Australia has been known to have high levels of censorship. It should come as no surprise to those in the land down under that the government is planning to filter P2P and Bit Torrent traffic in live pilot tests.
Senator Conroy went on the record saying "technology that filters peer-to-peer and Bit Torrent traffic does exist and it is anticipated that the effectiveness of this will be tested in the live pilot trial".
It is a drastic step to filter out all P2P and Bit Torrent traffic as it assumes that those channels are only used for piracy. One example of legitimate use is the popular online game World of Warcraft. This game uses a Bit Torrent system of distrubution for its updates. Like any technology it can be used for both good and evil and choosing to block all on the account that it is only used for piracy is taking censorship to new levels.
Unsurprisingly the idea has fueled a serious debate in Australia; "I'm aware that this proposal has attracted significant debate and criticism ? on this blog and at other places in the blogosphere," Senator Conroy said. Many of the complaints stem around the idea that Senator Conroy is acting as a big brother.
If the Senator has his way and the filter is kept in place how far will the government be allowed to intervene? Simply blocking a technology for the potential illegal use is a preposterous idea as nearly all software can be used for malicious activities; it's the user who makes the decision.
Senator Conroy went on the record saying "technology that filters peer-to-peer and Bit Torrent traffic does exist and it is anticipated that the effectiveness of this will be tested in the live pilot trial".
It is a drastic step to filter out all P2P and Bit Torrent traffic as it assumes that those channels are only used for piracy. One example of legitimate use is the popular online game World of Warcraft. This game uses a Bit Torrent system of distrubution for its updates. Like any technology it can be used for both good and evil and choosing to block all on the account that it is only used for piracy is taking censorship to new levels.
Unsurprisingly the idea has fueled a serious debate in Australia; "I'm aware that this proposal has attracted significant debate and criticism ? on this blog and at other places in the blogosphere," Senator Conroy said. Many of the complaints stem around the idea that Senator Conroy is acting as a big brother.
If the Senator has his way and the filter is kept in place how far will the government be allowed to intervene? Simply blocking a technology for the potential illegal use is a preposterous idea as nearly all software can be used for malicious activities; it's the user who makes the decision.
Not all Australian ISPs are affected, it's only the ISPs who are participating in the trials!
The article itself points out a very substantial legitimate use of the protocol - World of Warcraft updates (and I wouldn't be surprised if more programs use it). Linux LiveCDs/DVDs are best got via torrent as well, as the torrent program MD5 checksums each chunk of data, rather than you downloading 600Mb-4Gb of data only to discover the entire lot is useless because of a few Kb. Then there is loads of scientific data that can be got via torrent - high resolution photos from NASA. Plenty of things right there that are legitimate and that's just off the top of my head.
Except, I have heard teachers say that Linux is illegal.
Just as 94.728% of statistics are made up and plucked out of thin air.
Are you being serious? Because, that's ****ing hilarious if true.
http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=708638
LOL
Its actually more like 75%. There was a study.
So one game using Bittorrent to distribute updates means you have to tolerate the other 99% of data that is illegal? I understand what you're saying, and I agree, but really it would be better for the minority using the technology legitimately to move on to something that restricts piracy. It's like guns... they can be used recreationally but their primary purpose is to be used against people / animals.
My point is: where do you draw the line? If 6 billion people use P2P for piracy and 1 person uses it for legitimate content does that mean it should be allowed to continue?
For the record, this Internet filtering is absurd, but what annoys me the most is the complete back flip from pre-election policies. The government went from an opt-out internet filter pre-election, to a mandatory filter blocking whatever content they deem to be worth blocking, including P2P technologies (which aren't inherently illegal). Furthermore, this is no the only policy that has mysteriously appeared post-election without any warning. I have no idea whom I'm going to vote for in the next federal election, but I know it won't be for the Australian Labor Party.
I'm voting for the greens. They're the only party that stands up to this nonsense. We also have to push out Family First.. they're the ones behind all this.
