Aussies plan to block P2P and Bit Torrent

Well, seems those over at Blizzard Entertainment could sue the Ausies over this one.

How are they going to get their updates? Since people like Blizzard use BT only to distribute their files.

Loss of business you say? Likly when people cannot play their favorite game due to lack of an update because someone has a vision to control the interwibble...

I sense an epic failure looming on the horizon. The online community will not stand for this sort of thing. Also, as pointed out, existing technologies can bypass their magic filters with little complication. They would be better served just blocking the entire Internet.

This is ridiculous. They may as well block the entire net. There are many uses of bit torrent and P2P that use if for legitimate reasons. There are scientific organisations that deliver large data files using bit-torrent (an example being land cover data generated using satellite imagery). Why try and block (or protect as they may explain it) your own country from global developments. Bizarre and disappointing.

just post Stephen Conroy's email addy and we will take care of the whole matter.
Or some nice spammer perhaps, or maybe we could sign him up for some services.
Oh wot fun.

So if the Aussie government found out that someone was mailing bootlegged DVD's would they shut down the entire mail service too?

Like Jason said, epic failure on the horizon!!

are the Brits and Australians, not to mention quite a few second world countries, going to grow tired at being the experimental subjects of the Americans? "Give them the technology and means, have them share whatever information they come up with and if it works we'll give it a try in the U.S." seems to be the method of choice the yanks always use.

Unless the Australian gouvernment is prepared to back up the poor results this plan is certain to produce with armed executive power then this can not work.

Australians will obey and do as they are told as they always did! Sheep mentality.

Conroy is an idiot, and one of a grown band of self appointed experts, who decide that because they know how to switch on and basically use a computer, they are thus qualified to make decisions on all IT subjects. He actually thinks he knows better than industry experts, and chooses to only accept the advice of people he is paying to advise him... and surprisingly enough, they always give him the advice he knew was right all along.

However, further complicating this, is a general desire by the govt to appease some “moral minority” groups, and thus assure themselves of senate control. Any time you get vote buying of religious groups involved in a decision, you know it’s going to be screwed up in a big way.

"Mr:
just post Stephen Conroy's email addy and we will take care of the whole matter."

Just for you this Christmas
minister@dbcde.gov.au

http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/contact

You can also call him up and throw flaming bags of you know what through his office Window, since he seems to have no idea how the Internet works and seems to be trying to put me out of a honest job.

The whole thing's a train wreck already.

Of the big Oz ISP's, Telstra and Internode have refused to have any part in the trials, whereas iiNet have said that they'll only take part so that they can prove that it won't work.

@The Australian: I thought what we'd do is whinge till the very last inch of our lives! You sure you really live here?

That Stephen Conroy is one big idiot. A pure politician who's got his priorities entirely wrong. He may very well have stuffed up the youth vote at the next election already.

It just gets worse and worse, his head has now disappeared so far up his arse its emerging from his mouth.

If this Catholic crusader wants to really protect kids he should filter priests.

I moved to Australia a few years ago and my impression was that it was a truly free country. However, after the recent string of idiotic resolutions, bills and decisions by the government I am considering moving to New Zealand. Local politicians are the most uneducated, uninformed and country-crippling people I have ever seen (maybe with the exception of G. Bush) and it is sad to see this great country being brought back to the last decade because of arrogant bureaucrats that know nothing about IT. Shame on you Australian government and the newly elected Prime Minister !!!

Just wait for people starting to use VPNs or rent some torrent servers. (From which you then download with FTP)

I thought it sucked that in Canada, all the cable companies throttle, and that companies that own phone wiring are now allowed to throttle wholesale ISPs as well.

Contacting Conroy ;-)
http://tinyurl.com/9b7tnh

Quote:

"Large crowds protested against the government's plans in cities all over Australia earlier this month. Despite those protests and petitions against its proposals, the government has maintained its plans to go ahead with the blanket censorship.

The Australian government seems to think that 'free speech' merely means having the right to complain, but that the so-called 'free' Australian public shouldn't expect its views to have any effect on government policies."

Totally anti-democratic in my opinion, has the definition of democracy has changed over the years, now the rulers think they can get away by calling themselves democrats and not acting as such? Is this the new world we live in? I say this politicians need to read history books.

When I moonlight from my day job as an IT security consultant and morph into an expert witness for criminal trials - child porn, internet grooming, blah-de-blah, I get to see a bit of the nasty undercurrents.

