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| If @Penbo's for it, I'm against it!! I've read with interest today's article by David Penberthy's article in the Oz titled: "If this mob is against censor, then I'm for it". It's online at http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/if-this-mob-is-against-censor-then-im-for-it/story-e6frg6zo-1225811639016. @Penbo as I think of him now was one of the first Journo's I started following on Twitter and up until recent times I've enjoyed heaps of his articles in the Punch. He also seems like a genuinely nice guy, even making time to respond to me personally on a few different issues I've talked to him about on Twitter. But by publishing today's article, he's drawn a pretty big line in the sand as to where he stands re. the Government's proposed Internet Censorship plan and it's one of the worst articles of his that I've read. It makes some massive generalisations that could tempt the reader into thinking that he feels most, if not all of the people supporting the #nocleanfeed campaign are "a largely stupid generation of pampered kids". That would be me making my own generalisation of of his comments, but I think it's pretty obvious how he feels about those in the #nocleanfeed camp. Penbo says that the what gets filtered will be controlled by an independent body but who decides who's part of that body?? Um, possibly the Government may have a bit of a say in that one I'm guessing! And call me cynical, but isn't it amazing how many viewpoints expressed by "independent agencies" set up by Governments end up having similar, sometimes identical viewpoints to the that Government!! And who's to say, once the filter is in place that the current Government or some future rabble may decide that the Independent committee can no longer handle such an awesome responsibility and that it should be the Government who decides what we see and hear on the web. I can't site specific examples, but I'm pretty sure that sort of thing has happened once or twice in the past and if that does happen, then we really are in serious trouble, and the comparisons with China and Iran don't seem quite so "fantasical"... Penbo's also acknowledged that the plan isn't "a work of genius" so we're both on the same page there. I think those concerns need to be expanded a bit though. Not so much in terms of the plan itself, but for the potential of the whole thing to go technically "a bit pair shaped"... I've seen first hand over many years how well Government IT systems get implemented, mostly in the Welfare and Health sectors and quite frankly, it scares the living hell out of me. When I think about some of the systems I've seen come and go around Government departments, I have a little laugh to myself, then a shiver runs down my spine and I quickly as I can go back to dreaming of Juddy screaming into the forward 50 to kick the winning goal after the siren for premiership no. 17!! (against the Pies or the Dons of course!!) Also, given the thousands upon thousands of hackers around the world, how long till the filter's cracked and a "back door" is found so that those who want to can still see all the sickening stuff the Filter is supposed to stop? I give it 3 days... Don't get me wrong - I hope I'm that's a massive underestimation (or is it overestimation?) but there's big money involved in Net porn and those at risk of losing a bit of coin from the Government's proposed plan aren't gonna let a system developed by a dozen or so underpaid and no doubt overworked techo's from or outsourced by the APS get in their way for too long! And one other minor detail that might work against the filter being effective. At some stage, like it or not, Telstra's gonna have to be involved. That thought alone is just plain terrifying!!! I hate to say it, but I think it'd be much more useful for the Government to spend the proposed tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars set aside for the filter on, dare I say it, trying to bring about cultural change within our country through the use of traditional and non-traditional mediums (that's TV, Radio, newspapers and, heaven forbit, the Internet...) I hate childporn, bestiality is plain and simple sick and there's loads more crap on the web that needs to go, but a Government implemented, and most probably at some future stage controlled Internet filter is not the way to fix the problem. The real fix starts with me, my wife, my kids, the people that look after and teach my kids and everyone that we know and talk to that we can convince to not ever look at. read or think about even the mildest forms of pornography via any medium, let alone the web. The most effective filter that can ever be implemented is the one that each and everyone of has. Quite simply, it's the one in our own minds. Lets implement that one as quickly as possible and use it as effectively as we can! This post has 5144 characters, and was posted by @RichardTuffin You must be signed in to comment |