Why is Teachers’ Alliance blacked-out?

Teachers’ Alliance  is spending the 25th-29th of January in black. Why? Because the Federal Government is pushing forward with a plan to force Internet Service Providers to censor the Internet for all Australians. This plan will waste millions of dollars and won’t make anyone safer.

Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/jpc101

1. It won’t protect children: The filter isn’t a “cyber safety” measure to stop kids seeing inappropriate content such as R and X rated websites. It is not even designed to prevent the spread of illegal material where it is most often found (chat rooms, peer-to-peer file sharing).
2. We will all pay for this ineffective solution: Under this policy, ISPs will be forced to charge more for consumer and business broadband. Several hundred thousand dollars has already been spent to test the filter – without considering high-speed services such as the National Broadband Network!
3. A dangerous precedent: We stand to join a small club of countries which impose centralised Internet censorship such as China, Iran and Saudi Arabia. The secret blacklist may be limited to “Refused Classification” content for now, but what might a future Australian Government choose to block?

Read more about it, and what you can do at http://www.internetblackout.com.au/ They have some great tools to help you take action like contacting your local MP, blacking out your profile or website, and a very special Australia Day party. Maybe your sub-branch could meet in the first week of school and pass a motion condemning internet censorship. If you do, please tell us about it in the comments or our forums!