Debate over ISP-level internet filtering is continuing as we head towards the August 21 federal election, and in the interests of safeguarding children from the ‘worst of the worst’ material on the internet it is important that we build on the community’s understanding of the need for this initiative.
In that vein, ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace has written an opinion piece entitled ‘Internet filter puts the common good first’ which has appeared in today’s National Times (Fairfax online opinion).
In the piece he makes the point that the arguments against ISP filtering don’t have substance and that this is a policy which “puts the welfare of children and the common good above the “free for all” desires of the few.” Please click here to read the article.
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I can’t follow the technical arguments about the feasibility of an ISP. But I can easily follow the comments that Jim’s article attracted. Dirty tricks – if these people really think that only pedophiles (all of whom are priests apparently) object to the sort of thing that an ISP aims to block, even a political party’s media spin department wouldn’t hire them. They think ‘moralism’ is a deadly sin – unless of course they feel like moralising about some pet theory of theirs like the wisdom or otherwise of the Iraq war – notice how the second commentator pontificated on this complex issue with high and mighty certitude. This sort of teenager-level screeching about ‘freedom’ – especially theirs – is like a ghastly flashback to the 60s and 70s when it was de rigeur to carry on in this mode.