More Australian Censorship

The Labor Party tentacles reach far and fast. This is almost real time censorship.

On Fri 18-12-2009 auDA issued a notice giving us 3 hours to provide evidence of our eligibility to hold stephenconroy.com.au and related domain names. We asked for reasonable time to prepare and make representations on our eligibility but auDA refused to grant this, insisting we reply within the 3 hour window.

Read the full story at Stephen-Conroy.com

Fuck Trafigura, fuck censorship

Censored Newsnight story: PDF

Don’t get fooled again.

Black Tuesday

Black Tuesday For Freedom Of Speech In Australia

Internet censorship plan gets the green light

The Federal Government has announced it will proceed with controversial plans to censor the internet after Government-commissioned trials found filtering a blacklist of banned sites was accurate and would not slow down the internet.

Government ignores Enex warning on over-blocking

ISP filter technology tested in the Government’s controversial pilot could not block “inappropriate” content without an unacceptable amount of over-blocking, a report by Enex Testlabs has found.

The long-awaited report, released by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy today, described how ISPs participating in the trial filtered content according to three lists – the ACMA blacklist, and two lists prepared by Enex Testlabs.

At least one ISP is being honest.

Internode said only that it had its hands tied. “They’re the government. They regulate the industry. Internode will do what it’s told,” John Lindsay, Internode Carrier Relations Manager told ZDNet.com.au.

Speaking personally, not in his capacity for the company, Lindsay said he thought the government’s move was the equivalent of sending an apprentice to find a left handed hammer.

“It’s taken an entire year to come up with a way to say we ran a trial and it didn’t suck too much,” he said. “The concept of the internet changes faster than bureaucrats can keep up.”

Any old irony

Modded Again

I write this moments after posting a comment on Comment is Free. I shall reproduce it here as I doubt it will get published any time soon.

Dear CiF Mods,

I posted links to four photos that I own the copyright to and are licensed under a very liberal method that actively encourages people to download and use in any way they choose and what happens? You censor my post. I’m sure that in a discussion about copyright issues this has an irony that is not lost on most readers.

So, dear Mods, was it because some of the content contained mildly satirical criticism of Lady Mandelson? Too many links? Is it because I is black? I’d love to know.

By the way, before you deleted my post over 3,500 people got to see and/or download the images so it was all a bit of a stable/horse/bolt situation anyway. Rather like Mandy’s disconnection policy. Oh look, bonus irony.

Even more ironic is that there are plenty of comments on this article that actively explain how to circumvent Her Ladyship’s new policy and avoid the long arm of her law. It really does make me wonder why my post got removed.

A question too for Lady Mandy’s special friend David Geffen. Is that a politician in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?

Supreme scum

From The Register:

UK Supremes turn down McKinnon hearing

The newly-established UK Supreme Court has refused Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon leave to appeal to the court against his extradition to the US.

The legal setback follows failed appeals to the House of Lords and European Court of Human Rights last year. In July two senior judges rejected judicial reviews into the handling of McKinnon’s case by the Crown Prosecution Service and Home Office.

Full story at The Register.

Gary’s campaign site.

Dear UK Supreme Court,

I hope you bought a very large supply of lubricant as the entire country is now bending over and ready to be raped by our so-called allies in the USA. This is a dark day for justice.

Yours,

Johnny Lilburne.

BBC Wildlife Finder

BBC Wildlife Finder

BBC puts wildlife footage online

Clips from 30 series made available on BBC website with introduction by David Attenborough

Chimpanzees ambushing and eating colobus monkeys, great white sharks leaping clean out of the ocean to catch their prey and the first footage of an entire snow leopard hunt are just some of the wonders of nature made available by the BBC as it opens up its vast archive of wildlife footage online today.

But not if you’re outside of the UK. Auntie, why do you do this?

Fuck the BBC’s geolocation prohibition. Now where did I leave that proxy server with the UK exit point?

Full article in The Guardian.

Dear Lily…

“It’d blatantly be a major fail
if they patented the major scale”

Utter genius. How to prick a hypocrite’s bubble in a couple of minutes; Dan Bull tears Lily Allen a new one.

Dan Bull at MySpace.

Sent to the naughty corner

Sent to the naughty corner by the moderators at CiF

“Yet I fear such a paper would find few subscribers. It is a melancholy truth, that a suppression of the press could not more completely deprive the nation of its benefits, than is done by its abandoned prostitution to falsehood. Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper.” – Thomas Jefferson

The Mod Squad

All I said was…

Bono, Kissinger, Brown and Ehud Barak all in the same room at the same time in New York. Where’s a hijacked airliner when you need one?

Comment is free but a sense of humour is obviously an extra the Grauniad can’t afford.

A politican that gets the Internet

Dennis Jensen (Tangney, Liberal Party)

Internet service providers have won the backing of colleagues around the world in their loathing for a man apparently set on hindering the infrastructure he is supposed to enhance. The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy recently won formal recognition for his unpopularity in the industry as Internet Villain of the Year. Some individuals felt strongly enough about the issue that last week they attacked the websites of both the minister and the Prime Minister. Computer users, particularly the more tech-savvy—and a special mention must go to the Whirlpool website forums for fostering real debate of the issue—hold the minister as an object of contempt and ridicule, particularly for his bumbling attempt to impose controls over the medium which is ultimately setting the world free. The internet delivers power to the world’s people. It is an ally of all who cherish freedom, individual liberty and true democracy. That is why it is the enemy of authoritarian rulers in countries such as China, Burma and Iran—and, it seems, of the Australian Labor Party.

Read the rest at OpenAustralia

At last

Alan Turing Memorial Plaque

The Prime Minister has apologised for the “appalling” persecution of World War II code breaker Alan Turing.

Gordon Brown’s words of contrition came in response to a petition on the No 10 website calling for a posthumous government apology to the wartime hero and computing pioneer. The petition has received thousands of signatures in recent weeks, gathering the support of celebrities including writer Ian McEwan and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.

Read further at El Reg.

Plaque image source.

Richard Rothwell RIP

Richard Rothwell, dedicated campaigner for Free Software and liberty.

Stop Blair!

“We, European citizens of all origins and of all political persuasions, wish to express our total opposition to the nomination of Tony Blair to the Presidency of the European Council.”

Read more at Stop Blair!

The Birth of the Levellers

Bugger, I missed this one. Seagreen Society sums things up perfectly.

Happy birthday, Levellers everywhere.

Just sex and nothing else

Just sex and nothing else

All the highlights from the Confederations Cup in South Africa – just sex and nothing else. EPG textual malfunction.