Thursday, 30 October 2008
Saturday, 25 October 2008
Filtering out the fury: how government tried to gag web censor critics
Asher Moses
October 24, 2008 - 7:00AM
The Federal Government is attempting to silence critics of its controversial plan to censor the internet, which experts say will break the internet while doing little to stop people from accessing illegal material such as child pornography.
Internet providers and the government's own tests have found that presently available filters are not capable of adequately distinguishing between legal and illegal content and can degrade internet speeds by up to 86 per cent.
Documents obtained by us show the office of the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, tried to bully ISP staff into suppressing their criticisms of the plan.
Senator Conroy has since last year's election victory remained tight-lipped on the specifics of his $44.2 million policy but, grilled by a Senate Estimates committee this week, he said the Government was looking at forcing ISPs to implement a two-tiered filtering system.
The first tier, which internet users would not be able to opt out of, would block all "illegal material". Senator Conroy has previously said Australians would be able to opt out of any filters to obtain "uncensored access to the internet".
The second tier, which is optional, would filter out content deemed inappropriate for children, such as pornography.
But neither filter tier will be capable of censoring content obtained over peer-to-peer file sharing networks, which account for an estimated 60 per cent of internet traffic.
Senator Conroy said Britain, Sweden, Canada and New Zealand had all implemented similar filtering systems. However, in all cases, participation by ISPs was optional and the filtering was limited in scope to predominantly child pornography.
Colin Jacobs, chair of the online users' lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia said: "I'm not exaggerating when I say that this model involves more technical interference in the internet infrastructure than what is attempted in Iran, one of the most repressive and regressive censorship regimes in the world."
Critics of the ISP-level filtering plan say software filters installed by the user on their PC, which are already provided by the government for free at netalert.gov.au, are more than adequate.
Mark Newton, an engineer at Internode, has heavily criticised the Government and its filtering policy on the Whirlpool broadband community forum, going as far as saying it would enable child abuse.
He said the plan would inevitably result in significant false positives and degrade internet speeds tremendously. Those views were subsequently widely reported by technology media and blogs.
Although Newton identified himself as an employee of Internode - as Whirlpool's rules stipulate - he always maintained his views were personal opinions and not necessarily shared by the company.
On Tuesday, a policy advisor for Senator Conroy, Belinda Dennett, wrote an email to Internet Industry Association (IIA) board member Carolyn Dalton in an attempt to pressure Newton into reining in his dissent.
"In your capacity as a board member of the IIA I would like to express my serious concern that a IIA member would be sending out this sort of message. I have also advised [IIA chief executive] Peter Coroneos of my disappointment in this sort of irresponsible behaviour ," the email, read.
It is understood the email was accompanied by a phone call demanding that the message be passed on to senior Internode management.
Newton said he found the bullying "outrageous" and Senator Conroy was "misusing his influence as a Commonwealth Minister to intimidate a private dissenting citizen into silencing his political views".
A spokesman for Senator Conroy said Newton's accusation that the Government was promoting child abuse was "disappointing and irresponsible". He said the purpose of the email was "to establish whether Mr Newton's views were consistent with the IIA position".
Ironically, Senator Conroy has himself accused critics of his filtering policy of supporting child pornography - including Greens Senator Scott Ludlam in Senate Estimates this week.
ACMA released a report in July detailing the results of laboratory tests of six unnamed ISP-level filters.
Only one of the filters tested resulted in an acceptable speed reduction of 2 per cent or less. The others caused drops in speed between 21 per cent and 86 per cent.
The tests showed the more accurate the filtering, the bigger the impact on network performance.
However, none of the filters were completely accurate. They allowed access to between 2 per cent and 13 per cent of material that should have been blocked, and wrongly blocked between 1.3 per cent and 7.8 per cent of websites that should have been allowed.
"Why would you want to damage the performance and utility of the internet and not actually keep the bad stuff out anyway," said John Lindsay, carrier relations manager at Internode.
In Senate Estimates, Senator Ludlam expressed concern that all sorts of politically-sensitive material could be added to the block list and otherwise legitimate sites - for example, YouTube - could be rendered inaccessible based on content published by users.
"The black list ... can become very grey depending on how expansive the list becomes - euthanasia material, politically related material, material about anorexia. There is a lot of distasteful stuff on the internet," he said.
