Aussies Protest Net Filters

Computerworld Australia says Internet “blacklist” measures are highly unpopular:

Opponents to the Australian government’s Internet content-filtering scheme will take to the streets in a series of protests planned in the country’s capital cities.

The protests, organized by members from activist groups including the Electronic Freedom Project and Digital Liberty Coalition, will be held at Sydney’s Town Hall, Brisbane Square, Melbourne’s State Library, Adelaide Parliament House, Perth’s Stirling Gardens and Tasmania’s Parliament Lawns.

Activists, rebels…what else can they call the people who oppose this network control? Imagine if we could call users rebels when they argued over a firewall rule.

Anyway, the crazy thing about the rule is how low the standards were set for approval. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is supposed to maintain a list, but even with a perfect list the technology is likely to never push above “a 94% accuracy rating, would incorrectly block up to 10,000 Web pages out of 1 million”. Have supporters of the measure really done their risk/reward calculations properly?

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