International Law

A new challenge

This week I embarked on a new challenge.  For the next three months (and possibly beyond) I will be working for Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA), as campaign manager for the EFA's mandatory internet filtering campaign (see here and here). 

Over the past two years I have been particularly concerned by the Australian Government's proposal to introduce a mandatory internet filter, and rather than continuing to sit on the sidelines of this important national debate, I decided wanted to do everything I could to persuade the the Government and the Australian community that effectively censoring the internet by introducing a mandatory filter would be a mistake.  My role with the EFA may be a marked departure from what I have been doing at QUT for the past five years, but I am looking forward to the challenge of working for an organisation and for a cause that I am passionately committed to.

The name of this blog, Freedom to Differ, was inspired by the Opinion of the US Supreme Court in Board of Education v Barnette 319 US 624 (1943): "But freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order."  And for the next few months at least, I will be doing everything I can to ensure that Australia continues to value free speech, and the "freedom to differ".

The size of the task that confronts EFA and all the other individuals and organisations that are opposed to the Government's mandatory filter is considerable and cannot be underestimated, but I nonetheless believe that together we will be able convince the Government and the Australian community that the proposed mandatory internet filter should not go ahead in its current form.  Given all of this, you will probably find that I will not be able to blog and tweet as regularly over the coming months (much to the collective relief of many of my followers on Twitter), but you will be able to follow the EFA's campaign on the EFA's website (http://www.efa.org.au/) and on Twitter (@efa_oz).  If you would like to help or contribute to the EFA's campaign, please send me an email (pete.black@efa.org.au) or give me a call on 0421 636 496.

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Full post as published by Freedom to Differ on January 08, 2010 (boomark / email).