I hate personal attacks, always will, always have. And yet sometimes, when you’re attacked you have to fire back. In the case of Australia’s favorite Censorship loon Deborah Robinson, that’s pretty much what happen. A week ago I’d never even heard of her site, let alone met her, but she decided to make it personal, and I responded.

On some levels I wish I hadn’t. She obviously craves attention, but as I mentioned earlier sometimes you just have to respond. I wrote an initial post and thought that was the end of it until she came back for more, and more, and more. She then started quoting hate loving groups such as the Australian Family Association under the context that they represented the Australian Family. OMFG is all I could say.

Deborah Robinson contacted me and asked for a cease fire, she was supposedly upset that OMG someone would fire back at her insane rantings. I’m not an unreasonable bloke, and given that I hate playing the man and not the ball, I agreed. But apparently Deborah Robinson’s word is as shit as her views, because she has now broken our agreement by labeling me, and those who believe in free speech as the “lunatic fringe.” She claimed via email that it wasn’t aimed at me, but as a member of those who would fight to defend free speech in a democratic country it included me, and many of you reading this took offense as I did via Twitter.

As far as I’m concerned, go hard, go good. Loons like Deborah Robinson should have no place in our country. In believing in free speech I defend her right to exercise that, but only to the point where she argues that I shouldn’t have that right as well. It’s the ultimate challenge for anyone who believes in free speech, but it is one that should be expressed in strong words against those who would deny our freedoms.

One last word. Deborah played the Jewish card on me when it came to her support (via posting on her blog) of groups like the AFA who join street rallies in Australia with proto-nazi groups. Deborah: If Nazi Germany had free speech, they may well have known what was happening, and the holocaust may never have happened. Censorship is the favorite tool of any totalitarian regime, don’t let it happen in Australia.

Everybody’s favorite censorship loon Deborah Robinson has posted that “Families” support the Great Firewall of Australia, but this is where it becomes fun, because by Families she means the Australian Family Association.

The Australian Family Association is a body which has its roots in B. A. Santamaria’s Nation Civic Council, and its beliefs include homophobia, discrimination and naturally broad scale hard core nanny-state censorship.

Senator Brian Greig in 2002:

My long experience of the Australian Family Association?¢‚Ǩ‚Äùthe AFA?¢‚Ǩ‚Äùis that they are a hate group. They promote some of the most disgraceful and shocking vilifying materials that I have experienced and seen in this country.

Beware of the God:

The Australian Family Association….lobbies against feminism, recognition of same-sex relationships and adoption rights, and in favour of extensive film and television censorship.

Discrimination? Yep, read WA AFA President John Barich in Senate papers here arguing that discrimination should not be illegal.

Gays are one of the AFA’s pet hates (via unbelief.org)
“How is it that a small and ignored minority [i.e. gays] has become the ‘flavour of the month’? How is it that a lifestyle that has been universally condemned throughout most of history has now become chic and cool? How is it that societies that used to put the common good ahead of the desires of individuals now cater to every noisy minority group?” (Bill Muehlenberg, National Secretary, AFA, The State of the Culture Wars, Salt Shakers Journal, February 2001, 3)

So what is it Deborah? should we ban the gays and feminists and singles as well? How could you as a woman seriously support a group that is against a womans right to choose? Strange bedfellows my dear, but we live in strange times. Hey, the Nazi’s probably support your position as well, will you be quoting them next?

Maybe Santa’s children did finally take over the Labor Party once and for all.

I’m stoked. On The Pod has been nominated for an award at the Performancing Blog Awards up against Jason Calacanis none the less. Vote here, and thanks to those who tune in, I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I enjoy recording them. There was some really unique stories and people in 2007, and hopefully there will be many more to come this year.

I’m not American, and if I was I’d suggest that Ron Paul would be where my vote might go (guns aside…I don’t get gun ownership, never have, never will), but having watched the following tonight I cant help but think that an Obama victory would be a good thing for us all, the world and the United States included. Video as follows; others have made the JFK comparisons, I think it’s a fair call. Wow on the speech side, the whole thing was unscripted. As I noted to Chris Baskind on Twitter, I winced at the “my story is unique to America” line because it’s not, it could be Australia as well, but that aside there is little doubt that this guy is a master orator.

On the positive side:

A new On The Pod, today’s guest John Johnston aka @jjprojects from Twitter. If you haven’t visited lately link here.

We also resurrected the 2Web Crew Podcast today, one hour of Web 2.0 talk with Cameron Reilly, Laurael Papworth, Bronwen Clune and myself. The fun thing was that we streamed it live on Ustream. Had about 25 people joining in via chat which added a new dimension to podcasting. Listen here.

On the Negative Side:

The Australian Government suggested today that believing in freedom of speech online is on the same level as kiddie porn. WTF!

The Oz has some great coverage here and here. Be it two days late, but better late than ever.

Some choice quotes:

A seething Dr Roger Clarke, chair of the Australian Privacy Foundation, bluntly described the proposal as “stupid and inappropriate”.

He said not only was it unworkable, but it was a sinister blow to an individual’s rights to use the internet without censorship.

“Not only will it not work, it is quite dangerous to let the Government censor the net and take control out of the hands of parents,” Clarke said.

“It is an inappropriate thing for them to be doing. Mr Conroy is like a schoolmaster playing god with the Australian population, all because of the dominance of a moral minority.”

and

“Labor makes no apologies to those that argue that any regulation on the internet is like going down the Chinese road,” Conroy said.

“If people equate freedom of speech with watching child pornography, then the Rudd Labor Government is going to disagree.”

and

One problem for the Government is that blocking child porn may unintentionally block acceptable sites.

The history of the internet is full of such examples; one blogger found that, due to spamware set to block ads for sex drug Cialis, he was unable to publish the word “socialist”.

and

A 2005 pilot study carried out by the former Howard government found a clean feed approach could cut down speed of accessing the internet by between 18 to 78 per cent depending on what was being blocked.

Sad, sad times for democracy and freedom in Australia. The question is what can we do to stop it? can we stop it, or is it too late? One of the memes on Twitter today is how they’ll implement it. Most are saying by act of Parliament, but I suspect they can do it via ACMA and regulation. If so we’re screwed already.

My write up at TechCrunch.

I knew it was coming, but I’m still shocked to see them officially announce it. A little of what I wrote last time still sits very true this very, very dark day in the history of freedom in Australia:

first they blocked the porn sites, and no one said a thing,

next it was the dissenters, and still no one said a thing.

Next it was bloggers, and although I was one of them I said nothing.

Then they blocked me.