Rudd to bring us mandatory censorship

01.03.08 Posted in News by Mathew

Not a great way to start the New Year, but apparently the Rudd government has decided that mandatory, and not optional, internet censorship is required for Australia. Before the election we were told that the scheme would be optional, and that internet users could choose to opt into the system if they wanted to, but now we are told that we will be force to ask to be removed from it.

The Telecommunications Minister, Stephen Conroy, went as far as to suggest that anyone complaining about “free speech” was basically pro child pornography; “Labor makes no apologies to those who argue that any regulation of the internet is like going down the Chinese road,” Mr Conroy said yesterday. “If people equate freedom of speech with watching child pornography, then the Rudd Labor Government is going to disagree.”

As I have always said; The internet is a dangerous place for kids, and they need to be carefully supervised by their parents if and when those parents decide to let them use it at all. The government cannot solve these problems, and any attempt to do so is grandstanding at best, a sinister move toward a police state at worst.


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