(with apologies to Cory Doctorow)
With Senator Conroy’s latest minor, VERY minor, victory in getting the Labor Party to adopt the policy for mandatory internet filtering he has, I believe, signed his own (and possibly his party’s) political death warrant.
In case you haven’t read much about it, and I guess most right-thinking Australians have tried not to, here’s an excerpt from Senator Conroy’s own web page;
The Australian Government today announced further details of its approach to improve safety on the internet for Australian families.
The Government’s approach to cyber-safety has been informed by the Government’s trial of internet filtering and extensive industry feedback about the most appropriate way to improve safety online.
The cyber-safety measures announced today include:
- Introduction of mandatory ISP-level filtering of Refused Classification (RC) –rated content.
- A grants program to encourage the introduction of optional filtering by Internet Service Providers, to block additional content as requested by households.
- An expansion of the cyber-safety outreach program run by the Australian Communications and Media Authority and the Cyber-Safety Online Helpline – to improve education and awareness of online safety.
The Government is also introducing new transparency measures to ensure the public can have absolute confidence in the process for material being placed on the RC Content list.
Let’s examine these first three points in more detail before rending asunder the rest of his fallacious arguments;
1. Introduction of mandatory ISP-level filtering of Refused Classification (RC)–rated content.
While the CLASSIFICATION (PUBLICATIONS, FILMS AND COMPUTER GAMES) ACT 1995 gives the Federal Government certain powers concerning the publication of films and computer games, in that they cannot be legally sold without a classification from this body, nothing in the act as it stands gives the government the right or the power to filter or “classify” what an Australian citizen looks at over the Internet.
My ISP, who shall remain nameless for the moment, has stated on more than one occasion that the Federal Government will have to serve them with a Federal Court Order to install the filter, and will have to bear the cost of such work. Instructions will have to be provided in minute technical detail for their technicians to implement this – to the point of being quite obviously silly. If I’s are not dotted and t’s not crossed, it will be rejected for review and re-submittal. Yes, this is probably a petulant way of addressing it, but if EVERY ISP in Australia did this they’d soon see how futile mandating the filter was.
Their philosophy, which I wholeheartedly agree with is “We sell you an Internet Connection, nothing more. We help you get connected to that and what you do with it (within the bounds of legality) is entirely your own concern.”
2. A grants program to encourage the introduction of optional filtering by Internet Service Providers, to block additional content as requested by households.
This is where it gets interesting and, in all honesty, quite unsurprising. What they are saying here is that the Federal Government will give you money to provide additional filtering that your subscribers request – PROVIDED you block what we tell you to block. Money with strings attached is not a “grant”. I would encourage ALL ISPs in Australia to formally refuse these grants, for the good of their business and their customers.
There are quite simple alternatives, which I shall cover later.
3. An expansion of the cyber-safety outreach program run by the Australian Communications and Media Authority and the Cyber-Safety Online Helpline – to improve education and awareness of online safety.
An “outreach program”, eh ? Does this mean that the AMCA will handle telephone calls and emails from thousands upon thousands of Australian voters when they have Internet problems or questions about websites ? Or will they provide, free to every Australian (but paid for by our TAXES) a glossy brochure that says more about how the Government is “doing the right thing by your children in protecting them…” than actually offering advice ?
And I just BET that anything they produce will be Windows-centric in its’ teachings and approach, leaving out the many thousands of people who run Macintosh OS X and Linux computers, as is their RIGHT.
The Government generally, and Senator Conroy in particular, have probably been swayed by “involvement” from Microsoft (i.e $$$) to only address what they mistakenly consider is the “only” computer operating system out there. Yes it was the first (well, CP/M was actually), but “first” doesn’t equate to “best”.
So what are these alternatives that I mentioned earlier ?
Here are just two of the many available;
Well, they depend on how much technical savvy you have, or more importantly how much you want to LEARN. If you are a typical lazy Internet user (and I mean no disrespect by this), then maybe being spoon-fed your Internet should be an OPTION for you, but certainly not mandatory.
In essence, you are allowing the Government to raise your children – to teach them the difference between right and wrong on the Internet. That is YOUR responsibility as a parent, nobody else !!!
Firstly, you have to understand how the Internet works, and how it finds or “resolves” domain names into IP addresses.
Think of an IP address, those numbers like 10.20.3.22, as the “telephone number” of the server that has the website you want to view. Unless you are Prof. Stephen Hawking, remembering a large quantity of those numbers is impossible, so we have the DNS (Domain Name Service) system, sort of liker an Internet Phonebook.
You enter a web address or URL (Uniform Resource Locater), like www.macinations.net, and your ISP’s DNS server looks up what IP address is assigned to that name – in this case 69.89.27.223. If it can’t find it, it passes your query up the line, and this continues until the address is resolved and the page displayed. If no resolution is found, you get an error page, often called a 404 page after the HTTP error code that means “Page not found”
If we use a publicly-available (and free for personal use) service like OpenDNS.org, this gets around a large portion of the “nasty” sites on the Internet. To use this you merely substitute the OpenDNS.org DNS server IP addresses in place of the ones your ISP uses – currently 208.67.222.222 (primary) and 208.67.220.220 (secondary). With this service, one that I personally have used since its’ inception, you can have zero filtering or filtering that makes the Great Wall of China look like a picket fence. The choice and level of filtering is YOURS.
Here’s some info from their site;
OpenDNS is the leading provider of free security and infrastructure services that make the Internet safer through integrated Web content filtering, anti-phishing and DNS. OpenDNS services enable consumers and network administrators to secure their networks from online threats, reduce costs and enforce Internet-use policies. OpenDNS is used today by millions of users and organizations around the world.
