Meet on the ledge
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New Zealand filters the web
IN NEW ZEALAND some ISPs have started filtering Internet content on behalf of the Kiwi government.
According to Stuff, the NZ Department of Internal Affairs' (DIA) Internet filter is now operational and is being used by the Internet service providers (ISPs) Maxnet and Watchdog.
However the filter was bought in without much in the way of controversy because the Kiwi government hit on the clever idea of not actually telling anyone. The filter went live on February 1 but the DIA did not announce the fact publicly.
The manager of the DIA's Censorship Compliance Unit, Steve O'Brien, denied that there was subterfuge in the launch of the Internet filter. He said it was trialed for nearly two years and the plans have been shown in the display area of the DIA offices for some time.
We expect that the display area was a cellar and the plans were locked in a filing cabinet marked "beware of the leopard", but we guess it is far too late to moan about it now.
The Kiwi filter is apparently less harsh than the one planned across the Tasman Sea in Australia. The Aussie filter was recently identified by Reporters Without Borders as being on a par with something the might be seen in Saudi Arabia. The Kiwi one just lists sites that contain images of child sexual abuse.
The New Zealand system is also voluntary whereas the Australian one is not. ISPs who have signed up to use it so far have told their customers about it and there are no laws to back it up.
However there is a problem with the way the New Zealand government is going about it. TechLiberty claims the list of what is filtered is kept secret, in direct contrast to the rest of New Zealand's censorship regime where the Chief Censor must publish decisions banning offensive material. µ
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Don't you get it yet? Only the top government people have the morals and smarts to decide what you see, hear and know. You’re to stupid to make judgments of what to and not to see, do or say.
Once you accept that you are sheep to be tended to, nurtured, kept in perfect health, sheared each time you produce any wealth, up to the day you are a burden then harvested- your life will be more relaxing.
So sit back, drink some cool-aid, believe what we want you to, do as your told, and relax :) it's okay, were in control.
As long as they stick to child porn I am for it. it would be a lot better if they were open about what they are blocking, because as it is, i feel they could block whatever they want and just not tell anyone
so you are saying that the Kiwi government is run by vogons? i wonder if they will be blocking human poetry.
Atleast NZ's is optional, but I wonder if it will stay optional. I bet it will, their government seems to have caught on to the fact that it would cost them the election if it were mandatory.
The decline and death of the internet was predictable, it's just nice that it goes at an relatively easy pace, I expected it to have been further along the path by now, good thing politicians are slow.
If it's not affecting any of the sites I normally use and makes child porn less accessible to the circus freaks out there that actively search for it then hey... two thumbs up Kiwis!