LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: Mark Newton <newton@atdot.dotat.org>
  To  : Daniel Callan <dcallan@dataline.net.au>
  Date: Thu, 27 May 1999 14:49:25 +0930 (CST)

Re: Opinions on New Internet Bill (While I am still allowed to

Daniel Callan wrote:

 > >The Govt. also seems to forget that there are products available (ie
 > >netnanny) that can prevent kids from viewing particular sites ( if properly
 > >set up).  I think this government wants control of anything they don't
 > >understand!!

They do understand, they just (a) lie and (b) don't care.

 > Personally, I think if all the people in the world really cared
 > about stopping kidy-porn,snuff,etc content, they would get off their
 > arses and form an international organisation to hunt the offenders
 > down and not just ignore/block them and hope they'll go away.

Firstly, there's no such thing as snuff films.  Any politician who
claims they're a problem is only showing his own ignorance.
(See http://www.snopes.com/movies/other/snuff.htm for the research).
There has also never been a credible case of harm coming to anyone
anywhere in the world as a result of a "bomb recipe" discovered on the
Internet.

 > If it became an INTERNATIONAL law/agreement, then there would
 > be a whole lot less "oh but that's within THEIR juristriction"
 > crap and they would have to hide in the few nations left that
 > bauk extraditions and such. They currently use the internationalism
 > of the Internet for safety from prosecution. So let's turn it against 
 > them by making it the same law wherever they are.

Secondly, this has already happened.  There is nowhere in the world
where kiddyporn is tolerated.  Police have been cooperating internationally
on this for years before the internet even existed, and ISPs worldwide
remove it where they find it.  There have been several successful 
prosecutions in Australia for distributing child pornography on the
net, which just goes to show that existing laws were working.

It is a fallacy to say the Internet is unregulated, and the fallacy
is generally only promulgated by those who have a vested interest
in increasing the regulation.  Restrictions on banned erotica, terrorism,
and incitements to violence have always been illegal in all media, including
the Internet.

 > I know it sounds utopian and inpractical but how practical is
 > 5 million line refuse list?? ;-)

We await the ABA's explanation.

   - mark

--------------------------------------------------------------------
I tried an internal modem,                    newton@atdot.dotat.org
     but it hurt when I walked.                          Mark Newton
----- Voice: +61-4-1620-2223 ------------- Fax: +61-8-82231777 -----

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