Labor’s planned filtering legislation would have seen a broad range of legal content (originally defined as “prohibited content” and later re-framed as content that had been “refused classification”) blocked to Australian Internet users. Instead ISPs will now be required to restrict access to child abuse material that is listed on the INTERPOL block list.

Update 7:35AM: The Australian Financial Review is reporting that the government intends to force ISPs to block blacklists maintained by INTERPOL and ACMA. The ACMA blacklist contains a wide range of completely legal websites that don’t meet Australia’s strict classification standards, including websites on abortion, anorexia and sexual fetishes such as spanking. AFR journalist James Hutchison tells me on twitter that the ACMA list is still being actively maintained but the intersection and exact use still unclear. His investigations continue.

SC Magazine reports:

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said in a statement that “Australia’s largest ISPs have been issued notices requiring them to block these illegal sites in accordance with their obligations under the Telecommunications Act 1997″.

“The Australian Federal Police will now begin issuing notices to smaller ISPs and will work closely to assist them in meeting their obligation under Australian law and prevent their services being used for illegal activities,” Conroy said.

“Given this successful outcome, the Government has no need to proceed with mandatory filtering legislation.”

According to SMH, “Australia’s main internet service providers have agreed to block the child abuse sites”.

Despite expert advice from literally every man and his dog in the Australian technology, social welfare and academic sectors warning against the plan, and widespread hatred from Australian Internet users, Senator Conroy and the Government pushed ahead with their mandatory filtering plan for over 5 years.

It’s early days (and early morning as I write this) but this is welcome news. Questions around how all Australian ISPs will filter the list, the Government’s ability to add websites out of INTERPOL’s scope (the ACMA Blacklist) with ease and the transparency surrounding the INTERPOL block list now need to be answered.

Screen cap from In Their Room: Berlin

You won’t see Community Action Centre or In Their Room: Berlin at the 2012 Mardi Gras Film Festival. The Australian Classification Board has refused to give festival organisers an exemption to show the films at the public attended event because each would likely be classified X in Australia. Why? Both contain real sexual activity.

Festival Director Lex Lindsay said in a letter to members and attendees that he felt the films were appropriate for public viewing and strongly deserving of festival screenings to an informed and sympathetic audience who have chosen to see them.

“
My personal view is that grown up people in a free modern world can make their own decisions about what they would like to see in a cinema. We must trust our chosen cultural curators and arts organisations to exercise their judgement over what work should and shouldn’t be promoted to the public, not an exemptions process that prohibits public screening of work that could otherwise (even if theoretically) be privately, legally owned,” Lindsay said.

Read Lindsay’s full letter here.

About the films:

Community Action is a sociosexual video which incorporates the erotics of a community where the personal is not only political, but sexual. This project was heavily inspired by 1970’s porn-romance-liberation films which served as distinct portraits of the urban inhabitants, landscapes and the body politic of a particular time and place.

In Their Room is about gay men, bedrooms, sex and intimacy. The film veers into the bedrooms of eight different men where you see them doing everything from the most banal to the most erotic. Complimenting the revealing nature of their everyday activities are confessional interviews about fantasies, turn ons and vulnerabilities. You never leave their bedrooms, but this is unmistakably San Francisco of the present.

Pop in any address on the site where Google Street View is available you’ll be presented with a photo of the street and an assault rifle to shoot at will.

Screenshot from the 'Shoot' website.

Technically it’s a very basic concept, but it presents an irresistible opportunity for politicians, law enforcement and the media to ‘have a go’.

How long will it be before you see “Online Massacre Training” and “Shoot Up Your Neighbour’s House” splashed across Australian newspapers?

Update 1:58PM

Fairfax now has a story on ‘Shoot View’ and reports that Google has removed the game’s access to the Street View API — effectively disabling it from using Google Street View maps and images. A teaser video of the game remains hosted on Youtube.

The billboard

The Tool Shop’s “Imagine all three at once” billboard is the advertising equivalent of trolling Facebook. And where there’s a troll there’s someone taking the bait. In this case Queensland Government Minister for Women, Karen Struthers.

Struthers says the wording of the ad is an explicit sexual reference that degrades women. Explicit? Hardly. Sexual? Maybe if you imagined all three women in the ad partaking in some sort of sexy home renovation. But what about all three power tools at once? Well I guess that’s Ms Struther’s business.

The Honourable Karen Struthers, Minister for Community Services and Housing and Minister for Women

Meanwhile Melinda Tankard Reist says the Tool Shop is run by, you guessed it, tools. And it’s sexist. She’ll be commenting on the ad on Sunrise at 7:20AM tomorrow.

According to the Courier Mail, fewer than five people have so far complained to the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB). In fact, a complaint to the ASB about a radio advertisement from the Tool Shop was recently dismissed. The gist of the ad or complaint I don’t know as a case report is unavailable.

For the time being the billboard stands tall on Beaudesert Road in Brisbane’s south.

As far as the Tool Shop is concerned their job here is done. For every 5 complaints there will be 25 admirers and perhaps 50 customers.

I’ll admit the break has been nice. I tried to stay at the front of the campaign against Australia’s mandatory ISP filter from day one and I think I did a pretty decent job of it. However, it became so time consuming and exhausting writing and campaigning that my personal life and health took a hit. I’m too young for that!

