censored content is extensive.
The net was great while it was open, but this is far too risky for the powers that be. Go back to sleep world your government is in control.
So long & thanks for all the fish!
How this works
I would like everyone to remember how this all started: please think of the children. Around the world, Governments of every political shade know they have one thing in common - using the bogus 'safeguarding' of kids online as their modus operandi will guarantee them - unconditionally - the freedom to block the freedoms of their citizens/subjects online.
Who can argue? Who will argue?
Once that first step is taken, the potential is limitless. Police and 'useful idiots' in advocacy groups (easily bought off with annual grants from the public purse) will all do their part to maintain the momentum for 'online protection' and gradually the remit will widen - a sort of pernicious feature creep, if you will. Which, when you think about it, was always the real intention.
Don't expect journalists to cry foul. If the paedohysteria has taught us one thing it is that by virtue of careful crafting of law and the threat of instant arrest it is now impossible for any independent journalist to properly investigate the increasingly surreal claims of the 'safeguarding' brigade.
Governments everywhere are closing in on online freedom: they never did much like the internet and they will - without a doubt - seek to gain absolute control of it, whether via secretive government 'listening' organisations, or by deeply flawed legislation. It's all happening now and it will continue apace. Police and Government in your - and every - country have big plans.
All in the name of the children, of course.
Everybody here can say.........
I was there at the beginning of the end.
So how long is it going to be before our TV License is changed to be a Media license with a sizeable chunk going to Police the internet against terrorists and Pedo's and Anti-Government stories.
I though we went to war to end the oppression of free speech. I will probably end up on a Government database for saying this but it seems a shame that some of the things 'our' lads are fighting to defend in IRAQ and Afghanistan and being undermined in their own country behind their backs. It makes the body bags coming home is even less palatable if that's possible.
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