Deep within Labor, something is very, very unhealthy.

Conroy's net filter still alive and kicking
Asher Moses
SMH
September 10, 2010 - 11:32AM
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/conroys-net-filter-still-alive-...

The Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, is ploughing ahead with his
internet filter policy despite there being virtually no chance any
enabling legislation will pass either house of Parliament.

Independent MP Rob Oakeshott, the Opposition and the Greens have all
come out against the policy, leaving it effectively dead in the water.

The Greens communications spokesman, Scott Ludlam, has called on the
government to end the facade and drop the internet censorship scheme
once and for all, as it was wasting time and taxpayers' money.

University of Sydney Associate Professor Bjorn Landfeldt said, given the
catastrophic election result after only one term in government, it was
"remarkable" the government was "pushing the very issues that undermined
their credibility, rather than focusing their energy on important
societal issues".

"One may wonder exactly what underlies this relentless pursuit of a
mirage, given that there is just about zero support outside the
cabinet," said Landfeldt.

"Surely it is no longer a matter of believing that the policy would
benefit the general public."

The government is preparing to introduce legislation forcing ISPs to
block a blacklist of websites that have been "refused classification"
(RC) by government bureaucrats.

After intense criticism of the policy, including that "refused
classification" included innocuous and politically sensitive material,
Senator Conroy announced just before the election that his policy would
be delayed until a review of RC classification guidelines could be
conducted by state and territory censorship ministers.

This effectively means any internet filtering legislation will be
delayed until next year, by which time the Greens will hold the balance
of power in the Senate. The Greens have already said they would oppose
the legislation, as has the Opposition.

But before it gets to the Senate the legislation would need to pass the
House of Representatives, meaning Labor would need the support of Greens
MP Adam Bandt and the independents Andrew Wilkie, Rob Oakeshott, Tony
Windsor and Bob Katter.

Wilkie, Windsor and Katter could not be reached for comment but a
spokesman for Oakeshott said he was against the filter.

In fact, last year Oakeshott helped a teenage campaigner in his
electorate with a petition arguing the filter should be scrapped.

"It is not the government's role to be a net nanny. It is the role of
every single household," Oakeshott told the Port Macquarie News at the time.

Senator Ludlam said in a phone interview that he wanted the review of RC
guidelines to still go ahead but the government should drop the internet
filtering policy altogether.

"It [the RC review] was quite transparently a political stalling tactic
but that didn't make it a bad idea," he said.

"[The filter] is just a complete waste of chamber time. It's a waste of
public servants' time who for the next 10 months are going to be
progressing a mandatory filter proposal that has no chance of passing
either house of parliament now."

Senator Ludlam said Senator Conroy should "get past this fixation" with
the filter and turn his attention to other looming issues such as net
neutrality and the Attorney-General's data retention proposal. The data
retention proposal is being pushed by the Australian Federal Police and
could see all web browsing history of Australian internet users logged
for law enforcement to access.

A wide range of experts on the internet and child protection have long
argued that a mandatory filter would be ineffective as it was easy to
bypass, would not capture even a small percentage of the nasty content
on the web and would give parents a false sense of security.

The big ISPs, including Optus, Telstra and iPrimus, have already pledged
to block child-abuse websites voluntarily. This narrower, voluntary
approach has long been advocated by internet experts and brings
Australia into line with other countries such as Britain.

The Opposition pledged to bring back free voluntary PC-based internet
filters for families, which existed under the Howard government but were
scrapped by Senator Conroy to make way for his mandatory ISP-level filter.

"Recent OECD reports tell us the investment and quality of our higher
education system is falling behind other developed countries; with the
ludicrous house prices Australians can no longer move out of home, etc,"
said Landfeldt.

"There is no shortage of important issues and challenges for the
government to focus on."

Despite the intense opposition, Senator Conroy is pushing ahead with the
filter and has revealed "a suite of transparency measures to accompany
the policy and ensure people can have faith in the RC content list", a
spokeswoman said.

"The government does not support Refused Classification material being
available on the internet. This material includes child sexual abuse
imagery, bestiality, sexual violence and detailed instruction in crime,"
she said.

You do have to wonder exactly what motivates Conroy. He's always been an odd-bod and here he is feverishly working on a policy that has no chance of success and is desperately unpopular. He seems a bit like Rudd, who was hell bent on a savage mining tax that was killing his polls and eventually killed his career and caused Labor to lose its electoral legitimacy and yet he refused to even consider negotiation and compromise. They are weird people these labor bozos. But nothing compares to the Greens in the 'no compromise, no consultaion and no negotiation' stance.