The Federal Government is planning to make internet censorship compulsory for all Australians and could ban controversial websites on euthanasia or anorexia. Australia’s level of net censorship will put it in the same league as countries including China, Cuba, Iran and North Korea, and the Government will not let users opt out of the proposed national internet filter when it is introduced. Broadband, Communications and Digital Economy Minister Stephen Conroy admitted the Federal Government’s $44.2 million internet censorship plan would now include two tiers – one level of mandatory filtering for all Australians and an optional level that will provide a clean feed
, censoring adult material. Despite planning to hold live trials
before the end of the year, Senator Conroy said it was not known what content the mandatory filter would bar, with euthanasia or pro-anorexia sites on the chopping block
Google has quietly dispatched a team of experts from the US on a fact-finding mission to decide whether it should establish a data centre in Australia. In the past few weeks the team of about five Google US employees had been involved in high-level discussions with local data centre providers
The ABC is working closely with the internet industry to overcome service limitations holding back its newly launched internet broadcasting service iView. Ian Carroll director of the ABC’s innovation group said that iView was being held back by limited download quotas available to Australian users. They were frightened of incurring crippling excess download charges if they used the service
Family First Senator Steve Fielding wants hardcore pornography and fetish material blocked under the Government’s plans to filter the internet, sparking renewed fears the censorship could be expanded well beyond illegal material
. The Opposition said it would take a lot of convincing
for it to support the controversial mandatory ISP filtering policy, so the Government would need the support of Senator Fielding as well as the Greens and Senator Nick Xenophon to pass the legislation
One of the best-known Australian brand-names, Driza-Bone, is back under full local ownership
Lithographs that once belonged to a German duke and vanished when the Soviets occupied parts of Germany after World War II, have turned up at Sotheby’s in London
The Federal Government is attempting to silence critics of its controversial plan to censor the internet, which experts say will break the internet while doing little to stop people from accessing illegal material such as child pornography. ISPs and the government’s own tests have found that presently available filters are not capable of adequately distinguishing between legal and illegal content and can degrade internet speeds by up to 86 per cent. Documents obtained by us show the office of the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, tried to bully ISP staff into suppressing their criticisms of the plan
A US firm has unveiled plans to build a massive one-billion-dollar charging network to power electric cars in Australia as it seeks cleaner and cheaper options to petrol. Better Place, which has built plug-in stations for electric vehicles in Israel and Denmark, has joined forces with Australian power company AGL and finance group Macquarie Capital to create an Australian network. Under the agreement, Macquarie will raise one billion dollars to build electric-vehicle networks in the country’s largest cities — Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane — while AGL will power the system with renewable energy
McDonald’s has announced it will roll out the largest network of free wireless internet in Australia, in partnership with Telstra. It will offer free wi-fi in 720 restaurants across Australia by March next year, with Queensland internet hotspots launching from late December onwards
The iBurst wireless broadband network owned by failed Australian ICT products and services firm Commander would be shut down by 19 December, according to a failed bidder for the network
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has slapped telco company Dodo with a fine of $147,400 for allegedly engaging offshore call centres to make around 70 calls on its behalf to numbers on the Do Not Call Register. The penalty is the largest issued by ACMA since the Do Not Call Register legislation took effect in May 2007. The fines are set at $2,200 per call or up to a maximum of $110,000 per day
Interpol chiefs will propose the use of automated facial-recognition technology at borders to flag up internationally wanted suspects. The UK already has airport gates equipped with such technology, intended to remove the need for a human border guard to check that a passenger’s face matches the one recorded in his or her passport. Interpol database chief Mark Branchflower believes that his organisation should set up a database of facial-recognition records to operate alongside its existing photo, fingerprint and DNA files
New Zealand is known for sheep, rugby and dramatic filming locations. However, it will also be known for being the first place in the world with a 3-strikes law for copyright infringement. The Copyright Amendment Act 2008 gained royal assent earlier this year, and goes into effect at the end of February 2009. Opposition to this bill, despite being signed into law, is still growing though
The Communications Data Bill (2008) will lead to the creation of a single, centralised database containing records of all e-mails sent, web sites visited and mobile phones used by UK citizens. In a carnivore-on-steroids programme, as all vestiges of communication privacy are stripped away> The BBC reports that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith says this is a necessity
— via Slashdot
Australians will be unable to opt-out of the government’s pending Internet content filtering scheme, and will instead be placed on a watered-down blacklist, experts say. Under the government’s $125.8 million Plan for Cyber-Safety, users can switch between two blacklists which block content inappropriate for children, and a separate list which blocks illegal material. Pundits say consumers have been lulled into believing the opt-out proviso would remove content filtering altogether
Defendants can’t deny police an encryption key because of fears the data it unlocks will incriminate them, a British appeals court has ruled
Russian security developer Kaspersky Labs is boosting its local presence and anti-virus guru Eugene Kaspersky is here to announce the opening of a Melbourne office. Alexey Gromyko, formerly Kaspersky’s Australia-New Zealand manager, has been appointed head of the company’s Oceania business, operating out of Melbourne
Authorities said Tuesday they have shut down one of the largest spam operations in the world, a vast network involving countries from New Zealand to China and the United States
Gordon Brown last night abandoned his parliamentary battle to allow police to detain terror suspects without charge for up to 42 days, after the Lords overwhelmingly rejected the proposal by 191 votes. In an emergency statement to MPs tonight, Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, said that the counter-terrorism bill would continue its journey through parliament without the 42 day measure
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