Labor party politicians in Australia want to censor the country’s internet using state-mandated content bans that would be maintained by internet service providers:
Under the policy, announced by Opposition Leader Kim Beazley today, international websites would be banned by the Australian Communications and Media Authority if they contained graphic sexual or violent material, rated R or higher.
Link to Herald Sun news report.
And in Guatemala (where the death squads are back in business, and reportedly canoodling with US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld), a similar plan is under way.
The Australian Scottish censorware maker selling the filtering tech to Guatemalan ISPs calls its product a “broadband condom.” Snip:
Yesterday, Bridge announced it had signed a deal with locally based Red Technologies to manufacture the GuardianBox in Guatemala and take licence revenue from all boxes used in the country. The contract requires the filtering system to be refined to recognise offensive Spanish terms. It is expected to be worth around £250,000 a year.
Link to Scotsman news article.
Kathryn Cramer has a related post on her blog here.