Stephen Conroy rants at Google and Facebook. But he hasn’t worked out that they don’t play that game, and aren’t that interested in what governments think.
Great Firewall of Australia
Google vs. Stephen Conroy
Stephen Conroy is taking on internet giants Google and Facebook over their recent privacy breaches. But is he just capitalising on the public sentiment against the two companies to take the heat off his widely-panned internet filter plans?
Conroy: We’ll block 50,000 sites
Stephen Conroy last night warned the Government would consider blocking up to 50,000 websites, before launching an attack on euthanasia websites and Facebook, reports Bernard Keane.
No sex, no YouTube, no Facebook — Conroy’s still watching you
Stephen Conroy’s controversial internet filter has been placed on the backburner in the hope that it won’t become a major election issue. But stay alert, writes Ross Fitzgerald, the internet filter will come back even more draconian than ever.
The filter smackdown continues — now with added Google controversy
Stephen Conroy’s response on the internet filter didn’t end the debate — in fact, he appears to have opened up some new issues, including one with Google.
Conroy: We didn’t claim filtering was a silver-bullet solution
ISP filtering is just one component of the government’s cyber-safety policy, writes Senator Stephen Conroy.
Day: In defence of Conroy’s filter
Mark Day defends the Minister Stephen Conroy’s plan to filter Australia’s web content with a challenge to its critics: if you don’t like it, make a plausible case for why we need access to “online bestiality or child sex abuse”. Them’s fightin’ words.
Conroy frantically spins Clinton speech
The debate over internet censorship has moved to the global centre stage, with Hillary Clinton declaring free access to information online as critical a human right. Will Rudd get on board? asks Colin Jacobs.
The copyright outrage the geeks forgot to mention
The tech community hasn’t done much of a job of persuading mainstream Australia that proposed internet censorship laws are a bad idea, despite their potentially crippling effect on freedom of speech, writes Angus Kidman.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: The AfPak conundrum
Crikey readers are up on their soapbox on Afghanistan, Rupert’s paywall and Conroy’s filter.
Tips and rumours: Tips and rumours: The Age staffers drop their pens and walk out
What’s caused staffers at The Age to protest in front of their fancy new building? Plus, the sneaky relationship between Stephen Conroy, his religious right constituents and the internet filter.
Labor Senator Kate Lundy speaks out against mandatory internet censorship
At least one member of the federal government stands opposed to mandatory internet censorship — and she’s prepared to fight for it.
Cunning Conroy makes a weasel move
The feared Great Firewall of Australia, Stephen Conroy’s planned internet filter, will not be implemented until after the next federal election. A cynical move by a government fearing public uproar, writes Duncan Riley.
Stephen Conroy: Dear Crikey, here’s why you’re wrong
It’s fighting words from Senator Stephen Conroy as he rebuts the “disingenuous” coverage of his Great Firewall of Australia. You can’t access RC-rated content in newsagencies, libraries, DVDs, cinemas or on TV, so why should it be allowed on the internet? asks Conroy.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: A poetic view of Copenhagen
One Crikey reader pens a lovely piece of poetry on Copenhagen, Imre Salusinszky weighs in Rundle and Windschuttle, while others argue over internet censorship and government Chritsmas propaganda.
Send Conroy a lump of coal for Christmas
A new website called The Gift Of Censorship is promising to deliver a bag of coal in a large red sack to Stephen Conroy and for every 1000 complaint letters sent to him through the site.
The swift takedown of stephenconroy.com.au
Just hours after a bit of media publicity, an anti-Stephen Conroy website was pulled down by authorities. Was this a routine domain deregistration or something more sinister?
Reporters Without Borders: Don’t do it, Rudd!
Reporters without Borders is so furious with Stephen Conroy’s planned internet filter that it has penned an open letter to the PM, reports Colin Jacobs — a development which should be alarming to anyone concerned with our image as an open democracy in the world.
Conroy’s plan has nothing to do with kiddie porn
The “Refused Classification” content that will be blocked by Conroy’s internet filter is not the same as “illegal” content, explains Mark Newton: much of it is perfectly legal content that someone, somewhere found a bit offensive.
2009: the internet’s watershed year
Between the National Broadband Network, mandatory ISP filtering, and the strange and wonderful world of Twitter, 2009 was the year that the internet truly moved to the centre stage of Australian politics.
Media briefs: ATO uses Wikipedia … Our Great Firewall … Fairfax Christmas bonanza …
International reports on our Great Firewall, the Herald Sun follows Crikey’s lead, Facebook in factories, and more briefs on media from around the world.
Where do Australia’s ISPs stand on the filter?
ZDNet has quizzed the big Aussie Internet Service Providers over their positions on mandatory internet filtering, compiling a list on who stands where. Does your ISP hate freedom?
Conroy’s filter is bound to fail
The new internet filter will censor those that don’t understand the net. The irony being that young people — whose delicate minds the filter is to protect — get the internet better than most, writes Nina Funnell.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: To filter or not to filter, that is the Conroy
Good old internet filtering. The only subject that fires Crikey readers up more than climate change.
Internet filtering: first step on the path to Burma?
It’s a strange day indeed when retired Justice Michael Kirby and Fox News sing from the same hymn sheet. But Senator Stephen Conroy’s internet censorship plans have created that day.
