Conroy: Filter alive and kicking

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy went in to bat for the Labor Government’s mandatory internet filter again, reaffirming the commitment to the unpopular policy. Nothing has changed since earlier debates; the filter still has the same problems it has always had – it’s useless, unworkable and expensive. It still won’t help anybody. The latest line, that […]

Conroy not fooling anyone on an open internet

The internet freedom business is doing a roaring trade these days. Things started picking up early last year with Hillary Clinton’s landmark speech, “Remarks on internet Freedom,” which equated an open internet with human rights and condemned state-sponsored censorship of the net. Then came the revelations by Wikileaks, starting with the “Collateral Murder” video and […]

The future of internet censorship

You probably know that internet censorship is a hot topic. It’s on the rise around the world and has been a big issue here in Australia, where a new push for censorship remains government policy. The internet is such a great enabler of free speech. Why do governments want to censor it? Some of the […]

Senator Quixote deserves to be told off

The Labor government’s plan to censor the Australian internet has entered the realm of farce. Despite scraping back into government by the barest of possible margins, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has returned without delay to trumpeting his doomed scheme to anybody that will listen. As we have said (for years, now) the filter will not […]

Independent's Day and the Censorwall

Only a few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post, “Is the filter really dead?” Since that post was written in what now seems a simpler and gentler bygone political age, an update may be in order. As of today, the ALP and the Coalition are neck-and-neck in numbers, and who forms the next Government […]