They are polititians, did it surprise you?
what nonsense are you spreading ???????
i live in middle east and nothing is censored/blocked ! especially not wiki
My friends step dad was on cam to his mum, and his step dad (in Abu Dhabi) took his top off and instantly the connection was dropped.. Its crazy there, but the idea is becoming more popular
Exactly. Keep that to yourself good sir, less you ruin it for everyone.
Would P2P be considered a file transfer over MSN? Or using LiveMesh and private folders for your close friends.
My point proven, this is just a waste of taxpayers money!
Which is bad for the general public. Once the government realizes these measures are not stopping the real criminals, they will step up the measures, further restricting the general public, to stop these people. Look at the mess we are currently in with DRM? every time someone finds away around it, the companies make the protection more intrusive!
What I'm interested is the side effects on legitimate services these measures will have (like WoW for example) will these companies just abandon the Australian people or will they try and fight this? (I suspect they'd just pull out - still even doing so it will create more angry citizens, perhaps when most of the country goes into riot the Gov might realize they screwed up??)
The government can't keep chasing because eventually they will just be blocking all internet traffic and no one will stand for it.
The use of this Content Filter for both the stated reason (to prevent people from accessing child pornography) and the real reason (to prevent people from committing copyright infringement) is going to be horribly ineffective.
This is because legitimate users are going to be blocked and slowed down from accessing legitimate content, while those who actually commit the copyright infringement/child pornography crimes will find ways to get around it, and these new methods will make it HARDER for authorities to catch those who commit child pornography crimes because these new methods will be too covert (Other encrypted P2P protocols, offshore VPNs, Sneaker Nets) to catch them with monitoring. Most criminals of Child Porn won't care that these other methods are a little bit slower, as long as they get their fix of child pornongrahy in the end. The other criminals of Child Porn in which these filters do effectively block will likely take out there urges themselves on Australian Children (not that it makes it ok before if they were not an Australian child)
And by the way, how can you even compare the two? The victim of copyright infringement is a corporation, and the victims of child pornography crimes are little kids.
I am certainly proud that I stood up for Australian Internet rights by attending a protest about this outside the State Library in the rain. Unfortunately there wasn't a bigger turnout because people are so gutless to stand up for their rights.
boo with filtering.
The excuse of removing "unsavoury content" is just a reason to get their foot in the door, if the scheme is a success it won't be long before other things are also filtered.
It's doomed to failure but I am still angry about this obvious attack on freedom of speech (not that we actually have that right in Australia). Some consultancy firm is making millions at the expense of the public for a futile project.
Well done Rudd.
Kinda glad, I don't live there anymore, but I will still go back and visit, I love the land of OZ.
There are way to circumvent this filtering by using a VPN to other countries.
I understand the filtering of sites that have access to child porn, god knows anyone who access's that filth should be locked up, and im all for having ISP's block sites that have that stuff, but to filter bittorrent, which is used for legal purposes (WoW updates and other things) I think is just silly.
Then once the system is in place, it takes no more than a few clicks to start blocking materials they don't want people to see. The same thing happens in China, as the spotlight is no longer on China until World Expo in 2010, they will pretty much do what they always did. Block all websites that criticizes the administration, all websites that depicts the cultural revolution, and any websites that considers Taiwan as a separate country.
Nowadays I can't even browse the web properly over here without using Tor/Freegate.
As Steve Irwin would have said - Crikey!
**** you kevin rudd
If this thing starts to happen, next will go free speech on the web. IP's of the "alternative news" web sites, such as Rense.com and WhatReallyhappened.com etc. will soon be on the list. If this comes to the UK, I'll be ending my ADSL account, and going back to dial up.
They powers that be, who have also decide that we all need to pay "carbon credits" will never control private dial up bullet-in boards. In the early days of modems, these were great fun, and felt pioneering (before the Internet or AOL /Compuserve.) I will not miss the demise of the Internet, any more than I've seen TV's decline.
People of Australia, talk to your ISP's, threaten to terminate contracts, if they persist down this route. Now is the time to get angry.
Back to snail mail for Google search perhaps after that? What will happen to Google and the internet companies?
What are you talking about?
