I hadn't heard of this, and I'm not even sure how accurate it is, but I thought maybe Veritas or any other poster with knowledge of Oz might be able to add something.

http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=1078

and probably coming to a country near you soon.

It's true and I've discovered I can no longer access wikileaks as of today.

This puts Australia now in line with Thailand and China, both with undemocratic governments.

It's odd behaviour for a new Labor government but there are a few theories touted behind the new Communications Minister's stubborness over what he probably perceived as something that may work (obviously not net savvy)but having now painted himself into a corner.

One is a concerted 'pedo panic' campaign run by the previous conservative government who put this in motion, aided by a self appointed loud mouth 'child advocate" who called anyone who opposed her a "pedohile". She's now faded into the scenery as important people began to question why she was receiving nearly $1M annually in government donations so she could travel the world examining "children's rights and protection"-without a singe penny actually going to aid a child but mainly to 5 star hotels.

And it's being seen as a sop to a newly elected senator, Steve Fielding of a right-wing Christian group "Family First" who holds the balance of power in the Upper House, the Senate, with one other independant MP.

In order to get legislation passed the government is continually having to negotiate with this nutjob (elected on about 2%.) Sadly his policies are anything but 'family friendly' and he will get the boot in an election in 18 months.

Every internet provider has told the government it won't work so-it's just a matter of time before people begin to use proxies to get around the bans.

It also raises some very complicated legal questions which the government will rue. The list of banned sites is supposedly mainly 'child porn'' sites (and the usual terrorist claptrap) but small businesses have found themselves on it..a dentist and a school tuckshop !

I'm sure they are already angling to sue. Plus anyone could get a friend in a foreign country to access the list of banned sites (say on wikileaks which carries them)-which Australians aren't allowed to know about-and email it to them.

The other glaring problem-people could well assume that if they can access a site, then it is legal. But that may not be the case. Major headaches brewing all around which will only be solved when Fielding is given his marching orders by a furious electorate and the whole thing is quietly shelved.

As usual though-the whole thing looks set to cost about $100M to implement..money down the drain which would be better spent on Family First's struggling families.

your link to Anna Racoon raises some fascinating points as she puts the whole case in a nutshell.

As she points out-imagine your website gets banned because someone leaves a message deemed to contain the incorrect material ?

There is no process for 'unbanning' your site and this now puts the onus on webmasters to control input from posters !. Censorship indeed !

And what are the rules ?..we aren't being told. It will be illegal to link to a banned site-but as we aren't allowed to know which are banned sites, how can a person know if they are breaking the law ??

Not until Mr Plod comes a'banging !

BR is probably correct-coming soon to a country near you.

I've always said the internet provides such extraordinary freedom that governments simply canot bear it and will seek to contol it at some stage.

But if China is an example-fear not. Illegal internet cafes spring up overnight in the 100s, disappearing just as quickly before authorities learn where they are.