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Internet filtering in Australia continues to come under a firestorm of criticism. Groups like GetUp say it plans to run mainstream ads and offline action. That organization has already collected over 22,000 signatures opposing the Governments attempts to censor porn.
Critics fear the Internet will come to a crawl and open the door to censorship of other material such as regular pornography, political views, pro-abortion sites and online gambling.
According to the Age, GetUp joins a chorus of dissent from internet providers, consumers, engineers, network administrators and online rights activists. Michael Malone, the managing director of iiNet, labelled the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, "the worst we've had in the 15 years since the [internet] industry has existed".
Still, the Government plans to push forward with live filtering trials, which it wants to launch by December 24.
From The Age:
"We're very, very concerned that there's going to be a unnecessary clamp down on the internet and it has to be watched," Greens leader Bob Brown told ABC Television on Tuesday.
The Opposition's communications spokesman announced on the same day that the "misguided and deeply unpopular" filtering plan was causing Australia embarrassment internationally.
"The Opposition firmly believes that adult supervision, supported by optional user-end filters, effective law enforcement and education should be front and centre of any efforts to keep children safe online," Senator Nick Minchin said.
GetUp campaign director Ed Coper said he was certain his organisation's "Save the Net" campaign would be "really big and ongoing".
"It's certainly one of the most ill-thought-out decisions of the Rudd Government so far," he said.
