

Australian Coalition retracts Internet filters policy - peterkelly
http://www.news.com.au/technology/internet-filter/coalition-retracts-internet-filters-policy/story-fn5j66db-1226712390937

======
nwh
"The policy which was issued today was poorly worded and incorrectly indicated
that the Coalition supported an “opt out” system of internet filtering for
both mobile and fixed line services. That is not our policy and never has
been. "

Retrieved from their modified page at the time of writing:

[http://lpaweb-
static.s3.amazonaws.com/Coalition%202013%20Ele...](http://lpaweb-
static.s3.amazonaws.com/Coalition%202013%20Election%20Policy%20%E2%80%93%20Enhance%20Online%20Safety%20-%20final.pdf)

Here's their _original_ 8 page booklet detailing the "opt out" filtering
system:

[http://cl.ly/2i103o1y0b2M/Coalition%202013%20Election%20Poli...](http://cl.ly/2i103o1y0b2M/Coalition%202013%20Election%20Policy%20%E2%80%93%20Enhance%20Online%20Safety%20-%20final.pdf)

Utter bullshit.

~~~
jevinskie
Yup. Very disappointing.

> As has recently been achieved in the UK, we expect these standards will
> involve mobile phone operators installing adult content filters on phones
> which will be switched on as the default unless the customer proves he or
> she is at least 18 years of age.

> As has recently been achieved in the UK, we expect these standards will
> involve the major internet service providers providing home network filters
> for all new home broadband services, which will be switched on as the
> default unless the customer specifies otherwise.

Very original writing to boot.

------
stephenr
This is a transcript of a radio interview (thanks to @marcedwards) about it:

[http://pastebin.com/AFA2hUrF](http://pastebin.com/AFA2hUrF)

and Marc Edwards's comment from the bottom, which I agree with completely:

So the plan is to get every single OS maker and internet-connected device
maker to install pervasive, opt-out software that has access to all network
traffic. Yeah, good luck with that technically, ethically or logistically.

~~~
rossy
Yeah, when Malcolm said that it put to rest all my fears, since there's no way
they'd be able to pull that off.

On a related note, Tom Tilley is an amazing presenter and I think he really
showed that with the way he handled Anthony Albanese and Malcolm Turnbull
tonight.

------
hartror
And that's why they don't release their full policies until right at the end
of the election. Who knows what people would find if given weeks with their
documents and the chance to question them on them. This applies to both major
parties btw, Labor did the same in 07.

------
wisty
Note - this is the same party which is allegedly harvesting facebook data, in
a very dubious manner -
[http://www.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/1lrwe5/did_you_cl...](http://www.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/1lrwe5/did_you_click_this_and_give_it_access_to_facebook/)

See their "attack" script here:
[http://thechoice.liberal.org.au/assets/js/scripts_a525ba27d7...](http://thechoice.liberal.org.au/assets/js/scripts_a525ba27d7083afd6698e2641babf7ff.min.js))

Also, some guy says he decoded the hex-encoded JS:
[http://pastebin.com/TDFUJk1q](http://pastebin.com/TDFUJk1q)

------
ikt
please don't link to news.com.au, you are giving them ad revenue and attention
they don't deserve :(

~~~
peterkelly
I had to wash after doing it, but the other articles I saw on the topic all
had titles that wouldn't make immediate sense to non-Australian readers, and
HN mods seem to be very opposed to people submitting articles with different
titles to the original.

At the same time, I think news.com.au do deserve some credit when they report
on something other than reality TV or American celebrities.

------
adamconroy
Yo. Please boycott newscorp. Why?
[http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-28/hawke-joins-chorus-
aga...](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-28/hawke-joins-chorus-against-news-
corp27-election-coverage/4917014)

------
notahacker
That's the mother of all electoral bribes. Let them eat porn!

------
simplexion
If that policy were to go ahead it could be good for CyanogenMod.

~~~
ihsw
Don't be foolish, the government can quite easily enforce a requirement that
you install their spyware on your devices.

~~~
etfb
It took them fifteen years to make the eTax tax return preparation software
available for Macintosh. It still doesn't work on Linux. This despite it
being, essentially, a collection of form pages with minimal logic -- I could
whip it up in a couple of days using any programming language more expressive
than Malbolge.

So I'm not worried that they'll be demanding I install anything on my Ubuntu
server.

~~~
rlwolfcastle
Instead, they will just classify your server as being an unapproved device
that circumvents the filter.

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beedogs
Can't say I particularly trust them.

------
devx
Until they get in power that is...

