Innovation, Information, Evolution.
Sure I don’t want my internet speed to get slower and I certainly don’t want this Government Filter to fail us by being inaccurate. And who doesn’t want to see child porn removed from society but is this filter the answer?
This unrestricted information highway that we are surely taking for granted by now has created such innovation in our society and things are only just beginning. I try to keep up with it, but even I couldn’t articulate to you the positive impact of this Innovation. Here are some keywords though: Google (Stop there if you need to), YouTube, Blogs, Email, IM, Video Chat, Facebook. These things are connecting us in ways we never imagined and it turns out we still go outside even with these things. These things are informing us.
I agree that the internet makes it possible for the ‘bad’ stuff to be shared too and I can say for sure that there are things I do not want my son to stumble across, but I just googled the word ‘child‘ and was not presented with porn. Firstly this will be because google is not going to show me porn as far as I understand, but it also for me reflects that fact that google works on relevance. So what appears on your top 10 search results is a reflection on how people are using the internet relative to your search term. Is it not true that Einstein didn’t remember formulas because he thought it was silly to fill his head with things he could find in a book. For me the internet is like that. My knowledge over the last 5+ years is made up from google search results. This tool has been priceless like so many other features on the internet. The abilty to share information the way the internet enables us is helping us as a species evolve if not avoid our possible demise due to lack of climate change information. Governments keep climate change from us long before the internet came along. They have proven themselves able to do sure things. The open internet has been able to by pass them. This cannot change. The internet has become a tool for us to keep our governments in check and now they want to use it to keep us in check. Just when things were starting to feel a bit more democratic.
If we as a society cannot govern ourselves on what is appropriate or not for our children then it is a measure of how evolved our society is. There must be a more in-depth conversation that can be had beyond simply the idea of stopped these people from being able to share images of child pornography. Um… why are people sharing images of child pornography and isn’t it a bit late if we are stepping in at that point??? Our evolution is also at stake. There is so much goodwill on the internet that it far outweighs the bad in my opinion and good will win over evil in the end anyway. So many people on the internet are trying to empower each other not exploit. If you are seeing the internet in the negative light then it might just be a reflection of your overall world view. Too much 6pm news and Courier Mail. The world is a beautiful place with a wonderful species called human beings. There is more good in man than there is bad. If you don’t believe me check out www.ted.com.
Want to truly understand the internet. Read Lawrence Lessig’s book: The Future of Ideas. Please note that you can buy this book from a book shelf or download the whole thing for free from that link.
Nearly forgot to add a link to the Australian Campaign to stop this all from happening. No Clean Feed. Check it out.
the way net filtering needs to work in the same way we parent our kids, protect them, there is software that setup properly can filter out extreme, and unwanted things. This step is just the government trying to stop our free speech.
You’re absolutely correct.
Censoring the internet is not an appropriate or workable solution for stopping the production and distribution of child pornography.
Implementing an internet filter will slow down the internet in Australia, reduce productivity and hinder innovation.
Australia is a knowledge economy – we must innovate, create and interconnect in order to be competitive.
Aside from the economic argument, censoring content itself is a slippery slope. Today – child pornography – tomorrow what’s next? Extreme political views? Being left wing was once considered an extreme political viewpoint! Thinking that the earth was round was once considered an extreme political viewpoint! What about censoring the news? Dissident voices?
Say NO to Australia becoming China 2.0
Say NO to Australian internet censorship!