This post is to provide a discussion forum for the article Gillard won’t budge on internet filter published today on the news.com.au website. The artcile is being reposted here so that the public may have an opportunity to reply.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard isn’t budging on dropping the unpopular internet filter, saying it is a moral judgment the government needs to make.
The coalition and the Greens are unlikely to support proposed new laws that will see inappropriate content filters through internet service providers.
But, Ms Gillard remains defiant: “The internet filter is appropriate”.
“It is unlawful for me to go to the cinema and watch some certain sorts of content, that’s unlawful, we believe it to be wrong,” she told the Queensland Media Club in Brisbane on Tuesday.
“Content that is child abuse, incredibly violent pornography, we say that is wrong and we don’t show it in Australian cinemas.
“If we accept that, then it seems to me the moral question is not changed by the medium that the image has come through.”
She said the government is working through how the internet filter could be introduced without slowing down connection speed or accidentally banning content that is appropriate.
Under the plan, all Internet Service Providers (ISP) in Australia would be required to use a filter to block sites that are refused classification by the The Australian Communications and Media Authority, including child sexual abuse imagery, bestiality, sexual violence, detailed instruction in crime, violence or drug use and material that advocates the doing of a terrorist act.
There is also an audio file of the full speech given. The filter question is at the and of the recording.
Here are some of the Twitter responses:
Jinjirrie: Julia, you are a GOOSE! RT @efa_oz: @JuliaGillard won’t budge on internet filter http://bit.ly/dpmoM2 #openinternet #NoCleanFeed
mackenziepricee: @JuliaGillard Why don’t you listen to the public for once. The internet filter is not wanted. #OpenInternet #alpfail
thebellman: Dear @JuliaGillard – please stop peddling misinformation with respect to internet censorship #OpenInternet
carloscomputers: @JuliaGillard dump the net filter now. It won’t work. Put the money into funding the AFP instead. #openinternet #nocleanfeed
EnsignR: @JuliaGillard I didnt think you were so naive not to know why we’re all up in arms over #openinternet. Scope creep is the biggest issue.
SilentInfidel: @JuliaGillard The internet is a communications medium, not a publishing medium. You wouldn’t censor emails, would you? #OpenInternet
gh8421: @JuliaGillard Money spent on the Filter, could be better spent educating families on usage and funding police resources. #OpenInternet
HotdogWithSauce: @JuliaGillard Education for parents and them executing their parental responsibilities is what is needed, not a net filter. #OpenInternet
CHICAGO_lollie: @JuliaGillard The grand majority of industry professionals around the world have already said that a filter is FALSE SECURITY.
jclacherty: So the govt’s role is to make moral judgements is it? RT @grumpymojo: Internet filter is right: Gillard: http://bit.ly/9FVmFC #openinternet
LrdScar: @JuliaGillard It has been clearly demonstrated that this filter its a WASTE OF MONEY. Fund the cops instead #openinternet #nocleanfeed
noj: @JuliaGillard it’s not govt.’s place to decide what ppl may consume on the internet. Education is required not censorship #openinternet
trib: Someone needs to do a piece for @abcthedrum @crikey_news or @thepunchcomau (or all) debunking RC = illegal nonsense. #openinternet
Have an opinion? Please post your thoughts below.