How does it feel to be in the company of most oppressed nations like China , Iran and other smaller nations with no freedom of speech and how does it feel to be the only Western Country being lumped with this category. “Some internet content is simply not suitable in a civilised society. It is important that all Australians, particularly young children, are protected from this material”.

Thanks to Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Federal Stephen Conroy, we are now faced with the prospect of Government censoring what is available on the Internet. The plan involves blacking out about 10,000 websites deemed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to be so offensive that they are categorized as ‘RC,’ or Refused Classification.

At a time when Minister should be spearheading us at the speed of light to the unravelling world of Internet, he is imbroiled in unnecessary controversies and busy defending his decision on introduction of internet filters. Instead of leaving it to households the Minister has decided to take control of the whole internet and make his own assessment of what is good and what is bad. This can cause internet in Australia to slow down as the list of so called rogue websites increase in number and is a big blow to Australia ‘s reputation of a free nation. In a June 5 poll conducted on the web site of the Sydney Morning Herald, 99% of the 88,645 people who responded to the survey said they were against the Internet filter. But the Minister won’t listen to netizens and has formed his opinion which he will not change.

What is funny is that according to the plan, child pornography website will still be allowed to continue running online in order to catch child sex offenders.

The plan is simply unworkable and unwanted. The choice of what to view and not to view should be left to families and if anybody wants their children not to visit pornographic websites and malacious content they can easily buy the filters commercially and some of this software is free as well. The Government is spending 136 million dollars on introducing these filters and this is akin to giving an insulation type rebate to families for installing these internet filters.This is an attack on personal freedom.

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