Internet censorship in Australia is largely the province of the Federal Government and its laws on Internet censorship are, theoretically, amongst the most restrictive in the Western world. However, the restrictive nature of the laws has been combined with almost complete disinterest in enforcement from the agencies responsible for doing so. Some of the interesting exceptions include an attempt by then NSW Police Minister Michael Costa to shut down Melbourne Indymedia, a case in 2001, involving the US Secret Service that was eventually pleaded out and an attempt by the FBI using the Australian Federal Police to censor a Victorian they alleged was posting threats to the USA. The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional monarchy, a federation and a parliamentary democracy. ... The term Western World or the West can have multiple meanings depending on its context. ...

A collection of both federal and state laws apply, but the most important is the federal legislation which came into effect on January 1, 2000. Under this regime, if a complaint is issued about material "on the Internet" the Australian Communications and Media Authority is empowered to examine the material under the guidelines for film and video. If the material would be classified R or X and the site does not have an adult verification system, or would be refused classification, and is hosted in Australia, the ABA is empowered to issue a "takedown notice" under which the material must be removed from the site. If the site is hosted outside Australia, the site is added to a list of banned sites. This list of banned sites is then added to filtering software, which must be offered to all consumers by their Internet Service Providers. Consumers are not required to install such filtering software. Australian Communications and Media Authority is an Australian government agency whose main roles are to regulate broadcasting, radiocommunications and telecommunications, and to respresent Australian interests in international communications matters. ...

A number (but reputedly very few) takedown notices have been issued to some Australian-hosted websites. According to Electronic Frontiers Australia in at least one documented case, the hosting was merely shifted to a server in the United States, and the DNS records updated so that consumers may never have noticed the change. As far as foreign-hosted content goes, small numbers of complaints have reportedly been issued. Consumer takeup of filtering software has been minimal, and pornography of all kinds remains freely available on the World Wide Web from foreign sites. The Internet outside the World Wide Web also continues mostly unaffected, with Usenet binaries continuing to be hosted locally. However, some Usenet newsgroups are required to be blocked and ISPs in general adhere to this legal requirement. By law ISPs are restricted from naming the Usenet newsgroups they are required to block. Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc. ... The domain name system (DNS) stores and associates many types of information with domain names, but most importantly, it translates domain names (computer hostnames) to IP addresses. ... Usenet (USEr NETwork) is a global, distributed bulletin board system (BBS). ... Usenet (USEr NETwork) is a global, distributed bulletin board system (BBS). ...

Various state governments have laws that theoretically ban the transmission of any material "unsuitable for minors". They have never been enforced, and in the opinion of EFA are completely unenforceable.

Recent actions

Shortly before the 2004 federal election, two political parties issued new policies on Internet censorship. The Australian Labor Party's policy involved voluntary adherence by users. The Pentecostal influenced Family First party released a far stricter policy of mandatory filtering at the internet service provider level. [1](PDF) Legislative elections were held in Australia on 9 October 2004. ... The Australian Labor Party (ALP) is Australias oldest political party. ... The Family First Party is a political party in Australia. ... An Internet service provider (abbr. ...

The Family Association of Australia petitioned the Australian Federal Government in 2004 to further restrict access by children to pornographic material via the Internet. The petition was submitted in December 2004. Opponents of this petition claim that given the outcomes of Internet censorship it is possible that further restrictions on Internet usage will not have outcome desired by this conservative organisation, but will, rather, further restrict freedom of other usages of the Internet. 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Pornography (from Greek πορνογραφια pornographia — literally writing about or drawings of harlots) is the representation of the human body or human sexual behaviour with the goal of sexual arousal, similar to, but (according to some) distinct from, erotica. ... ← - 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in December • 30 Artie Shaw • 29 Julius Axelrod • 28 Jacques Dupuis • 28 Jerry Orbach • 28 Susan Sontag • 26 Reggie White • 26 Sir Angus Ogilvy • 23 P. V. Narasimha Rao • 23 Doug Ault • 19 Renata Tebaldi • 16... Countries where the free flow of information is restricted. ... Conservatism is a political philosophy that usually favors traditional values and strong foreign defense. ...

Tough new copyright laws were passed on December 9, 2004 by the Australian Senate, going even further than the Australian-US FTA. The impact will be felt most heavily on Internet service providers. The Internet Industry Association and EFA are actively opposing these efforts. An Internet service provider (abbr. ... Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc. ...

See also

• Censorship in Australia- The Internet
• Internet censorship
• Censorship
• International Freedom of Expression Exchange

Australia is a federal nation, and responsibility for censorship rests neither wholly with the states, nor wholly with the federal government. ... Countries where the free flow of information is restricted. ... Censorship is the removal of information from the public, or the prevention of circulation of information, where it is desired or felt best by some controlling group or body, that others are not allowed to access the information which is being censored. ... International Freedom of Expression eXchange. ...

External links

• Reference
• Virtual Nation. The History of the Internet In Australia.
• Cyber Rights
• Internet content filters may be bad for one's health
• The Censorware project. Exposing the secrets of censorware since 1997.
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• http://www.efa.org.au/Publish/ispblocking.html
• Address by Senator the Hon. Helen Coonan, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts presented at the National Press Club on 14 June 2006.