Re: [SLUG] Fortress .... err Firewall Australia

This one time, at band camp, Mary Gardiner wrote:

> Simon didn't argue "will make mistakes", that's your wording, he argued
> "will not work", which is stronger.

Indeed.  My definition of "will not work":

1. Will not prevent all instances of child porn being viewed in 
   Australia.
2. Will not prevent children from viewing all porn.
3. Will prevent people from viewing legal material.

PS: The wowsers are conflating two completely separate and unrelated 
issues here.  One is preventing kids from seeing porn.  The other is 
preventing everyone from viewing illegal content.

Preventing kids from seeing porn is achieved through the existing 
NetAlert system (http://www.netalert.gov.au/) that provides free 
filtering software for parents and by education 
(http://www.cybersmartkids.com.au/).  (Yes, I know the filtering 
software doesn't work.  But it doesn't work in ways that are 
configurable by the parents, unlike a mandatory filter.)

Preventing people from viewing illegal content will never work without a 
massive imposition on everyone.  Block or intercept all encrypted 
connections -- yep, the banks will agree to that!  What's more, by 
forcing the bad guys to encrypt everything, it suddenly becomes harder 
to know who is looking at the illegal stuff.

That said, I don't see why an time-limited IP black hole for any IPs 
manually identified as hosting Bad Stuff would be a bad idea.  Sure, if 
geocities.com has Bad Stuff on it, it'll end up being blocked until the 
Bad Stuff is removed, but they'll want to remove it anyway.  I see this 
as a viable "third way" solution.

-- 
Rev Simon Rumble <[email protected]>
www.rumble.net

The Tourist Engineer
Because geeks travel too.
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"Creationists make it sound like a 'theory' is something you dreamt up
 after being drunk all night."
- Isaac Asimov
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