On the other hand censorship is something that has been important to me most of my life. I’ve spent thousands of hours researching and writing about it that to not touch it for so long has perhaps been harder.

It’s why I’ve decided to start updating Somebody Think of the Children again. So much is happening and changing that it’s too hard to resist. Only weeks ago in my home town of Brisbane complaints were made by the Australian Christian Lobby against homosexual health advertisements which saw the ads removed. Massive community uproar followed and the ads were subsequently reinstated. It was a full-on couple of days where the community was passionate about a clear cut issue of health awareness vs censorship.

But it’s those not so black and white issues of censorship that don’t always go the way you want and for that reason I created Somebody Think of the Children. From what I can see, there’s going to be a lot to discuss over the coming weeks, months and years.

Before it’s back to business as usual (with a snazzy new blog design), thank you to everyone for all of your support (and an extra thank you to the people who assist behind the scenes).

Michael

Festival director Richard Moore told The Age that ‘Bruce LaBruce’s blend of sex  and violence can be confronting’, but he argues that within the  context of the festival, it is ‘nonsensical and patronising to not allow  people to decide what they want to see’.

By taking a look at the photo gallery on the film’s official website, it’s easy to see why L.A Zombie would have had the ACB squirming in their seats; There’s leather, guns and dongs. Multiple types of flesh eating too.

Another case of the Walking Braindead in the annals of Australian   censorship history.

The Federal Government’s mandatory internet filter will not likely be introduced for a year, until after a review of what content would be blocked.

Stephen Conroy today announced a new set of ‘transparency and accountability’ measures that will be introduced alongside the filter, and chief among them are changes to the Refused Classification guidelines.

“Some sections of the community have expressed concern about whether the range of material included in the RC category currently reflects community standards”, Senator Conroy said.

His department is recommending an independent review of what the community deems to be inappropriate content. Senator Conroy expects the review to take around a year, and the filter will not be introduced during this time.

In the interim, several big ISPs including Telstra, Optus and Primus have agreed to voluntarily block a list of child porn and child abuse URLs provided by the government.

Maha Krishnapillai, Optus’ Director of Government and Corporate affairs, said he was very supportive of the measures.

“There have been a lot of misconceptions about what kind of things will be blocked, and that we are the ones who are blocking them”, he said.

“If people want to look at (content that’s currently rated RC), that’s ok, we don’t care. So if the review comes back and says that stuff’s ok it will be ok.”

In many European countries ISPs block content according to a voluntary code, without mandatory filtering or government involvement.

Mr Krishnapillai said he imagines a similar system will eventually be implemented in Australia.

“We have a long way to go before we get there. These are just the first steps.”

Blocking will be accomplished simply using a list of URLs known to contain RC content, meaning slow-down to internet speeds will not be noticeable.

When the filter is introduced, measures will come in alongside it including a notification to the owner of the page before it is blocked, an appeal and review mechanism, industry consultation on technical issues and the immediate classification of any pages that are complained about by public.

Attempting to access a blocked URL will display a page giving detailed information on why it was blocked, and the ACMA website will frequently update an exhaustive list of reasons why a website may be blocked.

Senator Conroy denied that these changes are being instituted as an election issue, though given his focus on clearing up ‘misconceptions’ about the filter, it seems likely the aim is to appease the voters.

He also said the filter is not designed as a “silver bullet” that will make accessing the internet safe, but it is a major part of a multi-million dollar plan that also includes education, training and increased online law enforcement.

You can tune into Four Corners at 8:30PM and Q&A at 9:35PM, both on ABC1.

Four Corners will provide what looks to be a good overview of the Government’s plan to filter the web, including how much that plan has changed since it was first announced. Meanwhile, Minister for Home Affairs Brendan O’Connor, Shadow Minister for Innovation Sophie Mirabella, Beijing-based internet consultant Kaiser Kuo, Internet activist Brett Solomon and commentator Helen Razer will take questions on Q&A. There’s a bingo card to play along with as well.

For International readers, both shows should be available to download not too long after.

Speaking against net censorship is journo and author Antony Loewenstein, Google’s Ross LaJeunesse and David Marr. For is Professor and Associate Dean of Law at Flinders University, Elizabeth Handsley, Beijing-based columnist Kaiser Kuo and Alastair MacGibbon, founder of the Internet Safety Institute and Managing Partner of internet consultancy the Surete Group.

When I bought the ticket back in January Senator Conroy was set to speak. Unfortunately, he’s pulled out (for whatever reason). Nevertheless, there’s still a great range of range of high-profile and knowledgeable speakers so I’m sure it’ll be interesting

Event details:

Governments should not censor the internet

May 11, 6:30PM
City Recital Hall Angel Place
2-12 Angel Place
Sydney

Architects of the internet have championed its promise as an instrument of liberty – a free-wheeling republic in which the ordinary person can bypass the gatekeepers of power and influence.

Beneath the shiny towers of liberty electronic sewers run thick with child pornography, terrorist propaganda, racial hatred, crazy conspiracies and other products of the grimy denizens of the internet’s underworld.

Some governments think that they should protect us from what they deem to be harmful to the common weal.

Can we not be trusted to care for ourselves? And if not, then will censorship inevitably shut out the light along with the dark?

It is important that audience members are seated by 6.35pm as the event will be screened live.

You can also buy yourself a ticket here.