Principled stand

AUSTRALIA'S third largest internet service provider (ISP) has pulled out of the Government's web filtering trials, saying the plan is "no longer just about stopping child porn."

Of course the plan was never about stopping access to child-porn but rather was driven by the desire of the ALP and its thought-police to regulate what material adults can access.

Still, kudos to iiNet, not just for pulling the pin but for explaining why:

The Government's plan involves a nation-wide filter that stops "unwanted material" from appearing on Australian user's computer screens.

iiNet says the ambiguity of "unwanted material" is what caused it to pull out of the trials.

“We are not able to reconcile participation in the trial with our corporate social responsibility, our customer service objectives and our public position on censorship,” iiNet managing director Michael Malone said in a statement.

“It became increasingly clear that the trial was not simply about restricting child pornography or other such illegal material, but a much wider range of issues including what the Government simply describes as 'unwanted material' without an explanation of what that includes."

If ever there was an illustration of how the government intends to abuse this power it is the banning of a US anti-abortion site and the stand-over man tactics applied to get an Australian site to stop linking to it ($11k fine per-day).

The idea of a secret government blacklist of material that I am not allow to view because it is undesirable reminds me of the language of certain regime's which do not value individual freedoms:

BEIRUT, March 16, 2009 (MENASSAT) - In the report titled, “Enemies of the Internet,” Reporters Without Borders (RSF) accused authorities in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Tunisia, of “transforming their Internet into an Intranet,” in an effort to hinder the public from accessing online information deemed “undesirable” by the national government.

The four Arab states, along with Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam, are the top countries that allegedly practice the most extensive Internet censorship in the world, earning RSF’s title “Internet enemies.”

RSF’s report states that the web censorship practiced in these countries is often based on a government policy of "protecting morals," "national security," religion and ethnic minorities.

This says it all: