[clug] OT: Protesting the proposed clean feed?

[Lana Brindley]

2008/10/22 Craig Small <csmall at enc.com.au>

> On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 09:07:31AM +1100, Lana Brindley wrote:
> > Please 'scuse my ignorance, but I didn't understand Craig's last
> sentence.
> > What's the link
> > between a net filter and the GST?
> Perhaps it was a coincidence, but the balance of power at the time was
> held by Senator Harradine. Liberals wanted Telstra sold and the GST in,
> he didn't wanted the Internet filtered.
>


Ahh - I see the connection now. Thanks for that :)

As for the OP re: a protest, I'm no expert, but I do wonder what a protest
at the 'personal level' would achieve. In terms of expressing an opinion to
the politicians, I personally believe a bunch of letters from individuals is
going to get the point across in a more effective way, mostly because all
too often the people participating in a protest get tarred (rightly or
wrongly) with the 'nutjobs' brush. A barrage of well-worded, well-reasoned
and well-argued letters from a range of members of the public - IT
professionals, corporate people, parents, etc - would hopefully be treated
with more seriousness than a ragged bunch of people showing up on the front
steps of Parliament House.

In terms of public education (which would probably be the more enduring part
of an in-person protest), it's definitely needed. From what I've seen,
there's not nearly enough talk about this matter outside IT circles (lists
such as this, tech blogs, the IT newsrooms, and other tech forums such as
Whirlpool). Unfortunately, the matter is getting 'too technical' for your
average non-IT-literate person. All the talk of 'black lists', 'white
lists', 'clean feeds', 'performance hits' etc washes straight over the head
of the majority of the population (that is, all those outside the IT
industry) and all they are hearing is that the government are saving the
children from seeing porn. Now you know and I know that that is about as far
from true as you can get, but unfortunately we're not the only people who
vote.

To wind up this rant, I believe you need to write letters (or otherwise
making your point known in a sensible and reasoned way) - but also make sure
you're talking to people about it in *non-technical terms*. They need to
know that it's not "protecting kids from porn" but "blanket censorship".

>
> Both got what they wanted, in the end.


It hasn't ended yet ;)

Cheers,
Lana

-- 
Cheers! Lana

Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build
bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce
bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.
-- Rick Cook

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