Sydney Anti-filter meeting Report back

Meeting notes.

This is a report from the Sydney Anti-Filter Coalition that took place on Sunday the 31st of January 2010.

Arguments against the filter:

*HTTPS threats to E Commerce Report here.

Essentially deep packet inspection of HTTPS connections breaks the encryption of the transaction, enabling ISPs and ACMA to access passwords, bank details etc. This is a serious threat to E Commerce. This was the report I mentioned in the meeting yesterday, it needs to be checked out by IT people, but it seems to be a legitimate concern.

*Euthanasia sites have already been on the ACMA blacklist, yet according to some statistics 75% of Australians are in favour of euthanasia. Thhis is already threatening free debate of political issues that are important to the Australian public. This flies oin the face of Minister Conroys claims that it is only filtering 'the worst of the worst'.

* Sites promoting safe use of drugs will be blocked. In terms of harm minimisation, access to accurate information is vital if people are going to choose to use drugs. This also harms the ability of health proffessionals to research drug use academically.

*The filter is so ineffective that Telstra didnt even bother to test circumvention methods because people would obviously be able to get around it easily. What is the point of paying for something that is that ineffective?

*It gives the impression that something is being done to make children safe. Its ineffectiveness coupled with the appearance of safety will give parents a false sense of security. Nothing is a substitute for parental supervision.

Activities

*Have small teams of people going around, one with a gag and if possible, a Tshirt with something advertising the campaign (thinking like the URL to nocleanfeed for eg), the other person, dressed normaly handing out info about the filter.

This would be a useful action for a day in the city, having the participants converge on a location and meet up. Also be a good media activity as it has a visual impact.

*Mail your local parliamentarians about your concerns.

*Pressure the Liberal Party to oppose it in the Senate.

*Phone talkback radio... especially Alan Jones types in Sydney, taking an angle of it not being effective and a waste of taxpayers money.

This is by no means everything we discussed, anyone who wants to add their 2 cents do so below.