Despite this, the Government - which distanced itself from the tests by saying they were initiated by the previous government - is pressing ahead with live trials of the filtering system and will shortly seek expressions of interest from ISPs keen to participate.
SMH 25-10-8
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/biztech/how-government-tried-to-gag-censor-critics/2008/10/23/1224351430987.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
. . . . . .
Two most common elements in the universe: Hydrogen & Stupidity.
http://www.ebearweb.net
Bujinkan: Martial Arts of the Samurai and Ninja
http://www.ebearweb.net/bujinkan/
Stephen's Snaps
http://photo.ebearweb.net/
This week My own bubbles.
Simply nice photos, Landscape, Seascape, Underwater, The Northern Beaches Sydney.
October 24, 2008 - 7:00AM
The Federal Government is attempting to silence critics of its controversial plan to censor the internet, which experts say will break the internet while doing little to stop people from accessing illegal material such as child pornography.
Internet providers and the government's own tests have found that presently available filters are not capable of adequately distinguishing between legal and illegal content and can degrade internet speeds by up to 86 per cent.
Documents obtained by us show the office of the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, tried to bully ISP staff into suppressing their criticisms of the plan.
Senator Conroy has since last year's election victory remained tight-lipped on the specifics of his $44.2 million policy but, grilled by a Senate Estimates committee this week, he said the Government was looking at forcing ISPs to implement a two-tiered filtering system.
The first tier, which internet users would not be able to opt out of, would block all "illegal material". Senator Conroy has previously said Australians would be able to opt out of any filters to obtain "uncensored access to the internet".
The second tier, which is optional, would filter out content deemed inappropriate for children, such as pornography.
But neither filter tier will be capable of censoring content obtained over peer-to-peer file sharing networks, which account for an estimated 60 per cent of internet traffic.
Senator Conroy said Britain, Sweden, Canada and New Zealand had all implemented similar filtering systems. However, in all cases, participation by ISPs was optional and the filtering was limited in scope to predominantly child pornography.
Colin Jacobs, chair of the online users' lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia said: "I'm not exaggerating when I say that this model involves more technical interference in the internet infrastructure than what is attempted in Iran, one of the most repressive and regressive censorship regimes in the world."
Critics of the ISP-level filtering plan say software filters installed by the user on their PC, which are already provided by the government for free at netalert.gov.au, are more than adequate.
Mark Newton, an engineer at Internode, has heavily criticised the Government and its filtering policy on the Whirlpool broadband community forum, going as far as saying it would enable child abuse.
He said the plan would inevitably result in significant false positives and degrade internet speeds tremendously. Those views were subsequently widely reported by technology media and blogs.
Although Newton identified himself as an employee of Internode - as Whirlpool's rules stipulate - he always maintained his views were personal opinions and not necessarily shared by the company.
On Tuesday, a policy advisor for Senator Conroy, Belinda Dennett, wrote an email to Internet Industry Association (IIA) board member Carolyn Dalton in an attempt to pressure Newton into reining in his dissent.
"In your capacity as a board member of the IIA I would like to express my serious concern that a IIA member would be sending out this sort of message. I have also advised [IIA chief executive] Peter Coroneos of my disappointment in this sort of irresponsible behaviour ," the email, read.
It is understood the email was accompanied by a phone call demanding that the message be passed on to senior Internode management.
Newton said he found the bullying "outrageous" and Senator Conroy was "misusing his influence as a Commonwealth Minister to intimidate a private dissenting citizen into silencing his political views".
A spokesman for Senator Conroy said Newton's accusation that the Government was promoting child abuse was "disappointing and irresponsible". He said the purpose of the email was "to establish whether Mr Newton's views were consistent with the IIA position".
Ironically, Senator Conroy has himself accused critics of his filtering policy of supporting child pornography - including Greens Senator Scott Ludlam in Senate Estimates this week.
ACMA released a report in July detailing the results of laboratory tests of six unnamed ISP-level filters.
Only one of the filters tested resulted in an acceptable speed reduction of 2 per cent or less. The others caused drops in speed between 21 per cent and 86 per cent.
The tests showed the more accurate the filtering, the bigger the impact on network performance.
However, none of the filters were completely accurate. They allowed access to between 2 per cent and 13 per cent of material that should have been blocked, and wrongly blocked between 1.3 per cent and 7.8 per cent of websites that should have been allowed.
