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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 31 Mar 2009
It must have seemed like a good idea at the time. If you want to reduce citizens' exposure to dangerous and illegal activities online, why not gather up all the URLs for sites that promote such acts — child pornography, extreme violence, weaponmaking and so on — and have Internet service providers (ISPs) simply block them? Wouldn't that make the Internet safer for families and children?
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 30 Mar 2009
The European Union has voted against the idea of a 'three strikes' policy against file-sharers, after the Greek MEP Stavros Lambrinidis raised concerns over the idea.
There was an overwhelming majority that voted in favour of the MEP's report, with 481 votes in favour, 25 against and 21 abstentions.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 30 Mar 2009
Opponents of the Federal Government's filtering scheme have condemned last night's hacking of one of its websites as damaging to their fight against censorship.
Last night, the website for the National Classification Board was hacked just hours before Senator Stephen Conroy appeared on TV to defend the Government's trial of internet filtering.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 30 Mar 2009
THE Federal Government's proposed internet censorship regime is not the silver bullet to stop child pornography, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said.
A blacklist of more the 2000 websites, including child pornography sites, banned by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), was published on the whistleblower website Wikileaks over a week ago.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 27 Mar 2009
Social networking sites like Facebook could be monitored by the UK government under proposals to make them keep details of users' contacts.
The Home Office said it was needed to tackle crime gangs and terrorists who might use the sites, but said it would not keep the content of conversations.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 27 Mar 2009
Hackers broke into the Australian government's film and videogame classification website yesterday and posted a message opposing comms minister Stephen Conroy's trial of internet filtering.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 27 Mar 2009
Black lists are needed to combat child pornography, pro-rape and incest websites, a Rudd government minister says.
Broadband and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said legitimate Queensland dental websites had to be blocked because Russian hackers had illegally posted child porn on them.
"It is possible to support a black list and support free speech," Senator Conroy told ABC TV on Thursday night.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 27 Mar 2009
As of Monday, YouTube is unavailable in China, an unexplained move apparently made in response to the existence of a video of Chinese soldiers beating Tibetan monks, says the BBC.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 26 Mar 2009
China has closed the video-sharing website Youtube to internet users on the mainland in a move that may be linked to videos on the site allegedly showing police brutality in Tibet.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 26 Mar 2009
German police have raided the homes of a man associated with the whistleblower site Wikileaks, as part of an investigation the site claims stems from its recent publication of several countries' secret Internet filtering blacklists.
