*** Death Of The Internet In Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S.***
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2009/12/15/like-china-iran-australia-filter-internet/
Now the UK has jumped onboard such with its version of draconian
sensorship laws; Unprecedented Censorship Bill Passes in UK, i.e. The
"Digital Economy Bill" was rushed through parliament in a late night
session last night after a third reading.
In the wake of the announcement of a general election on May 6, the
government has taken advantage of what is known as the "wash-up
process", allowing the legislative process to be speeded up between an
election being called and Parliament being dissolved.
Only a pitiful handful of MPs were present to debate the bill, which
was fully supported by the "opposition" Conservative party, and passed
by 189 votes to 47 keeping the majority of its original clauses
intact.
Similar efforts to place restrictions on the internet are unfolding in
Australia where the government is implementing a mandatory and
wide-ranging internet filter modeled on that of the Communist Chinese
government.
Australian communication minister Stephen Conroy said the government
would be the final arbiter on what sites would be blacklisted under
"refused classification."
The official justification for the filter is to block child
pornography, however, as the watchdog group Electronic Frontiers
Australia has pointed out, the law will also allow the government to
block any website it desires while the pornographers can relatively
easily skirt around the filters.
Earlier this year, the Wikileaks website published a leaked secret
list of sites slated to be blocked by Australia's state-sponsored
parental filter.
The list revealed that blacklisted sites included "online poker sites,
YouTube links, regular gay and straight porn sites, Wikipedia entries,
euthanasia sites, websites of fringe religions such as satanic sites,
fetish sites, Christian sites, the website of a tour operator and even
a Queensland dentist."
The filter will even block web-based games deemed unsuitable for
anyone over the age of fifteen, according to the Australian
government.
In neighbouring New Zealand, the government has quietly implemented
an internet filter and is urging the leading ISPs in the country to adopt
the measure, in a move that would give the authorities the power to
restrict whichever websites they see fit.
The New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) reportedly turned
on the internet filter on February 1st without making any announcement,
prompting critics to charge that the measure had been activated in stealth.
The broad attack on the free internet is not only restricted to the
UK, New Zealand and Australia.
The European Union, Finland, Denmark, Germany and other countries in
Europe have all proposed blocking or limiting access to the internet
and using filters like those used in Iran, Syria, China, and other
repressive regimes.
In 2008 in the U.S., The Motion Picture Association of America asked
president Obama to introduce laws that would allow the federal
government to effectively spy on the entire Internet, establishing a
system where being accused of copyright infringement would result in
loss of your Internet connection.
In 2009 the Cybersecurity Act was introduced, proposing to allow the
federal government to tap into any digital aspect of every citizen's
information without a warrant. Banking, business and medical records
would be wide open to inspection, as well as personal instant message
and e mail communications.
The legislation, introduced by Senators John Rockefeller (D-W. Va.)
and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) in April, gives the president the ability
to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" and shut down or limit Internet
traffic in any "critical" information network "in the interest of
national security." The bill does not define a critical information
network or a cybersecurity emergency. That definition would be left
to the president, according to a Mother Jones report.
During a hearing on the bill, Senator John Rockefeller betrayed the
true intent behind the legislation when he stated, "Would it have been
better if we'd have never invented the Internet," while fearmongering
about cyber attacks on the U.S. government and how the country could
be shut down.