"Why would you want to damage the performance and utility of the internet and not actually keep the bad stuff out anyway," said John Lindsay, carrier relations manager at Internode.
In Senate Estimates, Senator Ludlam expressed concern that all sorts of politically-sensitive material could be added to the block list and otherwise legitimate sites - for example, YouTube - could be rendered inaccessible based on content published by users.
"The black list ... can become very grey depending on how expansive the list becomes - euthanasia material, politically related material, material about anorexia. There is a lot of distasteful stuff on the internet," he said.
Despite this, the Government - which distanced itself from the tests by saying they were initiated by the previous government - is pressing ahead with live trials of the filtering system and will shortly seek expressions of interest from ISPs keen to participate.
SMH 25-10-8
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/biztech/how-government-tried-to-gag-censor-critics/2008/10/23/1224351430987.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
.
Two most common elements in the universe: Hydrogen & Stupidity.
http://www.ebearweb.net
Bujinkan: Martial Arts of the Samurai and Ninja
http://www.ebearweb.net/bujinkan/
Stephen's Snaps
http://photo.ebearweb.net/
This week My own bubbles.
Simply nice photos, Landscape, Seascape, Underwater, The Northern Beaches Sydney.
Thursday, 23 October 2008
Thursday, 9 October 2008
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
Protests need our blessing, say police
Joel Gibson, Jano Gibson and Linda MorrisJuly 2, 2008
POLICE have told organisations planning to campaign during World Youth Day events they need to have placards, banners and T-shirts pre-approved or risk losing their protest "rights" - even those groups representing victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests.
The State Government faced a public backlash yesterday after the Herald revealed laws had been quietly introduced to prevent people "causing annoyance" to participants in the huge Catholic event which will climax with the Pope's arrival in Sydney in two weeks.
During a meeting with two leading victims groups yesterday, senior police said protesters would also have to include details of their planned messages.
Protesting without police clearance could result in demonstrators being charged under extraordinary new powers which came into effect yesterday.
The sweeping nature of the regulations is threatening to create a legal and political minefield with protesters apparently willing to test both the scope of the laws and the willingness of the authorities to uphold them.
Chris MacIsaac, the president of the victims' group Broken Rites, said his organisation was warned of the sweeping new powers during a police briefing.
"It will anger a lot of people who are very frustrated as they can't get anywhere with the church and now they are losing the right to get out there and tell the world," he said.
Other protesters said they would defy the regulations, and risk a $5500 fine.
"We will protect our civil liberties, and help young people to protect their health, and no Pope or premier will stop us," said Rachel Evans, a spokeswoman for the NoToPope coalition, which is planning to hand out condoms at a July 19 rally.
An online retailer is selling T-shirts that may "cause annoyance" to pilgrims. "$5500 - a small price to pay for annoying Catholics," reads one. "Good luck, Pope. I've been waiting for a miracle at Randwick for years," says another.
The NSW Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, said the new laws were no different from existing police powers for sporting venues. But in a written statement, police refused to rule out prohibiting T-shirts or condom hand-outs. "Anyone engaging in behaviour so as to prevent people from across the world participating in the event, or impacting on their ability to participate, will need to be dealt with," the statement said.
The president of the NSW Bar Association, Anna Katzmann, said the regulations were far less defined than other "annoyance or inconvenience" legislation.
In the Mount Panorama Motor Racing Act and the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Act, people must be "disorderly or insulting" before they can be removed.
Talkback radio, online forums and the Herald's letters page were flooded with criticism of the new rules.
"That we have had our right to protest effectively snuffed out is a mockery to those of us who have been harmed by the Catholic Church," wrote Stephen Kilkeary, who said he, his siblings and his late mother suffered "horrendous abuse at the hands of the Catholic clergy".
Police have begun arranging meetings with a range of possible protesters and pranksters, from anti-homophobia and pro-contraception activists, to victims of abuse, and even comedians from The Chaser.
The Opposition Leader, Barry O'Farrell, said the Government should reveal who requested the regulations.
The Catholic Church said "neither the Catholic Church nor Cardinal Pell asked for the additional police powers", adding "we understand some people may want to protest and they have the right to do so peacefully and lawfully".
The Minister for World Youth Day, Kristina Keneally, said the Government framed the laws on advice from police and after consulting the church. She stressed they were not drafted at the behest of Cardinal George Pell.
