Australian Left (Labor) proposal to block offensive material at ISP level
I think this is horrid and I oppose Labor’s stance. I am eager to get citizenship so I can speak out on this kind of thing but in the meantime I’ll just try to yammer on to you Aussies who can take action. 
On its face, I think we should be leery of anything that apes the USA’s Puritanical approach (and propensity for politics to become an exercise in grandstanding) and that’s just what this smacks of.
Under the plan, the offensive sites would be identified by the Australian Communications and Media Authority which would ban material categorised as R, RC and X.
Governments are given the power to decide and enforce access to what is and is not obscene or adult-only at our peril. Things which are socially uncomfortable are often branded as obscene or restricted. Governments should not abridge speech unless there is a highly compelling social interest. Which brings us to a misguided attempt to do so:
Labor says there is a link between porn sites and youths’ aggressive attitudes towards women and the risk of child abuse
To my knowledge this has not been established as causal. It is perhaps a correlation, but unfortunately the sloppy word “link” is used to meld these two important distinctions. I’ve already soapboxed on this so I’ll spare you. In any case, this does not automatically make it the government’s job (as opposed to parents’) to restrict this. What if there were a similar correlation between playing footy and aggressive attitudes towards women? Would that make it okay for Labor to say kids are banned from playing footy unless their parents “opt in” to allowing it?
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley will today attack the Federal Government for leaving it up to parents to make sure children are not exposed to internet pornography.
That is IMO exactly who it should be left up to.
It also said adults could opt out of the clean feed to get legal material by contacting their ISP.
This is a classic technique to create a chilling effect. Many would think twice before telling their ISP, “Porn access please” even if this access were necessary to see material that the citizen, though not the government, considers acceptable material.
This also implies that illegal (X and unshielded R, as defined by the gov’t) material still could not be acquired by any means.
Mr Beazley has already called on the Government to subsidise the purchase of filters for families…
Not a bad idea, they should stick with that.
On that matter, if there is a citizen demand for ISP-side blockage of porn or puppies or Hoff or whatever they like, the free market will then fill this gap. An ISP right now can advertise themselves as a clean feed, or offer that service, and acquire more customers seeking to fill that demand.
I’m generally more in alignment with Labor policies here but this just lost me. USA-style in loco parentis based on popular but unfounded social decay arguments. Yuck.
Tags: australia, censorship, internet, kids, law, media, obscenity, Parenting, Politics
