Australia secretly censors Wikileaks press release and Danish Internet censorship list

I found this on Prison Planet (definately not my favorite source for material but every now and then I find a few gems) in regards to the great work Wikileaks has been doing and yet again, how it is trying to be stopped.

In late 2008, Wikileaks released the secret Internet censorship list for Denmark, together with a press release condemning the practice for lack of public or judicial oversight. Here’s an extract from the press release.

From the actual press release:

The list has been leaked because cases such as Thailand and Finland demonstrate that once a secret censorship system is established for pornographic content the same system can rapidly expand to cover other material, including political material, at the worst possible moment — when government needs reform.

Two days ago Wikileaks released the secret Internet censorship list for Thailand. Of the 1,203 sites censored this year, all have the internally noted reason of “lese majeste” — criticizing the Royal family. Like Denmark, the Thai censorship system was originally promoted as a mechanism to prevent the flow of child pornography

So basically, once the government starts censoring sights claiming they contain explicit or inappropriate material.....they don't have to stop there because THERE IS NO PUBLIC OR JUDICIAL OVERSIGHT.

Uh oh.


And to all you Aussies out there:

The press release and the list itself have now been placed into the secret Australian government blacklist of “Prohibited Online Content”.

The content on the blacklist is illegal to publish or link to in Australia, with fines of up to $11,000 a day for contraventions.

www.prisonplanet.com...

Here is a link to the Wikileaks Censorship List:

http://__._/wiki/Denmark:_3863_sites_on_censorship_list,_Feb_2008


Obviously child pornography is one thing, yet the slippery slope has begun in regards to the regulation of the internet. One could argue child pornography (or certain sexual acts, drug use, etc.) is illegal, but so is political dissent or criticisms in many countries (Thailand is a good example, China...etc)
But by seeing Australia and Finland and Denmark I am beginning to get worried because while our political dissent isn't illegal it is being treated that way behind our backs and could yet be censored.

Obviously a complete censorship would be impossible, but every little piece of information that we "lose" can just be another piece of the puzzle we are missing. Most importantly, it is NOT ILLEGAL in these countries and is being handled this way. I find it hard to swallow there is no oversight of this "blacklisting" process and as far as I can understand, no process by which to take yourself off it.

Another interesting article I found that is somewhat related:

Burma, North Korea, China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Egypt maintain as tight a control on dissent on the internet as they do off line. Australia also deservedly gets a mention (in the rather unfortunately titled sub section, "Countries under surveillance") for its authoritarian efforts to filter all internet content.

Yet the global nature of the internet means that it perhaps makes less sense these days just to point the finger at isolated cases. It's not just a question any more of naming and shaming repressive regimes – western businesses are implicated too. I don't just mean Google and Yahoo for their activities in China, but the software and hardware companies that design the filtering software and infrastructure that makes censorship possible.

Saudi Arabia, for example, blocks undesirable websites with Californian software and the Chinese have Cisco to thank for their routers and switches. As the writer Xeni Jardin has observed, the US is now in the business of exporting censorship. For the first time in history, censorship has become a profitable enterprise, not just a matter of political control.

www.guardian.co.uk...

This is some extremely disturbing stuff:

www.techradar.com...

As of this afternoon, wikileaks is unreachable for me here in Australia. Can anyone else access it?

To Australians..... I have come across a lot of you in the past. (I live In Vegas). And mostly all of you were pretty cool people when comming up here to visit. A lot of you have drinking problems though! hahaha J/K.
I hope that you fight against this as much as you possibly can, because Id hate to see such great people get thrown under the bus for moronic stuff just as this. Good luck to you.

Well, I just heard posting a link to wikileaks with the list on will leave someone open to ten years imprisonment.

Oh well, it was nice having democracy while it lasted.

WIKILEAKS is not accessible from Australia anymore. This is the start of our new censorship, enjoy. Notice how much news the banning of this website has got?
Notice how many people are aware this is going on and that it has already started happening?
If so, then you'd notice that there's no news on it and that no one you meet will be aware of any internet censorship in this great country of ours.

Wonder how long until I can't access ATS anymore.

Funny thing is that I was on Wikileaks just last night! I was browsing through it trying to understand what the big deal was with it and couldn't find anything too amazing that would warrant it being banned for every single Australian.

I cant' check now though.

Originally posted by Nventual
WIKILEAKS is not accessible from Australia anymore.

I'm in melb and just confirming it doesn't work for me either. They say it's a fake list yet they're now blocking where it came from?

You australian guys have to take control over this matter. This is very dangerous if it spreads, we in Finland did have a problem awhile ago. It was public critisism and outrage that got rid of the censor list but it wasn't easy. Alot of people were labeled as 'protecting pedofiles' and our communications minister actually said that "I refuse to discuss this as if this were a freedom of speech issue". Be active, you can get rid of those people in power who promote this kind of stuff

Why can I not access __._ through a proxy?
All the isp see's is the proxy?
Can anyone else confirm wikileaks is actually working?
Try these,
www.internetfreedom.org...
Fire phoenix works well.
The Chinese have made them to get around the Communist firewall

[edit on 19-3-2009 by CaptainCaveMan]

I think the site is just generally down, it's probably being hammered by all the interest.

This has received much coverage in Australian print media, but hardly anything on the TV news, even SBS. All we've had is bla bla, some actress fell down a mountain, bla bla bla.

Senator Conroy is a conservative catholic, so he's looking to filter out anything that may "offend against the standards of morality."

www.theage.com.au...

I love that language. Why don't we just have a Ministry of Morality that reports to the Central Committee...

Yeh ive tried all the gate software that they use to get around the Chinese firewall.
Apparently wikileaks was shut down by a California Judge in Feb 2008.
And re hosted on this ip, 88.80.13.160...
But it just times out.

I don't think it's being blocked, lads, just overloaded. I just got this message 25seconds ago (from NZ):

"Wikileaks is overloaded by readers

Our servers are currently overloaded by global interest. This is a regular difficulty that can only be resolved by deploying additional resources. If you support our mission, then show it in the way that is most needed. Each donation catalyzes the publication of 150 mainstream press articles on average, exposing human rights abuses and corrupt government around the world.

If you need more good reasons to support us, try this article by the National Gadfly.
or download our Sunshine Press Portfolio.

Please donate today so we can continue to make a difference tomorrow.
Every contribution helps. "

if a internet filter is instituted on australian providers then there is no telling how far it will go. it gives the govenment unpararelled ability to sensor the australian population from the world.
conspiracy site like this one will become a hard to reach place. they could employ millions of indian's to run all over this type of site and block all outside links to info sources.
i can agree that child porn and internet gambling site should be blocked but the internet is the only live source of anything you want to know. my world will end as i know it.

S & F

I reblogged this here on an Australian Site.

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