SMH 2-6-8
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/police-pope-demos-need-our-blessing/2008/07/01/1214678038215.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
.
" Do or not do, there is no try. -Yoda "
http://www.ebearweb.net
Bujinkan: Martial Arts of the Samurai and Ninja
http://www.ebearweb.net/bujinkan/
Stephen's Snaps
http://photo.ebearweb.net/
This week Chaweng Beach.
Simply nice photos, Landscape, Seascape, Underwater, The Northern Beaches Sydney.
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
No free speech!
Thou shalt not annoy on Youth Day
Jano Gibson, Linda Morris and Joel GibsonJuly 1, 2008
EXTRAORDINARY new powers will allow police to arrest and fine people for "causing annoyance" to World Youth Day participants and permit partial strip searches at hundreds of Sydney sites, beginning today.
The laws, which operate until the end of July, have the potential to make a crime of wearing a T-shirt with a message on it, undertaking a Chaser-style stunt, handing out condoms at protests, riding a skateboard or even playing music, critics say.
Police and volunteers from the State Emergency Service and Rural Fire Service will be able to direct people to cease engaging in conduct that "causes annoyance or inconvenience to participants in a World Youth Day event".
People who fail to comply will be subject to a $5500 fine.
The president of the NSW Bar Association, Anna Katzmann, SC, described the regulations as "unnecessary and repugnant".
The Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said if someone exposed themselves in public, they faced a fine of only $1100 or six months' jail under the Summary Offences Act.
"So if someone flashes a WYD participant they will face a $1100 penalty but if they wear an anti-Catholic T-shirt they could face a $5500 penalty," she said.
A police source said causing an "annoyance or inconvenience" was a highly subjective offence. A police lawyer would define it in layman's terms for operational use by officers.
Civil libertarians said they had never seen anything like the new powers and believed they are more extreme and broader in scope than those used during last year's APEC summit and the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
But the State Government said "World Youth Day is a happy and positive celebration of youth" and "no additional or 'APEC-like' police powers have been granted under the World Youth Day regulations".
The Catholic Church denied it had called for such powers.
The regulations were quietly gazetted by the Deputy Premier, John Watkins, on Friday afternoon and apply to more than 40 city locations, including museums, galleries and cinemas, as well as Darling Harbour, the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, Randwick Racecourse and parklands.
More than 500 schools across Sydney and 35 train and bus stations have also been listed as "declared areas". People entering them will be subject to vehicle and baggage searches that require them to remove jackets, gloves, shoes and headwear if requested. "Reasonable force may be used to effect the person's exclusion" if they do not permit the search, the regulations stipulate.
The Government's World Youth Day spokeswoman, Kristina Keneally, said "bag checks are a sensible safety precaution which any young person who is going to a major event in Australia … would expect". Everyone had the right to protest so long as it was "peaceful and lawful".
The president of the NSW Council of Civil Liberties, Cameron Murphy, said the broad meaning of "causes annoyance" had the potential to encompass any activity. "This sort of amendment is extreme, unnecessary and is likely to escalate conflict when officers issue directions," he said. "People are going to be unaware that they have the power to do this and will find themselves in court facing an enormous fine."
Ms Katzmann said: "The mere presence in the vicinity of a person wearing the apparel or insignia of another religion might be annoying or inconvenient to a participant in a World Youth Day event."
Ms Rhiannon said the regulations were about "shutting down protests and quarantining the Pope and visiting Catholics away from messages World Youth Day authorities don't approve of".
SMH 1-7-8
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/thou-shalt-not-annoy-on-youth-day/2008/06/30/1214677946009.html
.
" Do or not do, there is no try. -Yoda "
http://www.ebearweb.net
Bujinkan: Martial Arts of the Samurai and Ninja
http://www.ebearweb.net/bujinkan/
Stephen's Snaps
http://photo.ebearweb.net/
This week Chaweng Beach.
Simply nice photos, Landscape, Seascape, Underwater, The Northern Beaches Sydney.
Saturday, 3 May 2008
Anzac Bridge farce shows how 'security' has cost us our freedom
Anzac Bridge farce shows how 'security' has cost us our freedom
Mike CarltonMay 3, 2008
We are still waiting to be told why real people - aka hard-working Australian families - were banned from last Sunday's unveiling of the statue of the Kiwi soldier on the Anzac Bridge.
