[clug] [Protest] Anybody up to organise it?

[Alex Satrapa]

On 05/12/2008, at 14:24 , Paul Wayper wrote:

> I have to disagree with the hyperbole in the GetUp proposal.   
> Calling it
> 'draconian' and 'hold back the digital economy' are rather over-the- 
> top.  I
> don't feel I can morally sign up to that.

The proposal includes provision to filter HTTPS connections. That  
means man-in-the-middle attacks become trivial since people will  
become conditioned to accepting that the certificate you're presented  
with in your browser won't match the certificate provided by the site  
you're connecting to.

HTTPS is essential to the digital economy as a secure means of  
exchanging credit card numbers, bank account numbers, etc.

So it's hardly "over the top" to claim that Senator "If you're not  
with me you're a paedophile" Conroy's firewall proposal will hold back  
the digital economy. In fact that claim is an understatement since the  
proposed HTTPS filtering will set e-commerce back about 15 years.

The proposal makes it mandatory for all ISPs to filter all  
connections. The proposal will have severe impact on the usability of  
the Internet for people who opt out of the "child safe" filter. There  
are no exceptions, and people who protest the proposal are accused of  
being paedophiles. So it's hardly "over the top" to claim that the  
proposal is draconian. In fact, "draconian" is not harsh enough -  
perhaps "totalitarian" would be more suitable.

I've already signed the petition, for all that it's worth.

Alex