Re: [SLUG] Australian government to censor your internets

I don't agree with your opinion, but I would defend to the death your
right to have an express it, hopefully your opinion doesn't make it
onto a secret government controlled blacklist.

Yes this should be move to slug-chat, done.

On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 3:17 PM, Ben Donohue <[email protected]> wrote:
> Don't pirates kidnap people and hold them for ransom, therefore denying
> their freedom?
>
> Anyway, I for one don't mind the Gov't filtering out child porn and all the
> other crap that tries to get my attention.
>
> There is so much good stuff out there that I can fill my mind with that
> rather than the lowest common denominator crud.
>
> Yeah so flame me!
> (Also, this should be moved to slug chat)
>
> Ben
>
>
>
> Mike wrote:
>>
>> The no clean feed group have a template for a letter on their site I
>> think, I'll try to dig it up later.
>>
>> I think this is very relevant to us as linux/open source/free software
>> users, if we follow the philosophy "free as in freedom, not fee as in beer"
>> then that should go not only for the os and programs we use but for the
>> Internet and our access to data.
>>
>> I got an email from the president of the PPA with some ideas and advice:
>>
>> Hi crew,
>>
>> Pirate Party Australia has been working hard on getting press releases out
>> and establishing media contacts to spread our message. We are establishing
>> some working groups to plan a fresh round of national protests, and we are
>> working on an overhaul of our IT systems. We are looking at sending members
>> to LAN parties to communicate with the players, and sticking flyers up in
>> city centres, where legally feasible.
>>
>> So far, we have not touched a cent of the membership fees or donations,
>> and some members are using their own funds on essential services, because we
>> know that every dollar counts.
>>
>> To those of you who have joined us already, thank you for your support. I
>> know we haven't gotten back to most of you with confirmations, but we do
>> plan to once we have started collating the memberships.
>>
>> To everyone else, I would like to tell you some hard truths that you might
>> not like to hear.
>>
>> To fix the world, you have to do more than click some buttons on a
>> website.We appreciate that you did sign up as a preliminary member, but
>> sometimes you have to roll up your sleeves and get a little dirty. In this
>> case, all we are asking you to do is to go through the process of actually
>> printing a document and faxing it. I know it's an old-world effort, but it's
>> really just a few minutes of effort.
>>
>> For those of you who have not joined because of the money, send me an
>> email [email protected] and we'll see if we can work
>> something out. I grew up dirt poor, so I know what it is like to really not
>> have a few dollars to spare.
>>
>> For those of you who have not joined due to other issues, just look at
>> yesterday's release of Senator Conroy's Internet censorship report. We don't
>> have time to waste. So far, around 140 people, or about 1 in 10 of the
>> preliminary members have signed up. This is not good enough to affect
>> serious change in Australia. We are trying to protect freedom of speech, but
>> it looks like many of you don't have much to say. You need to get angry, and
>> you need to join, and you need to convince other people to join. You need to
>> do this by painting them a picture of what the world will be like if we
>> don't put up a fight against the slide into tyranny that we are now facing.
>> Ask the historians to imagine what Stalinist Russia would have been like if
>> Stalin had the computing power of today. Tell them about how fragile
>> democracy is and how it can be corrupted by just a few influential people
>> over just a couple of decades. Let the environmentalists know that freedom
>> needs to be protected, because without freedom, we don't have a world worth
>> saving. Tell the libertarians that we are trying to keep the government out
>> of their lives. Inform the concerned parents that we are fighting for their
>> rights to run their own families. If you're in the country, speak to some
>> farmers and tell them that we will stop companies from patenting their
>> seeds. Tell the sick that we'll stop the drug companies from revelling in
>> their pain. Tell the musicians that we will work with them to ensure they
>> can earn good money doing what they love. Tell the trade unionists that we
>> will work to repeal laws that infringe on their freedom of assembly. Let the
>> gamers know that we'll rip out Michael Atkinson's spinal column if he
>> doesn't realise that violent video games don't cause violent behaviour.
>>
>> OK, maybe not the last one. In fact, I'm not even sure if my freedom of
>> speech rights protect that statement now-a-days, so let me explicitly state
>> that it was a joke that referenced Scorpion's finishing move in Mortal
>> Kombat.
>>
>> I hope my point is clear. We need you to join Pirate Party Australia, so
>> we can protect our freedom to make the world a better place. You signed up
>> as a preliminary member, so you already agree with our goals, so please make
>> it official.
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> David Crafti,
>> President
>> Pirate Party Australia
>>
>> P.S.: Some people have stated a concern about being on the books as
>> affiliated with the party, but the AEC treats the applications as
>> confidential.
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________________
>>
>> Contact with the Pirate Party Australia
>>
>> There is an email discussion list that you can participate in here.
>> You can also participate on our forums or join in the discussion in IRC.
>> All other enquiries go [email protected]
>>
>>
>> On 17/12/2009, at 7:13, Marghanita da Cruz <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> meryl wrote:
>>>>
>>>> In addition to getting involved in the EFA's campaign
>>>> http://nocleanfeed.com
>>>> you can subscribe to their lists to stay informed (there are familiar
>>>> SLUG names there too!) http://www.efa.org.au/about/lists/
>>>> http://libertus.net/ and http://sites.google.com/site/filtermenot/home
>>>> have additional information about the filter on their sites
>>>> Also there's the PPA http://www.pirateparty.org.au/
>>>> who plan to fight the filter at the next election
>>>
>>> <snip>
>>>
>>> Google has also blogged on the subject:
>>>
>>> <http://google-au.blogspot.com/2009/12/our-views-on-mandatory-isp-filtering.html>
>>>
>>> While there is lots of moral outrage on
>>> the subject, I like the way Google has
>>> explained how it is not in their interests.
>>>
>>> I think this is a better approach than
>>> the "independent" from the world approach.
>>>
>>> jam wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I wrote to Conroy talking about proxies and ssh tunnels and received
>>>> back many
>>>> pages reminiscent of 'Shirley Valentine' 'Hello wall ...'
>>>>
>>>> Then, older and wiser, I realized *doing something* and being seen *to
>>>> do
>>>> something* are vastly different and after all it's *your* $100 million
>>>> ...
>>>
>>> and on the 100% accurate filters, see:
>>> <http://mailman.anu.edu.au/pipermail/link/2009-December/085954.html>
>>>
>>> It would be useful if we could articulate
>>> our concerns about the impacts on us, as
>>> users of linux, open source, system
>>> administrator, etc.
>>>
>>> If we can get a single issue that is
>>> comprehensible by the wider public
>>> then that could clinch it.
>>>
>>> Marghanita
>>> --
>>> Marghanita da Cruz
>>> http://ramin.com.au
>>> Tel: 0414-869202
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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