Morris Iemma was there. The New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark, and her startling teeth were there. Defence personnel from both countries oom-pahed back and forth for the TV cameras. But the public was banned. Ordinary folk who had turned up to see the show, many of them expatriate Kiwis, were ordered off the bridge by the police for "security reasons".
What were those reasons? Was there some clear and present danger, a threat to peace and order, life and limb? Did the ASIO spooks have word that, far away in his snowy mountain fastness in the Hindu Kush, Osama bin Laden had planned another atrocity for the occasion? Or was the State Government, growing more unpopular by the hour, fearful of a latter-day Captain de Groot galloping up with sabre drawn?
None of the above, I suspect. Put it down to arrogance and incompetence. The cops kept the public off the Anzac Bridge simply because it made life easier for them. When you give extraordinary powers to the police and "security forces" to boss people around they tend to use those powers. Not for any good reason. Like dogs licking their testicles, they do it because they can and it feels good.
We saw the same sort of thing happen at last year's APEC summit in Sydney, when the city was "locked down" (and aren't you sick of hearing that phrase?) behind a ring of steel so formidable it could be penetrated only by crack teams of highly trained ABC television comedians. No doubt we will see the same officious push and shove when the Pope is here for the World Youth Day jamboree in July.
Granted, the petty stupidity on the Anzac Bridge was not the end of the world, but the people who were turned away had every right to be angry. It was another example of the way the so-called anti-terrorism laws have chiselled away at our rights and freedoms in the name of security.
ON THE same subject, but far more serious, John Howard and Lord Downer should not be permitted to get away with the lies they fed us about the infamous American military commission set up to try David Hicks at Guantanamo Bay. While I think of it, add Philip Ruddock to the list.
Time and again these three wise monkeys assured us this commission would see justice done. It would be fair and proper in every way, conducted with scrupulous regard for the rights of the accused. "We are satisfied that the rules that have been established for the military commission will deliver a process which is consistent with the criminal justice system in our country," Howard assured the nation back in August 2004.
A year later, Lord Downer was equally firm. "We have examined very carefully the structure of the military commission," he huffed, with his usual fatuous air of wounded innocence. "We believe that the appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure that the trial is a fair trial."
At about the same time Ruddock felt able to announce, with bottomless understatement, that while these military commissions were "not precisely the same as our civilian courts dealing with criminal matters", they were nonetheless "an appropriate medium" for trying Hicks and his fiendish ilk.
The final nail in the coffin of their deceit was hammered home this week by Colonel Moe Davis, the US Air Force lawyer who had been the hapless prosecutor in the Hicks farce. Giving evidence under oath at the so-called trial of Osama bin Laden's former driver, Davis came clean. He admitted that the commission process had been politically driven from Washington and rigged for convictions.
And as he later told Time magazine: "There is no question they wanted me to stage show trials that have nothing to do with the centuries-old tradition of military justice in America."
It is possible, I suppose, that Howard and Co were not deliberately lying. The alternative, equally disgraceful, is that they were willing dupes of the Bush Administration, blithely unconcerned about an Australian citizen's rights at law.
DEMOCRACY demands an opposition to take the fight to the government. Sadly, I am afraid that Just-Call-Me-Brendan is not up to it. The heavy hitter the Liberals need in Canberra is Troy Buswell who - at the moment of writing - is the Leader of the Opposition in Western Australia.
For some days this week, Buswell stoutly fended off rumours that, as a bit of a jape, he had sniffed the seat of a chair shortly after it had been vacated by a female Liberal Party staff member. Eventually, choking back sobs, he conceded on television that he had sniffed as alleged.
It was a bravura performance. Buswell is ready for the national stage, in the lady-killing tradition of those two great Liberal knights of the realm, the late John Gorton and Billy Snedden.
SMH 3-5-8
http://www.smh.com.au/news/mike-carlton/security-has-cost-us-our-freedom/2008/05/02/1209235149846.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
.
" Do or not do, there is no try. -Yoda "
http://www.ebearweb.net
Bujinkan: Martial Arts of the Samurai and Ninja
http://www.ebearweb.net/bujinkan/
Stephen's Snaps
http://photo.ebearweb.net/
This week Chaweng Beach.
Simply nice photos, Landscape, Seascape, Underwater, The Northern Beaches Sydney.
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