dslreports logo
 story category
Australia's Net Filters To Target Games, Too
Plan gets bigger, less practical, and more expensive...

As Australia's plans to filter the Internet grow ever more expensive and ridiculous, the Sydney Morning Herald reports that video games are in the government's crosshairs as well. Australia's planned $125.8 million Cyber-Safety filtering system -- opposed by most ISPs as impractical and technically impossible -- includes two blacklists -- one which filters illegal material (no opt-out) and another that filters material deemed offensive by the Australian government (users can opt out). Australia's game rating system is notoriously stingy, meaning any game that's beyond the country's MA15+ rating designation would be filtered.

quote:
Click for full size
This means that even Australians who are aged above 15 and want to obtain the adult-level games online will be unable to do so. . It will undoubtedly raise the ire of gamers, the average age of which is 30 in Australia.
The government is currently conducting trials with a handful of ISPs, many of whom have been very vocal in their beliefs that the filters won't technically work. The Australian government has admitted their trials have no quantifiable metric to determine whether the trials were a success or failure.

The British ISP industry recently gave the plan's brain child, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, an award for his development of the plan. According to the ISPA website, Conroy has been given the "Internet Villain award" for "continuing to promote network-level blocking despite significant national and international opposition."
view:
topics flat nest 
wentlanc
You Can't Fix Dumb..
join:2003-07-30
Maineville, OH

wentlanc

Member

Why not just allow what you want???

Seems easier to open up what you want access to, rather than blocking all of the individual stuff. Sounds like a lot of work for little return considering how easy these things tend to be to circumvent....

cw

woody7
Premium Member
join:2000-10-13
Torrance, CA

woody7

Premium Member

Pffttt.....

I find the Australian government "offensive"
br0adbanddoc
join:2001-12-31
Wilkes Barre, PA

br0adbanddoc

Member

Re: Pffttt.....

Agreed.

This idea is asinine.
gorehound
join:2009-06-19
Portland, ME

gorehound to wentlanc

Member

to wentlanc

Re: Why not just allow what you want???

What a bunch of BS.I am glad I do not live there and I will never go to their country with that kind of 1984 attitude.
axiomatic
join:2006-08-23
Tomball, TX

1 recommendation

axiomatic

Member

Begun the proxy wars have.

No worries Aussies.

The $125.8 million Cyber-Safety filtering system should be able to be defeated easily by running a few private proxies. I'm sure there will be a grass roots effort to help you guys out and then we can all sit back and laugh at the Aussie Govt. blowing $125.8 million on something we all knew was easy to work around in the first place.
33358088 (banned)
join:2008-09-23

33358088 (banned)

Member

watch now game sales plummet HAHA

gonnna be funny a year from now to see game sales tank

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
Netgear WNDR3700v2
Zoom 5341J

KrK

Premium Member

Re: watch now game sales plummet HAHA

said by 33358088:

gonnna be funny a year from now to see game sales tank
Actually, it seems the best way to promote a game is to ban it.

Banned games seem to become highly sought after.

Knnn
join:2003-01-27
North Vancouver, BC

1 recommendation

Knnn

Member

Ban the government

Simple really, gamers and porn surfers (90% of the country%) just need to ban the freaking government.

Smith6612
MVM
join:2008-02-01
North Tonawanda, NY
·Charter
Ubee EU2251
Ubiquiti UAP-IW-HD
Ubiquiti UniFi AP-AC-HD

2 edits

Smith6612

MVM

Ticking off gamers is not good news...

I wonder how many people the Australian government would be ticking off by blocking gaming. I hope they realize that gamers are probably what make up much of their user base of internet subscribers in the first place, and not only that, but gamers also tend to complain the most as well when something breaks or is messed with (ever crashed out someone's game before?). Oh well. Let the proxies and VPNs blow more Aussie government money!

I would laugh if they were to block access to Nintendo's Wii online servers. Imagine how much more people would be angry by blocking their Wii!
etaadmin
join:2002-01-17
united state

2 edits

etaadmin

Member

The Taliban down under...

Whats next, block the political opposition's web sites? Only allow words from the New Speak dictionary?
»www.newspeakdictionary.c ··· ict.html

This is what happens when religious extremist groups infiltrate governments.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
Netgear WNDR3700v2
Zoom 5341J

KrK

Premium Member

Re: The Taliban down under...

said by etaadmin:

Whats next, block the political opposition's web sites?
Apparently, that has already been slipped into the filter.....

actor90
Never a dull moment
Premium Member
join:2003-07-21
Jackson, NJ
·Verizon FiOS
Wistron NeWeb CR1000A

actor90 to etaadmin

Premium Member

to etaadmin
said by etaadmin:

Whats next, block the political opposition's web sites? Only allow words from the New Speak dictionary?
»www.newspeakdictionary.c ··· ict.html

This is what happens when religious extremist groups infiltrate governments.
The current government in Australia is a liberal nanny state government ala Obama. The Conservatives were voted out of power during the last election. It is a bunch of socialist utopians running Australia now under the Rudd government.

You can thank socialist idealism and their womb to the tomb mentality for this.

Snickerdo3
Premium Member
join:2001-02-28
Niagara Falls, ON

Snickerdo3

Premium Member

Re: The Taliban down under...

said by actor90:

The current government in Australia is a liberal nanny state government ala Obama. The Conservatives were voted out of power during the last election. It is a bunch of socialist utopians running Australia now under the Rudd government.
You can thank socialist idealism and their womb to the tomb mentality for this.


Kevin Rudd isn't a socialist. Some of his views can actually be classified as right-leaning and are no different than John Howard. I don't even live in Australia and I know this.

Then again, someone who thinks Obama is a socialist generally shouldn't be commenting on stuff they clearly haven't got a god damn clue about.

actor90
Never a dull moment
Premium Member
join:2003-07-21
Jackson, NJ

actor90

Premium Member

Re: The Taliban down under...

Your right Obama is more of a socialist then Rudd is at the moment. Or have you missed his plans for nationalizing of the auto industry and health care? Or his plans on forcing cap and trade, thereby doubling electric rates?

Snickerdo3
Premium Member
join:2001-02-28
Niagara Falls, ON

Snickerdo3

Premium Member

Re: The Taliban down under...

said by actor90:

Your right Obama is more of a socialist then Rudd is at the moment. Or have you missed his plans for nationalizing of the auto industry and health care? Or his plans on forcing cap and trade, thereby doubling electric rates?
Cap and Trade has nothing to do with socialism so I fail to see your point on that.

As for the auto industry, if it was truly nationalized the American government would own an actual controlling interest and earn a return on said investment. As it stands right now, the government is handing them money with no oversight and no control, and continuing to more or less keep the status quo in check, regardless of what the optics in the media play be saying.

That isn't socialism. That's fascism.

Not that I'm calling Obama a fascist, but you really need to get your ideologies correct before shooting your mouth off. And calling Obama a socialist is not only laughable, it's downright moronic. "Conservatives" in most countries around the world are more "socialist" than Obama or the Democratic Party could ever hope to be.

xNPC
As Usual, Have Nice Day
Premium Member
join:2000-11-08
Errington, BC
·Shaw
ARRIS TG3482

xNPC

Premium Member

g'day bruce...

this is the wattle,

the symbol of your land,

you can stick it in a bottle

or hold it in your hand.