They're actually trying to censor the internet in Australia. This is mind bogglingly stupid. When I read this I laughed and laughed and then gagged on my tongue as I realised that this is being implemented as we speak. This is a prime example of action fuelled by ignorance

This was proposed by Senator Brian Harradine. I'd just like to add right here that if you see him on the street naked being beaten by a pit full of horny, four breasted, bisexual women from Pluto with old burnt out tape drives it is your moral duty to walk right past.

He is an asshole. Harradine's motivation for internet censorship are based around preventing minors from accessing naughty material. Now this is an honorable idea, and I applaud. But this is also impossible. Any self respecting technie knows that. If Harradine had done his job and considered the technical plausibility of this everybody would be happier, instead of being a waste of taxpayer money. In essence, internet censorship is similar to getting the national postal service to check everybodies mail for bombs or offensive material - it's either impractical, a violation of privacy, or both.

Even the CSIRO, one of Australias leading scientific and industrial research bodies, released a report stating the technical impossibility of this.

Over two years later, this legislation has still not been implemented, due mostly to its aforementioned technical impossibility. ISPs are required, or at least encouraged, to give detailed information on net-screening software as part of the registration process, and there are strict controls on government departments (which would have been implemented anyway). Apart from that, Brian Harradine's dream of a tightly-regulated Internet experience for Australians has not been realised.

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