© 2007 - 2011 Allan Cockerill All Rights Reserved
I wrote yesterday about Kevin Rudd’s Labor Government’s proposal to build the Great Firewall Of Australia (as named by Des Walsh), and its potential for misuse.
I misnamed the post, and called it:
‘How To CensorThe Internet One Country At A Time’.
As Des Walsh says, this isn’t an issue just for Australia, it is significant for citizens of any democratic country…
In a dangerous development, opponents of the proposal are being accused of being pornographers, or supporting pornography.
‘Exploding Toast’, writing earlier, today paints all people who oppose this as ‘the great unwashed’, and labels them as pornographers.
I have no idea who Mr/Ms Toast is, and I wouldn’t consider labeling them as anything, simply because I don’t know them from Adam.
I won’t mention the fact that there is no responsibility taken for the post – identifying the author isn’t easy either.
Anyone commenting on public issues should have the decency to be transparent enough to at least identify themselves!
For them to label any thinking Australian as a pornographer for objecting to this proposal is both offensive, and slanderous.
I guess that such ill thought rhetoric is to be expected with emotionally charged issues like this one, but it hardly furthers the Government’s cause.
Maybe, after a rational debate, I might be persuaded that the ISP filtering proposal could be the way to go, but to be labeled a pornographer simply because I oppose the proposal as it stands simply reinforces my fear of how this legislation may be used in future.
The ill informed author listed arguments in favour of the proposal after his/her rant about ‘pornographers’, but they somehow got lost in the noise…
As a parent, I have always monitored my children’s internet access, as well as the sort of movies and television that they watch.
This is my responsibility, not the government’s.
Do you hear that ‘Toast’? Protecting my children is a responsibility that my wife and I gladly accept. It is the responsibility of all parents, I might add.
While others may like to live in a ‘nanny state’ which helps people evade their responsibilities, I don’t!
Australia seems to have become a “not my fault!” nanny state in recent times.
If the government wishes to assist parents and enlist their help in the fight against pornography, assisting with education programs and client side filters would be the easiest way to go.
The one thing the situation doesn’t need is ill informed propagandists labeling anyone with an opposing view as ‘the great unwashed’ or ‘pornographers’.
James Purser writes on the topic here!
A Facebook group, open to Australian members of Facebook, has been formed around this issue.
© 2007 - 2011 Allan Cockerill All Rights Reserved