Basically, peer-to-peer is a preferred method of delivering child porn. In the old days that was done using IRC (and still is) along with ftp, http.

Nowadays the technology has improved a little and various new technologies are used to spread the child-porn a bit faster.

I realize the intention is probably good when they want to 'block peer-to-peer'. I also realize it's pretty silly to try due to technical limitations.

What 'they' really need to do is use a bit of intelligence and cunning to identify and target people publishing criminal material - by whatever means. And also target people using known problematic sources.

In an anomalous way for child porn, blocking straight-forward distribution paths will make for an easier prosecution. If it is obvious the accused has gone to extraordinary lengths to evade the system, it is a pretty good indicator of guilt.

Contrary-wise blocking is very detrimental to collaring someone. I am presently working on several 'entrapment' cases where the police have gone out of their way to encourage people to commit internet related offenses. I am pretty sure the police will not be happy if their bread-and-butter criminal fodder suddenly dries up due to lack of opportunity.

For the rest of us non-criminal types, I expect that the blocks will never extend to legitimate peer-to-peer uses such as software updates. I also expect - probably - they won't extend to general content sharing.

Jerry, for someone touting themselves as an IT consultant cum expert witness, you seem to be bereft of, well, expertise.

To be fair, your comments seem to make sense for the most part ... right up until the last two sentences, that is.

How exactly do you expect "legitimate" peer to peer traffic" and "general content sharing" to be specifically allowed, whilst blocking all the distastefulness, with a blanket ban on the most widely used protocols?

Anyhow, this Australian ridiculousness sounds logistically impossible to me.

Oh the cries, oh the gnashing of teeth and the pulling of hair. :+) I always did enjoy a good seeing people get what they deserve. Standby folks, the fat lady is warming up.

As I hinted in the body. Trapping people based on communications technology is difficult - if not downright impossible.

What is of more use is targeted interception of communications based on factual intelligence abouut the transaction.

My hope about legitimate and semi-legitimate communications is that they will not be included in a blanket ban. I assume that legitimate purposes will not ne targeted. I hope that-legitimate (non commercial) uses will still be allowed.

"When are the Brits and Australians, not to mention quite a few second world countries, going to grow tired at being the experimental subjects of the Americans? "Give them the technology and means, have them share whatever information they come up with and if it works we'll give it a try in the U.S." seems to be the method of choice the yanks always use."
You bunch of whiners. We great Americans saved your out back for you so your Australia are belongs to us. We can tell your government what to do and it does it because your government are belongs to us also. So stop whining and let the experiment begin. We will let you know when we are through and what the results were. Just remember we run the show. George Bush.

The answer is possably to fire a few NSA grade "logic bombs: at the Aussie ISPs,and shut them down (period), (very long period). probably with assistance from the (Russia and Chinese version of the GRU/KGBDir5A,. That sould create a riot and unseat the nit heads in cambera. Also poossably put a contract out on the idiot who thought it up. Or get just ignore it, get a VSAT base and a link to Sweden.So bypassing the island of ignorance.or you could just use dialup for P2P relay FoxBravo995

P.S We yanks did not think thios one up blame the limeys

This whole filter thing is a) a waist of time and
b)a waist of my tax money. If I want my internet to be filtered then I should have an option to opt in or opt out of it, We are going to become as Alex Zaharov-Reutt commented at http://www.itwire.com/content/view/22459/1103/1/1/ the Socialistic Republic of the South, what will occur is that our internet will be slowed down dramaticly - as every page will need to be filtered. So on a 1500 connection (like most people who live in regional areas can get) will be slowed down to around 56kb.
Sorry but I would rather get a consortium together to built a fiber from USA to Australia. Bypassing the whole stupid Filter. Any one in.

BTW- Can we ask the opposition for force a double dissolution and have a re-election, and get rid of KRUDD.

I'm an Aussie... For many years under the previous government, we suffered the slings and arrows of the outrageous stupidity of the Minister for (against??) Communications, Richard "Dickhead" Alston. I thought the Labor Party would be better. They are just as clueless when it comes to telecommunications, and IT in general.

PS.: Exporting Alston to the UK (as "Australian High Commissioner") was a nice touch. Better there then here. ;-)

PPS: The Inq seems to deploy more and more annoying forms of advertising. Push it too much and you'll start loosing readers and therefore hits for your advertisers!

blocking bittorrent is just as illegal as blocking skype or turning off the internet

if Australia has a constitutional court it wouldnt take long for them to rule a law like that is unconstitutional