Australian public adamant on brining the “Great Aussie Firewall” down

The “Great Aussie Firewall” is the name of an Internet filter that has been proposed for the purpose of making the island country amongst the strictest internet regulators amongst the democratic nations of the world.

This internet filter would actually manage to block at least 1300 websites that have been prohibited by the government. The incorporation of this filter is being opposed by civil rights activists, consumers, engineers, politicians and internet providers. The bulk of the sites that are going to be banned through the use of the filter include sites that have excessive violence, child pornography, advocate terrorism and give out instructions on crimes and drug abuse. 

The capital city witnessed hundreds of people protesting against the “Great Aussie Firewall.” One of the organizers of the protests, Pearson Smith said “This is obviously censorship.” Smith is also an officer for over a dozen face book groups that are opposing the filter. 

The actual list of the websites that have been prohibited by the government have not been made public. They are not even subject to legal scrutiny. This gives the lawmakers a chance to promote their own online agendas with no one there to keep a check on them. Pearson went on to say “I think the money would be better spent in investing in law enforcement and targeting producers of child porn.” 

Internet providers are protesting because they believe imposing this filter would slow down browsing speeds. There is also a growing concern regarding whether the filter would be able to meet the intended objectives. This is because all the illegal material is actually traded on peer-to-peer networks and chats. These areas are not covered by the filter so how does the Great Aussie Firewall intend to put an end to illegal content like child pornography? 

A spokesman for Electronic Frontiers Australia said “People don’t openly post child porn, the same way you can’t walk into a store in Sydney and buy a machine gun, a filter of this nature only blocks material on public Web sites. But illicit material … is traded on the black market, through secret channels.”

The communications Minister Stephen Conroy said in defense of the “Great Aussie Firewall” that “This is not an argument about free speech; we have laws about the sort of material that is acceptable across all mediums and the Internet is no different. Currently, some material is banned and we are simply seeking to use technology to ensure those bans are working.”