The Labor government of Mike Rann in South Australia has a long track record of curtailing freedoms and rights. It seems, when it comes to secrecy there is one law for MPs in South Australia, and another for the punters.
Internet censorship
SA law demands ID for bloggers, commenters on election
Asking political commentators to identify themselves for just a few weeks when an election is in progress is hardly a threat to freedom of speech.
Bartlett: SA’s futile and foolish new laws
South Australia’s new laws requiring people to use their real name and address when making comments about elections online are draconian and dumb — not to mention totally unworkable, says Andrew Bartlett.
Is the SA government censoring free speech online?
South Australia has just passed a law that will require all Crow Eaters to publish their real name and postcode when making a comment on next month’s state election online — including blogs, Twitter, Facebook, the ABC and possibly even Crikey.
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.
Crikey Says: Paying lip service to internet freedom
A recent editorial from China’s People’s Daily took umbrage at Hillary Clinton’s comments on “internet freedom. Finally the Chinese government manage to land a punch on the US.
Google: a Chinese perspective
Westerners may be applauding Google’s recent up-yours to China, but what do actual Chinese people think? According to Evan Osnos, most are totally baffled by the whole thing: why would a company choose morals over profit?
Hillary Clinton: Free the internet
Hillary Clinton has a new gong to bang: internet freedom. Read her speech championing the increase of freedom of speech online and calling on the China to get with the program.
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.
Life lessons from Google: It’s never too late to do the right thing
Yes it took Google four years and a massive cyber attack to stop censoring the internet in China — but at least it did the right thing in the end, says MG Siegler. Give ‘em a break.
graph pr0n 
What does China censor online?
A beautiful — if depressing — visualisation of words, search terms and websites censored by China on the internet. Words like “democracy”.
Google’s China move: fresh pressure to heed human rights wrongs
Internet and media companies desperate to gain a share of the massive Chinese market are now facing fresh pressure to heed human rights concerns, following Google’s announcement that it will cease to censor search engine results in China.
Crikey Says: Google means business in China, not the thwarting of evil
Don’t think for a minute that Google are defying China out of the goodness of their own heart.
The real reason Google has turned on China
It’s nice to see Google finally adhering to its ethos of “do-no-evil” in China — but the company’s decision end its censorship of Google.cn has far more to do with business than human rights, says Sarah Lacy.
Google ends censorship in China
Google has announced that it will no longer consent to censoring its search engine results in China, and, if necessary, will pull out of the country altogether. This is huge, says Margaret Simons.
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.
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 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.
Conroy: Why I’m censoring your internet
As the internet types their uproar over the proposed internet filter, the man behind the plan, Stephen Conroy, writes about why it’s being introduced. To keep the kiddies safe and maintain a civilised society, apparently.
How to bypass the internet filter
Australia’s mandatory internet filter won’t be rolled out until mid-2010, but Anthony Caruana can already tell you how to bypass it.
Farrer: The slippery slope from filtering to censorship
At what point does “filtering” start and “censorship” begin? asks Gordon Farrer. It’s just one of many fundamental problems with the government’s new internet filter.
Untangling the net
A report by academics Catharine Lumby, Lelia Green and John Hartley on how the internet filter could easily end up blocking Australians’ access to important health information and contentious political debate.
Google: Why we don’t support Conroy’s internet filter
Google is, unsurprisingly, unimpressed by Conroy’s internet filter plans. Access to politically controversial topics for public debate is vital for democracy, says the company’s Head of Policy, Iarla Flynn.
Net filtering won’t work, so what is Conroy up to?
The government’s net filtering trials conclusively show filtering doesn’t work — so why is the government pursuing it and asking us to trust not just Stephen Conroy but every politician in the future? Ask the parents.