Yes, this service (and others like it) aren’t perfect, and sometimes block sites I’m interested in, but short of running your own DNS server at home (something even *I* would be reluctant to do), is is a good compromise. More importantly it gives YOU the power to DECIDE what needs and does not need to be blocked.
Another alternative is TOR, known as The Onion Router. This is a system of relays, anonymous ones, that allow almost any mandated filtering system to be bypassed, although it comes at a speed penalty. My own 8Mb ADSL connection takes almost a 25% performance hit using this system.
From their page (they explain it better than I could);
Tor is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their privacy and security on the Internet. It also enables software developers to create new communication tools with built-in privacy features. Tor provides the foundation for a range of applications that allow organizations and individuals to share information over public networks without compromising their privacy.
Individuals use Tor to keep websites from tracking them and their family members, or to connect to news sites, instant messaging services, or the like when these are blocked by their local Internet providers. Tor's hidden services let users publish web sites and other services without needing to reveal the location of the site. Individuals also use Tor for socially sensitive communication: chat rooms and web forums for rape and abuse survivors, or people with illnesses.
Journalists use Tor to communicate more safely with whistleblowers and dissidents. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) use Tor to allow their workers to connect to their home website while they're in a foreign country, without notifying everybody nearby that they're working with that organization.
Groups such as Indymedia recommend Tor for safeguarding their members' online privacy and security. Activist groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recommend Tor as a mechanism for maintaining civil liberties online. Corporations use Tor as a safe way to conduct competitive analysis, and to protect sensitive procurement patterns from eavesdroppers. They also use it to replace traditional VPNs, which reveal the exact amount and timing of communication. Which locations have employees working late? Which locations have employees consulting job-hunting websites? Which research divisions are communicating with the company's patent lawyers?
A branch of the U.S. Navy uses Tor for open source intelligence gathering, and one of its teams used Tor while deployed in the Middle East recently. Law enforcement uses Tor for visiting or surveilling web sites without leaving government IP addresses in their web logs, and for security during sting operations.
The variety of people who use Tor is actually part of what makes it so secure. Tor hides you among the other users on the network, so the more populous and diverse the user base for Tor is, the more your anonymity will be protected.
I have friends and colleagues in China, behind the “Great Firewall”, that use TOR daily to view sites and services on the Internet that the Chinese Government has attempted to block.
Remember our Government’s attempt at a “port filter” a few years ago ? Remember what a resounding success that was ?
No filtering system, not matter how it is designed or implemented, is perfect or is any substitute for EDUCATION of our children. Let me give you an example of how this can be handled, from my own family;
Sally, my cute and precocious 4 year old, has her own 12” G4 Apple Powerbook and connects to “her websites” via wifi. Safari and Firefox, being the browsers of choice, are just that – browsers. Nothing special there. HOWEVER, we have her laptop configured in such a way that a list of websites we have vetted is available to her and, should she attempt to visit (accidentally or on purpose) any non-permitted site, she gets a “do you want to request access to this site” message, and an email comes to me. If I approve of the site I can simply have it added to her “approved list”.
Katelyn, her 9 year old sister, also has an Apple Powerbook – in this case my old 17” G4. Same configuration restrictions apply, although not quite so tightly. In Katelyn’s case, email and Instant Messaging are also restricted to addresses I approve of and the same “permission” email gets sent if she wants to communicate with people outside the list.
Both laptops, I hasten to add, are used in the loungeroom only, under parental supervision, and have time restrictions applied (another wonderful feature BUILT-IN to OS X) that will disconnect them at a certain time, or when their aloted computer time has been used up. They have the option to request additional time, via the appropriate dialogue and email system. The only time these computers are used out of my sight is when they are watching DVDs in their bedrooms, and generally I kill their wifi connection remotely when that happens.
As my girls grow, these restrictions will be lessened, to the point where I won’t have to worry about who they email, who they chat with, what sites they view and whether they are using their computer in the bedroom or lounge. And this is because;
I HAVE EDUCATED MY CHILDREN IN INTERNET SAFETY
I did not give Senator Stephen Conroy or the Federal Government permission to raise my children, and never will.
And in spite of the above I still use OpenDNS to protect my family.
“Oh, but I don’t understand all this Internet stuff” and “My kids know more about it than me” are two common arguments I often hear from less technically savvy parents.
That’s a plain cop-out, and you know it. Here are some tips;
- You can LEARN about the Internet, you can LEARN about safe practices for your kids on the Internet, and you can TEACH them what they need to know – you can SUPERVISE them, if you actually CARE about your kids ! While you may never know MORE than them, you can know at least AS MUCH.
- Speak to the Technical Co-Ordinator or Technical Support Officer at your children’s school – I’m sure they could arrange reading material, or advice.
- Get a group of like-minded parents together and request that the school run a class after hours on Basic Internet Safety for parents. Most schools would be more than happy to assist, either with someone running the class or to provide the facilities for an experienced parent to do so.
- Join my “Internet Safety for Concerned Parents” Facebook group (not available yet – email me to be added to the notification list), where I’m happy to answer your questions and/or point you in the right direction.
- ASK QUESTIONS – here preferably, or directly to me if it’s more appropriate.
Above all, don’t be fooled into believing that Windows is the only Operating System out there, or that the Federal Government and Stephen Conroy have your best interests at heart.
If this filter is made mandatory, not only will THEY decide what you can visit, what you can read, and what your children can read, but THEY will be able to track EVERY SINGLE WEBSITE you visit. Will that include your online banking passwords too ?
Who knows….
Part II will be posted over the Christmas period, where I will answer any questions I’ve received, plus go more into detail of how DNS works and how to use it to your advantage.
