Law to take on internet racism – theage.com.au

Law to take on internet racism

JOSH GORDON

The Sunday Age – February 21, 2010

LAWS to tackle racism on the internet are set to be beefed up.

Authorities warn they are often powerless to act against online content, which is responsible for almost one in five racial vilification complaints.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland has ordered the Australian Human Rights Commission to conduct a sweeping review of “arrangements for dealing with racist material on the internet”.

“While freedom of expression is one of the most fundamental rights, this is not at the expense of the rights of people, while using the internet, to be treated with equality, dignity and respect,” Mr McClelland told The Sunday Age…

But civil libertarians are concerned the changes could have unintended consequences, creating a divide and hardening racist attitudes in the community.

Liberty Victoria president Michael Pearce said legislating to police racism on the internet was difficult and the government would be better off putting resources into community education and improving social cohesion.

via Law to take on internet racism -theage.com.au

It looks like the internet filtering proposal of Senator Conway is just a beginning for a sweeping censorship regime for Australia. How long would it be before the politicians argue that national internet filtering would have to be used to filter sites on the basis of national security or anything else that bothers politicians who can set the rules? Could we possibly see the blocking of internet sites that provide women with information about contraception if at some time in the future a politician with a peculiar religious bent becomes Prime Minister and inherits this internet filtering scheme? Only a few days ago the Dalai Lama made a public comment that state blocking of internet content in China was immoral.