The research, which will almost certainly be used by Conroy and his pals to try and reinforce their argument for mandatory internet filtering, also states that two thirds of teenage girls surveyed have viewed porn online as well.

Even though the internet wasn’t anywhere near as prevalent when I was a teenage boy, I can say without a trace of doubt that any teenage boy saying they’d only seen porn online accidentally is lying. Because it’s completely natural for teenagers to be curious about the physical and hormonal changes in their body, and porn offers a fairly easy way to explore and understand those changes, even if it isn’t necessarily the best way.

I can’t speak for women here—never having been one—but I imagine it’s the same across the estrogen fence.

Let’s just hope that somehow the end result of this study is better parenting, rather than the government deciding they’ll try and “fix” the problem themselves…

[News.com.au]

Please provide us with the following information…

Full Name
Address
Social Security #
Bank Routing Number
Country of Residence
Telephone Number
Mother’s Maiden Name
Date You Lost Your Virginity
Rough Sketch of Your Fingerprint
High Resolution Iris Scan Image

Thanks guys.

- Mark

One can only hope that the farcical nature of this trial process is because the government is slowly pulling away from the whole idea. Because if this is the best the government can do, we all need to be really, really scared for the future of our freedoms online…

iPrimus to participate in ISP filtering pilot

iPrimus announced today that it will be participating in the Australian Government’s ISP filtering pilot.

iPrimus is among six service providers selected by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy to participate in the ISP filtering ‘live’ pilot after submitting an expression of interest.

iPrimus’ General Manager of Marketing & Products, Andrew Sims said, “Our customer demographics are well suited to the trial, with a large concentration of families with young children who would welcome the ability to opt-in to a content filtering trial.”

“It will be offered on an opt-in basis and customer participation will be totally voluntary. The ability for the customer to opt-in to the trial provides them ultimate freedom over their internet experience. We expect to gather a lot of interesting data from the trial, especially surrounding how well filtering works in practice and our customers’ responses to it.”

iPrimus will be looking for customers to participate in the trial and will provide feedback on an ongoing basis.

Sims said, “It will be important to receive feedback from our customers on this pilot. Our customers will be notified via email details about the trial including when it will begin, how they can choose to opt-in and where they can post their feedback.”

The trial is expected to begin late April or early May and will run for a period of six weeks.

More information on the iPrimus’ trial, including Frequently Asked Questions will be available at http://www.iprimus.com.au along with instructions on how customers can participate.

It’s kind of strange that none of the big ISPs were involved – Telstra didn’t offer to partake, so that makes sense, but both Optus and iiNet said they’d play (although Optus wouldn’t test P2P filtering), so their omission feels kind of strange. Maybe it had something to do with iiNet saying they’d partake just to debunk the filter’s plausibility?

The trials are set to run for a minimum of six weeks once all the filtering hardware has been installed. For customers of these ISPs, I reckon that six weeks won’t be over soon enough.

[Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy]

Apparently, the filter would use the magic of thermoacoustic refrigeration—a process that relies on sound waves and an environmentally safe gas like helium to generate cooling. Furthermore, each bottle features a built-in, powerless thermometer to display the temperature and ensure that you are getting a perfectly chilled container of water.

Is it an absurdly eco-friendly and elaborate way to replicate what could be done cheaply with a simple pitcher filter and some cubes of ice? Yes, yes it is. But it sure looks like the kind of water cooler that I would like to gossip around at work. [Yanko via Ubergizmo]

I guess it shouldn’t be too shocking coming from a country with a Censorship Minister, but this is still pretty ridiculous. Said minister Stephen Conroy posted on his department’s blog recently that they were planning to test new filters to block BitTorrent traffic country-wide.

Australians, what do you have to say about this? Why are you electing jackasses like this that are turning your country into a less productive version of China?

AU: The US hasn’t got it quite right here – the government plans on trialling filtering technology of bittorrent in their upcoming trial, but it will be targeted at blocking illegal content as opposed to blocking all bittorrent. In any case, it won’t work and Conroy’s still a jackass. I swear to God, if this filter comes through, I’m moving to New Zealand.

[Slashdot via News.com.au]

The technology works thusly: First, the desiccant, made of silica-based gel granules, absorbs the air’s humidity using an exothermic (heat releasing) process. Then the water is drawn out of the gel and condensated. It’s not the first water from air generator out there, but its heat recovery techniques have vastly reduced the cost for producing water with this method. The end product is cheaper to operate than other filtration systems, such as desalination.

According to EWA, one cubic kilometer of air contains about 10 to 40 thousand tons of water, enough for two million to not go thirsty. Considering that over half the world’s population could be facing a water crisis by 2025, this kind of technology is definitely something we should keep an eye on. [Green Prophet]

If TrueCall doesn’t recognise the number, it asks for the caller’s name and number and then puts them on hold, ringing you with the information to see if you’d like to take the call. If you don’t, add it to your block list and never hear from the number again. The cost for blocking cold calls and telemarketers is roughly $US162 from the maker’s website. Hey, that’s cheaper than hiring someone. [TrueCall via BBC]