In Australia today, we learn for instance, that the government has set out to implement a AU$125 million filter that will censor all Internet traffic in peoples’ homes to ensure citizens are not exposed to material unapproved by government officials.
(…) advocates for Canada’s Human Rights Commission have already taken a run at the Aussie plan. A couple of years ago, HRC activists Richard Warman [The Guy Who Is Suing Us] and Bernie Farber (of the CJC) actually petitioned the CRTC to filter out certain websites from being seen in Canada.
They apparently wanted to go even further, not just leaving the prohibition decisions up to the whim of state officials, but establishing a process to allow “interested parties” (like them, perhaps?) to have a say in which sites got banned, too. Fortunately, the CRTC rejected the request. Unfortunately, it was on the basis that considering such policy changes would necessarily first involve consultation with Internet Service Providers.
PS:
An American readers considering a donation to my Legal Defense Fund, please note that at least at today’s exchange rate (which of course varies constantly), I receive CDN $1.20 for every US $1 you donate.
