The latest Australian effort to clean up the Internet is a $189 million program, $89 million of which will force ISPs to filter content while providing every Australian home with a software filter. ISPs will be given a black list by the government, but so far it's not clear exactly how that list is compiled.
quote:A "black list" of the Australian Communications and Media Authority, which covers Australian-based pornographic and terror sites, will be expanded internationally after consultation with the Attorney-General. . .A seven-day-a-week hotline will also be established to help parents put filters on their home computers. All families will receive the filters and they will also be sent to public libraries.
More interesting, perhaps, is that it took an Australian teenager all of half an hour to bypass the filter. Not only that, he's configured it so the protection icon remains, leaving parents still believing the filtering system is working. Similar filtering efforts here in the States have thus far been ruled unconstitutional or just plain dumb.
When are governments going to get this? Not to mention the fact that ADULTS should be able to decide if they want to watch porn or not. As far as protecting the kids, well that's the job of the PARENTS not the government. Governments usually suck at 95% of what they do. Who in the right mind would want them to raise their children?
My guess, these filters are only good on web pages, even if implemented properly. What's to stop 13 year old timmy from jumping on p2p or some file sharing site, and grabbing there? We all know kids are smarter than most of their parents when it comes to computers these days.
True. But for 13 year olds today, its a new age. They can gain access to it in various ways. I mean no longer do kids go borrow their friend's vhs or mags. The internet has p2p and other stuff that amply fill the void. Even the best browsing filters won't account for these methods.
Anyone who has ever worked in the webhosting/server hosting business knows the absolute BEST way to make a profit on the internet is porn... hands down. I just wonder if the people who have made so much money have handed any of that to lobbyists to stay protected.
At least many have said, esp in jest. I don't use it. If I needed it I guess it would be nice to be able to though. I do think however that a lot of it isn't just pics but the worst of the worst. Hollywood and the Internet are far different from the library. And they really shouldn't be.
quote:This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Actors Equity Association
Actors' Equity Association ("AEA" or "Equity"), founded in 1913, is the labor union that represents more than 45,000 Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. Equity seeks to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions and provides a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans, for its members. Actors' Equity is a member of the AFL-CIO, and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions.
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We watch videos on YouTube ... users can, and often do, upload copyrighted content ... Here's where you as an Equity member, come in. Let's say you're surfing through YouTube (or ANYWHERE on the internet) and you see a clip from a show that you are certain is an Equity production. You can try to get it taken down ... »www.actorsequity.org/New ··· Tube.asp
Just think how much fun it wold be to be the poor programmers who have to try to build a software filter that is immune to the attacks of millions of horny techno-savy teenagers! Dilbert had a few strips about that.
Funny thing, one of my son's favorite Disney shows is Johnny and the Sprites which stars John Tartaglia who used to be a part of Avenue Q. Kind of funny to think of Disney as being closely related to The Internet Is For Porn.
"Still, rather than recognizing that the government has wasted many millions of dollars on a futile program, one of the main political backers of the program said it only highlights why the country needs to spend even more on filters, including those ISP filters that won't work either."
If education is to play a mighty part, why not start with the the idiot responsible for the above statement, and his intended audience...?
The Aussie govt should be putting money on child-raising programs rather on useless yet uberly expensive projects like this. That way you dont worry about your kids peeking on p0rn sites. Besides there are other means of obtaining pornographic materials offline
I thought Australia was a free country? The citizens are allowing the government to tell them what they can and cannot view online? Sounds like China! How many other useful programs (feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, healthcare, etc.) could have better used those millions of dollars! Let the parents decide what their children can view online and no one has the right to tell the parents what they can or can't view.