International Law

"The world smirks at Conroy's censorship plan"

In today's Crikey, the Vice Chair of Electronic Frontiers Australia Colin Jacobs had an excellent piece on a new study published by Brooklyn Law School entitled "Filtering in Oz: Australia's Foray Into Internet Censorship".

The rest of the world has been smirking at Stephen Conroy's ill-conceived plan to censor Australia's Internet for a while now, but a new study published by Brooklyn Law School entitled "Filtering in Oz: Australia's Foray Into Internet Censorship" is a serious embarrassment.

This report is important. Not only is it authored by a reputable and neutral foreign observer but it also focuses more on the legitimacy of the scheme than the technical concerns, and it finds some serious problems. Despite the sober language, phrases like "troubling", "worrisome", "politically motivated" and "unaccountable" are common.

Contrary to persistent claims by the Minister, the study finds that Australia "will likely become the first Western democracy to block access to on-line material through legislative mandate."

Read the rest of piece here and download the full report here.

Full post as published by Freedom to Differ on January 09, 2009 (boomark / email).