No Clean Feed - Letter to Mr Conroy

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jethro's picture

Following is the letter I wrote to Mr Stephen Conroy today. He is a Federal Senator. Senator Conroy was appointed Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy on 3 December 2007.

No Clean Feed - Stop Internet Censorship in AustraliaHe is proposing a “clean feed”. The current webpage for this policy at the ALP is “offline”. Here is the plan for cyber safety that has on page 2 the intention to provide a mandatory clean feed.

And here is the EFA Australia’s analysis of the plan and why it wont work.

In light of the furore that has erupted around the nets with this proposal I have written a letter to Mr Conroy.

Dear Minister,

As an Australian and an internet user, I have serious concerns about your mandatory Internet filtering initiative.

Given the importance your Government has attached to modernising Australia's broadband network, pursuing a policy that can only slow down and increase the costs of home internet access seems misguided at best. Australian households are diverse, and most do not have young children, so mandating a one-size-fits-all clean feed approach will not serve the public well. I don't think it is the Government's role to decide what's appropriate for me or my children, and neither do most Australians.

Given the amount of Internet content available, the Government will never be able to classify it all and filters will always result in an unacceptable level of over-blocking. I feel that the time and money could be spent in better ways both to protect children and improve Australia's digital infrastructure. Australian parents need better education about the risks their children face online. Trying to rid the Internet of adult content is futile, and can only distract from that mission.

Sincerely,

Tim Miller

 

Following is the forum post I submitted to a number of forums today also.

I would like you all (as internet users) to consider carefully the governments seriously mistaken intention to filter (mandatory censor) internet access to all Australians. While we probably all agree that incest, bestiality, snuff porn and the like is abhorrent and not something we want access to, there are already laws in place to prohibit the making and distribution of that sort of content. Filtering the internet access will not stop people who want access to this getting it anyway. It will slow down your connection speeds, increase your cost to access the internet, falsely block legitimate sites and perhaps worse, give the government opening to extend their filtering to other content as well. Please read this page for more information about the NoCleanFeed movement and what you can do.

If you want to read some technical reasons why the proposed solution won't even work anyway I have written about them.

I urge you to review the material available on whirlpool - Australia's independent internet forum - in relation to this.

Above all, dont allow the government to dictate its morality on us. Guised as a "safegaurd to our children" this is just the thin end of the wedge. What sites and content will they block? What about anti christian, or anti government or religious freedom? Who will the censors be? Why do all the top technical people say this is a bad idea?

Please read, be informed, and take action. After all as homeschoolers we already are used to deciding for ourselves what our children do and don't consume in way of education and content. We don't want the government interfering yet again in how we raise our children.

I am more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

Regards

Tim

Please consider this information carefully. Act! Email or write the minister. Sign petitions. Do not allow the Labor party to force its morality on the rest of Australia.