Conroy (Almost) Concedes Defeat On Internet Filter 
Five Ways Around The Filter In Two Minutes 
Classification And Internet Censorship As An Election Issue Why The Filter Won't Work, A Technical Story Friday August 13: Gizmodo's Fight The Filter Day Of Action (UPDATED) Fight The Filter: Thoughts From The Pirate Party Australia One of the “surprise” elements from last week’s filter delay announcement was that Telstra, Optus and iPrimus have all started voluntarily filtering known child pornography websites. But as Renai LeMay over at Delimiter discovered yesterday, Internode is not going to follow suit, while iiNet is waiting to see more details about the voluntary filtering proposal.
I’ve been following the debate around the proposed mandatory internet filter closely since the horrific idea was first made public. The entire Kogan team and I have been disgusted by the Australian government’s blatant infringement on basic human rights. It even led us to create this fictional product launch a few weeks back, the Kogan Portector. Even though it is clearly a joke, it has a serious message. The proposed mandatory Internet filter is quite simply one of the worst ideas ever proposed in the history of Australian politics.
Phil Kernick, director of the CQR cyber security consultancy firm, has a bit of an idea about online security. So when he told Pia Akerman at Australian IT over the weekend that the government’s proposed internet filter is a waste of time and money, the government (and the rest of us) should probably pay attention.
Mark it down in your diaries, Gizmodians. Friday, August 13 is officially the Fight the Filter day of action, and we need every one of you to be a part of it. UPDATE: With the election now scheduled for August 21, we’ve decided to focus on delivering the best arguments against the filter rather than a call to action day, although we fully support anyone who wants to put pressure on MPs about the filter issue.
Stephen Conroy cops a lot of flak. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already read a plethora of articles outlining various reasons why his plan won’t work, why it is a waste of money, why it could actually harm children, and infringe on our freedoms. I’m going to look at things from a different angle and start by telling you why Stephen Conroy is an underrated genius.
Senator Conroy’s surprise press conference Friday morning was clearly part of the “clearing of the decks” in the run-up to Julia Gillard’s first election.
On first impressions it looked like a minor victory: Despite telling us mere days ago that the Government’s much reviled ISP censorship policy would be heading to the Parliament as soon as November, Senator Conroy announced that it’d now be delayed by at least 12 months to give time for the State Attorneys General to review the Refused Classification (RC) category.
The government’s proposed mandatory internet filter was extremely unpopular. So now that it’s been delayed, interested parties are beginning to respond to today’s announcement.
The federal government has decided to put the internet filter on the back burner until after the election. While they try and sort out the current classifications system, Telstra, Optus and iPrimus have all started voluntarily blocking known child porn websites. The question now is whether that’s all we really need?
Stephen Conroy held a press conference this morning around the future of the Cyber safety policy. According to tweets from Crikey’s Bernard Keane, that means putting it off for 12 months while the classification system gets an overhaul. [UPDATE: Added official department statement.]
