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.

Mrs Robinson Threatens To Sue

admin —  January 6, 2008 — 5 Comments

If it’s not enough that the Government may well end up censoring my blog, Australia’s favourite censorship loon Deborah Robinson is now threatening to sue me for libel (here).

As I said in the last post: she is publishing press releases from a group that has a message of hate. At the time of writing she has chosen not to detail exactly which parts of the Australian Family Association’s beliefs she does or doesn’t believe in. It is not for I to suggest that by association she herself is a homophobic bigot, but certainly if I was to start say posting press releases from far-right groups people may come to the conclusion that I might be, by association, a hater as well. It is a natural presumption to make, but again it is not for I to make that presumption nor would I print such an accusation. I’d note: I said she is supporting haters by running their press releases, and as a fact this cannot be regarded a libel.

Funnily enough one of Deborah Robinson’s favourite phrases against those who disagree with her is that they have no credibility. My dear: you wouldn’t know the meaning of the word, and certainly by quoting nutters like the AFA what any credibility you once had was just flushed down the shitter.

BTW: Mom’s Blogging Carnival folks, how do you guys feel about providing links to a site that runs media releases from the AFA, particularly given the AFA is anti womens choice, anti feminism and just full of hate?

Update: she now claims she only supports the AFA on the one issue. So be it, but she’s still got the press release up. Oh, and she threatened to sue again.

Update2: Deborah has now removed the post and has asked privately for a truce. As long as there’s no further volleys back from her side I’ve agree to it. My energy is better directed at the Government anyway. My many, many thanks to those who have offered support with this. It shows that channeled together we might still have a chance of saving free speech 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’ve been discussing on Twitter and elsewhere this week exactly what may be blocked by the Great Firewall of Australia once our nanny-state Government decides to implement it (we’re not sure exactly how yet either, could by via Regulation/ Declaration via ACMA, of by Act of Parliament).

The key is that the Australian Government wants to block anything that is pornography, inappropriate material, illegal and violent, at least those are the words used in the various press reports. The censorship loons and the do-gooders are naturally focused on porn, so lets just take a brief look in that direction.

Naturally we’d be talking about porn sites, because X rated porn is illegal in Australia…except ironically in Canberra. But “porn sites aren’t the only places you can find porn.

Second Life

I’d think Second Life would be high up the ban list of the Australian Government because simply Second Life contains seedier areas that include virtual hard core porn, and perhaps worst beastiality and “age play” as well (mind you, SL would be better off with out the last one…that my friends is beyond sick, and likely illegal as well). The thing is though you cant simply block one part of Second Life and not the other “clean” parts, these aren’t web sites we are talking about, this is an all encompassing virtual world.

There was some talk a while back on SLOZ (now Metaverse Journal) about Telstra hosting its own Second Life servers, and perhaps this is where we might all end up, in our own small version of Second Life that it cut off from the rest of the world.

Skype

Skype can be used as a conduit for porn, at least the over 400k references to Skype Porn on Google would suggest that it might be. The Government cant stop people using Skype for “clean” purposes over porn so it may well get blocked.

Google Groups, Yahoo Groups, Usenet

Definitely a good chance of getting blocked. Usenet in particular is full of porn, from pictures through the videos. Google Groups is part Usenet, and Yahoo Groups have been dirty from the mid 90s onwards.

BitTorrent

There’s porn there, lots of porn. The fact that a lot of file sharing is illegal as well may well push the Government towards banning BitTorrent.

Email?

OK, this is a long shot, but I can still get porn delivered to my inbox, and indeed if I check my spam folder in Gmail now it’s full of porn.

Twitter

Talk dirty to me, face getting blocked

Blogs

Lots of porn on blogs, lots of other blogs that use words such as fuck and cunt that would given them an R rating that would result in them being blocked as well

Google

Google cache offers snapshots of sites, including porn sites, then there’s Google Images for thumbnails as well.

Internet Archive

See Google. The have snapshots of porn sites.

The last few examples may be a long stretch but you’d get the idea. The Government cannot fully block porn and other things it deems we should not be looking at or reading, and yet if it attempts to do so our rights to partake in non-porn activities will be impeded, and that’s even before you consider that our internet speeds could be up to 78% slower due to the firewall itself.

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.

I feel bad about writing a personal attack post, but when someone attacks you, you have some obligation to defend yourself, particularly when it’s soo bad it deserves derision. I defend anyones right to disagree, but I don’t when it comes to their right to suggest that I shouldn’t have the right to disagree, that somehow free speech should be stifled. If there is one thing that should bind us all in free societies, it’s free speech. Whether left, right, green, gay, whatever, we should all have the right to say as we please. Those that suggest otherwise are the enemies of us all.

Deborah Robinson, someone who most of you have never heard of but is probably seeking attention, thinks that the Great Firewall of Australia is a great idea. (link).

Here’s some highlights

One popular blog, TechCrunch went so far as to suggest a conspiracy between our Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd and the Chinese. And what did Duncan Riley from TechCrunch offer as proof of this conspiracy? A satirical video downloaded from YouTube. What an idiot!

The video was for fun, as were the Chinese references…called for I think given the context, but let us digress to the Minister himself Deborah:

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

That’s right Deborah, the Minister himself compares the ALP’s plan to China. Idiot.

then she attacks Scoble

Robert Scoble of Scobleizer said on his blog post, ?¢‚Ǩ?ìI have two children and I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢d rather raise them with freedom of speech than some government deciding what they can and can?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t see, thank you very much.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù I wonder if he would still hold this view if his kids had unrestricted access to porn and violent material offline? I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m sure he wouldn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t want them passing out porn at the supermarket or on the street. So why should it be any different on the world wide web? How many times have we all inadvertently stumbled on something offensive or just unwelcome online? And he says he isn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t worried about his kids on the web.

