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Australia's $89 Million Useless Porn Filter
Teenager bests new web cleanup effort...
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.
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nwrickert
Mod
join:2004-09-04
Geneva, IL

1 recommendation

nwrickert

Mod

Obscene

Forget the porn. It's that wasting of $89M of public money that is really obscene

Glaice
Brutal Video Vault
Premium Member
join:2002-10-01
North Babylon, NY

Glaice

Premium Member

Wait..what?

Is it $89 or $189 million? Topic says 89 while the short story says 189.

Jodokast96
Stupid people piss me off.
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
NJ

Jodokast96

Premium Member

Re: Wait..what?

Total cost is $189M, $89M of which is for the filter.
the niTz
Premium Member
join:2004-07-05
Sahuarita, AZ

the niTz

Premium Member

Re: Wait..what?

wow 189 million wasted on a useless idea ..... nice
StEaLtHBuNnY
join:2002-10-12
Bergenfield, NJ

StEaLtHBuNnY

Member

teenagers are getting smart

First the iphone and now the porn filter.... I cant wait to see whats next

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

The Australian governments porn web site

»www.netalert.gov.au/

They offer more than 1 filter. The kid only tried out one.
»www.netalert.gov.au/filt ··· ers.html

Download the software and try it out on your own(if you live in Australia): »www.netalert.gov.au/form ··· load.php

And they recognize that education is a big part of the effort, not just blocking:
»www.netalert.gov.au/prog ··· ams.html
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

1 recommendation

88615298 (banned)

Member

Can't regulate the internet

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?
jc10098
join:2002-04-10

jc10098

Member

Pointless

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.

GlenQuagmire
Giggidy Giggidy Giggidy Goo
Premium Member
join:2004-02-16
Grand Rapids, MI

GlenQuagmire

Premium Member

Re: Pointless

When I was 13 their was no porn filter available to keep me from my pr0n, though it was low quality gif's I downloaded form BBS's.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned)

Member

Re: Pointless

said by GlenQuagmire:

When I was 13 their was no porn filter available to keep me from my pr0n, though it was low quality gif's I downloaded form BBS's.
When I was 13 it was 1982 and there wasn't any internet and I had no problem getting access to porn.
yabos
join:2003-02-16
London, ON

yabos

Member

Re: Pointless

I remember hiding a playboy in the woods lol.
jc10098
join:2002-04-10

jc10098 to 88615298

Member

to 88615298
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.

exocet_cm
Writing
Premium Member
join:2003-03-23
Brooklyn, NY

exocet_cm

Premium Member

Looks like the Austrialians

are going to be able to still go "Down Under" after all

MrMoody
Free range slave
Premium Member
join:2002-09-03
Smithfield, NC

MrMoody

Premium Member

A pity

Just think how many homes they could have wired with fiber with that money.

FTTD
@shawcable.net

FTTD

Anon

Re: A pity

YES! - 200mil would be much better suited for fibre!
mobbo
join:2005-04-13
Denton, TX

mobbo

Member

$$$

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.

Trub
join:2002-12-25
Plano, TX

Trub

Member

Re: $$$

Good point!
u3912974
join:2007-07-31
San Francisco, CA

u3912974

Member

The Internet is based on porn

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.

Jodokast96
Stupid people piss me off.
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
NJ

1 recommendation

Jodokast96

Premium Member

Re: The Internet is based on porn

Yup, you're right.

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· Wst1zXkM

therubex
@comcast.net

therubex

Anon

Re: The Internet is based on porn

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.

-------

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

Jodokast96
Stupid people piss me off.
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
NJ

Jodokast96

Premium Member

Re: The Internet is based on porn

Ok, same song, different video
»video.google.com/videopl ··· 42417046
u3912974
join:2007-07-31
San Francisco, CA

u3912974

Member

Re: The Internet is based on porn

That is hilarious. I love it. That is great talent. And I work at a major performing arts organization in the US. That means it's even better.
old_wiz_60
join:2005-06-03
Bedford, MA

old_wiz_60

Member

Teenagers and filters

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.

LilYoda
Feline with squirel personality disorder
Premium Member
join:2004-09-02
Mountains

4 edits

LilYoda

Premium Member

I can't believe noone has linked to AvenueQ yet...

Man I have to do everything here...

EDIT: Aaaaaah, I see someone else has done the job already. GJ Jodokast96

So I'll post one without background laughs, and subtitles for those that don't get the lyrics

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· 4kZyqVRU

TechyDad
Premium Member
join:2001-07-13
USA

TechyDad

Premium Member

Re: I can't believe noone has linked to AvenueQ yet...

Here's the original from Avenue Q:

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· Gd58J0bY


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.
ross7
join:2000-08-16

ross7

Member

Here's a scary part...

"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...?

Sterling
IP Support Tier III
Premium Member
join:2003-05-30
Pittsburgh, PA

Sterling

Premium Member

Re: Here's a scary part...

WOW complete governmental lunacy runamook, I give it a year till it collapses, as theres very many ways to get around it anyway
dazed6
join:2007-08-05

dazed6

Member

Re: Here's a scary part...

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

Grey

Diaboyos
join:2007-08-21
united state

Diaboyos

Member

What The Hell?!?!

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.