Mandatory Internet Filter correspondence - update 23 May
On April 19th this year I wrote to every federal government Senator and Member of Parliament who represents South Australia, registering my protest about the government's proposed Internet Filter.
I also wrote to non-South Australians Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy who is responsible for this planned legislation, and Arts Minister Peter Garrett due to concern of the impact on freedom of expression that the filter creates.
This 'Cyber Safety' policy would require Australian Internet Service Providers to filter all traffic for Refused Classification material.
The noble idea behind this flawed plan is to reduce distribution of, and access to, child pornography (as one example of RC material). Sadly, it will be money wasted if the legislation goes ahead.
Feedback from the Internet community including both the organisations that provide the infrastructure and services enabling the Internet to exist, and from users who understand how the Internet works, is damning about the proposed Internet Filter. It explains why the government's proposed filter will fail and only give a false sense of security to well-intentioned people who are ignorant of how the Internet works. Even the United States government, through the voice of the current US Ambassador to Australia, Jeff Bleich, expressed reservations about the Australian government's Cyber Safety plan during his appearance on ABC TV's 'Q and A' program.
Here is an update after one month since I posted those letters to the Senators and Members of Parliament.
In general, the Labor Senators and MPs are toeing the government line to justify the Internet Filter, and that policy statement was quoted verbatim from in some of their responses to me.
Several of the Liberal Senators and MPs did the same but quoted the Liberal policy document about the issue explaining why the Coalition is '...yet to be convinced that mandatory filtering will be effective' and that '[t]he Coalition would like an independent audit of the trial results.'
SCORECARD /Including more recent updates from original post date/
Senator Cory Bernardi (Liberal)- responded 29 April, quoting the Liberal Party policy.
Senator Simon Birmingham (Liberal) - responded 30 April, short letter with well thought-out comments against the planned policy.
Senator Don Farrell (Labor) - responded 13 May, short letter stating the government's commitment to the policy; basically a polite 'suck it up and deal with it!' letter.
Senator Alan Ferguson - no response yet.
Senator Mary Jo Fisher - / Replied 25 June in a one-page personal response letter stating that '[T]he Coalition isn't convinced mandatory filtering can be effective or achieve what Minister Conroy says it will.' /
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young (Greens) - responded 10 May, has referred my letter to Greens Senator Scott Ludlum (spokesperson for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.)
Senator Annette Hurley (Labor) - responded 30 April, has forwarded my letter to Minister Conroy (quoting portfolio responsibilities) asking that he inform her of his response to me.
Senator Anne McEwen (Labor) - responded 7 May, quoting the Federal government's policy document but with closing paragraphs saying that 174 submissions were received by the Government during the consultation period, and that my letter is being forwarded to Minister Conroy's office.
Senator Nick Minchin - no response yet.
Senator Penny Wong (Labor)- Senator Wong's office responded in an undated letter saying that my correspondence has been referred to Minister Conroy's office due to portfolio responsibilities.
Senator Dana Wortley - no response yet.
Senator Nick Xenophon /Replied mid June in a one-page letter saying he shares my concerns about the Internet Filter, and wrote 'This is why I will be opposing such legislation at a federal level.' Onya Nick! /
Mr Jamie Briggs, MP - no direct response. His office forwarded my letter to Christoper Pyne's office (as I live him Mr Pyne's electorate).
Mr Mark Butler, MP - no response yet.
Mr Nick Champion, MP - (Labor) - Mr Champion was the first to respond to my letter (27 April) but just restated the Government's policy document.
Ms Kate Ellis, MP - no response yet.
Mr Steve Georganas, MP - no response yet.
Mr Christopher Pyne, MP - (Liberal) Responded in an undated letter quoting the Liberal policy document, and acknowledging receipt of my similar letter to Mr Jamie Briggs, MP.
Mr Rowan Ramsey, MP - no response yet.
Ms Amanda Rishworth, MP - no response yet.
Mr Patrick Secker, MP - no response yet.
Dr Andrew Southcott, MP - no response yet.
Mr Tony Zappia, MP - (Labor) responded 27 April with a short personalised letter acknowledging my concern and adding that there may still be an opportunity for the Minister to take into account community views like mine as the legislation has not yet been presented to Parliament. And he is passing-on my concerns to the Minister.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, MP - no response yet. Should I have signed my letter, 'from a working family'?
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy The Minister! /Posted to me in late June a 4 page long document titled 'Cybersafety and internet service provider filtering' signed at the end but without a cover letter. One tiny excerpt from the document: 'Unfortunately, the internet can also be used inappropriately. It has provided a powerful new medium which can be used to distribute material that is not acceptable to most Australians, particularly children.' I apologise in advance to any children who may not find this blog post acceptable!
Keep up the good work concerned citizens. The Government won't change this policy unless we tell them collectively how much against it we are.
On Twitter: #nocleanfeed . The Mandatory Internet Filter is also a GetUp! active issue: http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/SaveTheNet/442
And whether you love or hate the Greens, Greens Senator Ludlum's recent Senate speech explaining their response to the Government's proposed legislation is well worth watching (see http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/ and search on 'Mandatory Internet Filter'. It is a very thorough, well thought-out response against the planned filter.)
Rick Clise
I also wrote to non-South Australians Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy who is responsible for this planned legislation, and Arts Minister Peter Garrett due to concern of the impact on freedom of expression that the filter creates.
This 'Cyber Safety' policy would require Australian Internet Service Providers to filter all traffic for Refused Classification material.