Deborah, no one is suggesting that. We are simply suggesting that the Government shouldn’t dictate what we should be able to access online, unless of course its your idiotic writings.

What has gotten lost in all this hysteria is the ?¢‚ǨÀúreal?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ objective of introducing a clean feed in Australia and that is to protect our kids from being bombarded by inappropriate material.

Firstly, who dictates what is appropriate and not, and where does it stop, because once it starts, mark my words IT WONT STOP. Now on the other hand, OK, I’m calling child services Deborah because if you have kids (and god help them) you’re obviously letting them view hard core porn because you’re too irresponsible to supervise them, or god forbid block access with NetNanny or similar. Ultimately we can block what we deem inappropriate ourselves, that is our choice in a free society, not that of the Government, unless the act is of course illegal (which with kiddy porn it is…and that’s the important fact here, it’s already illegal).

The problem of unrestricted access to adult material is not unique to this country and I applaud the Australian government for having the guts to clean up the ?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢anything goes on the Internet?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ mentality, which has dominated the world wide web for far too long. After all, we wouldn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t tolerate it offline, so why should we tolerate it on the Internet.

Deborah, again, you’re a Grade A idiot. This isn’t just about porn, despite what the Government is saying. This is about “pornography and inappropriate material” and depending on some reports “illegal and violent” material as well. Lets take a look at the Governments net. Ignore porn for a second (since you seem to be obsessed with it) and look at what else this takes in. For starters anything “illegal” online is anything R rated and above. At the basic level this is porn, but it also includes some types of video games as well, because we don’t have a R rating for those (anything above MA is banned). Virtual worlds that are changing how we do things online such as Second Life have seedy areas, they could well be banned as well, completely and not in part because it’s difficult to filter part of Second Life (if not impossible). Speech: it’s illegal to advocate “hate” speech in some states and under certain circumstances Federally as well; if someone were to question Governments policy relating to Aboriginal people could that be deemed racist, illegal then blocked? Blogs and forums allow for a free and open discourse…if someone started spamming your blog with “dirty words” should you be automatically blocked? Indeed, if I said you’re a fucking idiot enough times this site would be blocked as well, but I’m sure you’d be happy about that.

Here’s a choice quote from todays coverage at the OZ:

There are genuine concerns that the Government – backed by morals groups like Family First – will in time extend the powers outside of their intended target area.

And lets not forget about the economic cost of this as well

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.

Deborah, stop looking at porn online for one minute and consider that free speech online isn’t about porn but defending the right for idiots like you to say your crap without Government censorship. Would you like to live in a world where what you say online could be censored because the Government deems it so? because this is what you are supporting today. As much as I’m tempted to suggest (as I have elsewhere) that you should be censorsed because you are an idiot, I must always defer to the quote wrongly attributed to Voltaire, because despite our differences this is the key to our freedom and democracy in the 21st century

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

Perhaps Deborah, if you had any fairness and belief in freedom you’d extend those words to others as well.

PS: I was joking on Twitter about those twats from the Guardians being Commies. They got it totally wrong anyway; the UK censors child porn only on opt-in feeds, the Australian Government is talking 2 million sites + on an opt out basis. They probably a commies, but hey, lets ban them, that’s your solution, right?

Interesting Day

admin —  January 2, 2008 — Leave a comment

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.

Vale Free Speech Online in Australia

admin —  December 31, 2007 — 6 Comments

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.

Yes, I should be finding serious work to do, but there’s nothing more fun than bastardising something traditional, here’s my effort for 2007

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the Valley
Not a startup was stirring, no deals in back alleys

The business plans were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Sequoia would soon visit there

The founders were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of term sheets danced around in their heads;
At Google, Larry and Sergy met secretly in a loft
2008 is the year they might beat Microsoft.

Out on the Bay there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the cubicle to see what was the matter.
In the reflection on my monitor it flew like a flash,
Opened Google and searched for it, it wasn’t a mash
Yahoo Photos pointed to Flickr page listings
2 girls and a cup, Oh My God, realistic.
When, what in my Flock sidebar should appear,
But a company founder, and fifteen billion tiny reindeer,
With a youthful appearance, so wanting to be heard,
I knew at that moment it was Mark Zuckerberg

More rapid than Everest upward valuations they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and taunted his competitors by name;
Oh MySpace! oh Orkut!, Bebo! and Ning!
I will crush you all, and soon you will sing
That I have more press mentions than you, and I am the king!

As the children in the Valley suffered from Facebook App spam
another company could not even afford ham
Technorati struggled through yet another year
Running out of money can be known to cause fear.

And then, whilst surfing Porn 2.0, I read a new Tweet
Sequoia wanted to party and meet
As I drew in a breath, the money was found
Down the chimney Roelof Botha came with a bound.
A sack full of terms sheets he surely did carry
And mine was all signed and we were ready to marry

Like any good marriage it came with a cost,
“Go To China” he said, but don’t get lost.
But Botha, I said, I’m American and I’m funny
Foreign laws I don’t like, for love nor money
He turned to me, smiled, and said these three names
Google, Yahoo, Cisco are a few of our games
Secretly subverting the Chinese is another,
we create wealth, then surely the Chinese will bother;
about democracy, freedom, and Chelsea Clinton’s mother

in a graveyard near Facebook a ghost did stir
Ask Jeeves said the butler, and this is what’s more

“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good startup”