Internet Censorship

There have been many recent contributions to the discussion on internet censorship. Radio National's Life Matters on 29 January included a segment on the topic, featuring Mark Newton, a network engineer, and Jim Wallace, Managing Director of the Australian Christian Lobby. Both have written on the subject, and their thoughts are linked from the Life Matters site.

There is an annotated and visual version of the broadcast here, on Somebody Think of the Children, together with a summary of recent coverage here. And by far the most extensive coverage of the whole issue is provided by Irene Graham on the Libertus site here.

Senator Stephen Conroy opened the Information Online conference on 20 January, and his presentation is available on YouTube. Senator Conroy devoted a significant part of his opening to the issue of internet censorship, presenting the Government's point of view on the matter. We are grateful to Senator Conroy for taking time from his busy schedule to open the conference, and to express his appreciation for the work of ALIA.

In closing the conference on 22 january, I said this "ALIA, like other library associations, has clear and strong policies which support the right of access to the world’s information, the free flow of information, freedom to read, and so on. We are opposed to censorship and we are very skeptical about proposals for new and innovative censorship, such as filtering the internet. [applause] Filtering is not just a technical issue, and not just about political content.

Twelve months ago we issued a statement, Ten Questions about Internet Censorship. None of our questions have been answered. We will ask them again – watch the ALIA blog."