The noble idea behind this flawed plan is to reduce distribution of, and access to, child pornography (as one example of RC material). Sadly, it will be money wasted if the legislation goes ahead.
Feedback from the Internet community including both the organisations that provide the infrastructure and services enabling the Internet to exist, and from users who understand how the Internet works, is damning about the proposed Internet Filter. It explains why the government's proposed filter will fail and only give a false sense of security to well-intentioned people who are ignorant of how the Internet works. Even the United States government, through the voice of the current US Ambassador to Australia, Jeff Bleich, expressed reservations about the Australian government's Cyber Safety plan during his appearance on ABC TV's 'Q and A' program.
Here is an update after one month since I posted those letters to the Senators and Members of Parliament.
In general, the Labor Senators and MPs are toeing the government line to justify the Internet Filter, and that policy statement was quoted verbatim from in some of their responses to me.
Several of the Liberal Senators and MPs did the same but quoted the Liberal policy document about the issue explaining why the Coalition is '...yet to be convinced that mandatory filtering will be effective' and that '[t]he Coalition would like an independent audit of the trial results.'
SCORECARD /Including more recent updates from original post date/
Senator Cory Bernardi (Liberal)- responded 29 April, quoting the Liberal Party policy.
Senator Simon Birmingham (Liberal) - responded 30 April, short letter with well thought-out comments against the planned policy.
Senator Don Farrell (Labor) - responded 13 May, short letter stating the government's commitment to the policy; basically a polite 'suck it up and deal with it!' letter.
Senator Alan Ferguson - no response yet.
Senator Mary Jo Fisher - / Replied 25 June in a one-page personal response letter stating that '[T]he Coalition isn't convinced mandatory filtering can be effective or achieve what Minister Conroy says it will.' /
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young (Greens) - responded 10 May, has referred my letter to Greens Senator Scott Ludlum (spokesperson for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.)
Senator Annette Hurley (Labor) - responded 30 April, has forwarded my letter to Minister Conroy (quoting portfolio responsibilities) asking that he inform her of his response to me.
Senator Anne McEwen (Labor) - responded 7 May, quoting the Federal government's policy document but with closing paragraphs saying that 174 submissions were received by the Government during the consultation period, and that my letter is being forwarded to Minister Conroy's office.
Senator Nick Minchin - no response yet.
Senator Penny Wong (Labor)- Senator Wong's office responded in an undated letter saying that my correspondence has been referred to Minister Conroy's office due to portfolio responsibilities.
Senator Dana Wortley - no response yet.
Senator Nick Xenophon /Replied mid June in a one-page letter saying he shares my concerns about the Internet Filter, and wrote 'This is why I will be opposing such legislation at a federal level.' Onya Nick! /
Mr Jamie Briggs, MP - no direct response. His office forwarded my letter to Christoper Pyne's office (as I live him Mr Pyne's electorate).
Mr Mark Butler, MP - no response yet.
Mr Nick Champion, MP - (Labor) - Mr Champion was the first to respond to my letter (27 April) but just restated the Government's policy document.
Ms Kate Ellis, MP - no response yet.
Mr Steve Georganas, MP - no response yet.
Mr Christopher Pyne, MP - (Liberal) Responded in an undated letter quoting the Liberal policy document, and acknowledging receipt of my similar letter to Mr Jamie Briggs, MP.
Mr Rowan Ramsey, MP - no response yet.
Ms Amanda Rishworth, MP - no response yet.
Mr Patrick Secker, MP - no response yet.
Dr Andrew Southcott, MP - no response yet.
Mr Tony Zappia, MP - (Labor) responded 27 April with a short personalised letter acknowledging my concern and adding that there may still be an opportunity for the Minister to take into account community views like mine as the legislation has not yet been presented to Parliament. And he is passing-on my concerns to the Minister.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, MP - no response yet. Should I have signed my letter, 'from a working family'?
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy The Minister! /Posted to me in late June a 4 page long document titled 'Cybersafety and internet service provider filtering' signed at the end but without a cover letter. One tiny excerpt from the document: 'Unfortunately, the internet can also be used inappropriately. It has provided a powerful new medium which can be used to distribute material that is not acceptable to most Australians, particularly children.' I apologise in advance to any children who may not find this blog post acceptable!
Keep up the good work concerned citizens. The Government won't change this policy unless we tell them collectively how much against it we are.
On Twitter: #nocleanfeed . The Mandatory Internet Filter is also a GetUp! active issue: http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/SaveTheNet/442
And whether you love or hate the Greens, Greens Senator Ludlum's recent Senate speech explaining their response to the Government's proposed legislation is well worth watching (see http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/ and search on 'Mandatory Internet Filter'. It is a very thorough, well thought-out response against the planned filter.)
Rick Clise
posted by Rick's Rambles at 5:00 pm
2 Comments:
Getup! has done practically nothing against internet censorship other than a TV ad, online petition (that the Politicians don't accept for record on the Hansard) and take credit for Conroy / Rudd's backflip when it's put on the backburner.
Mate you've done more than Getup ever has or will do about this filter.
It's a activist-steam valve. It's meant to divert and distract intelligent people into a phony grassroots organisation while having pretty and colourful websites and videos etc but no real activism when it comes to this issue.
It's nice to see at least some of them responding.
No one wants the filter to be introduced, but I doubt the government taking 'community concerns' with them to the policy is going to change the fact. Lets hope for everyone sake it does.
If all else fails. www.vpnsecure.me provide just the service for a self opt-out system.
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