Creative Is Not A Department

Australia’s new government moves to censor the internet January 4, 2008

This has been heavily discussed over the blogosphere over the last few days, but it is worth making sure it receives a necessary amount if the right attention.

In an alarming and disappointing move for a party that swept to power on the popular assessment that the incumbent government had “lost touch”, the Rudd Government has announced its intention to censor internet content available to Australians.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is a former diplomat to China and speaks fluent Mandarin which I personally think is a great thing for a modern Australian Prime Minister. But a move like this takes us politically closer to China in the worst possible way. While it will apparently be possible to opt-out of this feature, there is no mention of any additional scrutiny such moves will garner.

Lee Hopkins has more, as do TechCrunch.