There are a number of reasons why the internet will never be and cannot be 'shut down'
1) All business traffic goes through the internet (except for some financial giants who have their own dedicated lines between offices in different countries). My company has offices in many countries around the world and we get SecureId VPN access into the company. The world is basically a global economy. When one country suffers, other countries feel that pain. Countries cannot afford to be isolated.
2) In the UK (and I am sure that it applies in other countries), the internet infrastructure is owned by a private company (BT for ADSL, Virgin for cable). Even if all other countries shut down the internet, if BT and Virgin left their infrastructure turned on, then the UK could still surf the web for UK sites.
Stop talking sense and start getting outraged. Yeah, so P2P is 99.99% illegal stuff. But who will think of the Linux ISOs and WoW patches?!?! This has nothing to do with getting free **** off the internet, it's all about censorship don't you know? Pffftt.....
If anything, one would assume at least, that they're extremely liberal.
What happened to cause all this?
Doesn't really answer my question. Australian *censorship* seems unusually high. P2P activity is just a part of that. And the UK is similar in their attitude to censorship.
Those are far more logical solutions to the problem don't you think? Who's with me
The idea's not perfect but at least they're doing something. It's amazing to hear how many criminals are whining and crying because they won't be able to do illegal downloads in Australia. Oh dear, however can they illegally acquire music, movies, and software now?
The idea's not perfect but at least they're doing something. It's amazing to hear how many criminals are whining and crying because they won't be able to do illegal downloads in Australia. Oh dear, however can they illegally acquire music, movies, and software now?
I just logged in to say that you are an idiot.
And oh, usenet? Ever heard of it? Or maybe block that too? How about IRC back in the days with lots of public ftps? Maybe kill the FTP protocol as well? hmm?
Idiot.
The idea's not perfect but at least they're doing something. It's amazing to hear how many criminals are whining and crying because they won't be able to do illegal downloads in Australia. Oh dear, however can they illegally acquire music, movies, and software now?
I just logged in to say that you are an idiot.
And oh, usenet? Ever heard of it? Or maybe block that too? How about IRC back in the days with lots of public ftps? Maybe kill the FTP protocol as well? hmm?
Idiot.
Also : close tv channels because of violent material in movies :
close telephone lines because of fishing ansd scamming by phone ;
close magazine business because of "object women" portrayed in such medias ;
Ban bars because of drunk drivers ;
Stop selling beds because people having sex in them ;
etc., etc.
Where will this end ?
I'm not sure where you pulled your "fact" from, but I use torrents exclusively for Linux. Not one bit of song or other software. It is a shame that such a great technology for distributed bandwidth file sharing is being blocked wholesale to get the obnoxious punks who warez. They are throwing the baby out with the bath water.
The government issuing a decree like this? I'm not surprised that it is so short-sighted.
I truely hope there will be a big riot or something like what happened in Tibet. You take away the interwebz, you take away life.
they always screw everything up. in the UK its exactly the same.
Thanks you.
</vent>
Don't these people have something like a tech guy to explain to them that bit torrent is just a protocol?
What are these people going to do next, block the HTTP protocol? Oh wait... They are already "filtering" it.
What the hell are you on? Hi levels? No Surprise.
Where is this other Australia you speak of?
This is unexpected, and Labor can suck me. They are as good as gone at the next election, Kevin Rudd is a god damned ********.
See source: http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/131665,...bittorrent.aspx
"It is understood that technology exists to filter peer-to-peer networks. If such technology is proposed as part of the Pilot by an ISP it will be considered."
This seems to indicate the test will only impact ISPs who have chosen to proceed with the trial.
See source: http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/131665,...bittorrent.aspx
"It is understood that technology exists to filter peer-to-peer networks. If such technology is proposed as part of the Pilot by an ISP it will be considered."
This seems to indicate the test will only impact ISPs who have chosen to proceed with the trial.
They don't run pilots for fun.
Just like in the UK, some ISP's were running Phorm trials - suddenly they are rolled out ... etc
p.s. Filtering != blocking all. Sensationalist headlines ftl.
Labor have lost my vote. We have enough censorship on radio and television as it is.
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