Embarrassing Leak of Banned Website List In Australia -03-21-09

March 21 - The list is supposed to have been compiled by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and apparently targets sites that publish child pornography. However, a large part of the 2,395 sites on the list includes private companies, YouTube videos, a travel operator, online dating sites and even a dentist. In addition, 13 online poker sites are on the list, including Full Tilt, Poker Stars and Absolute Poker. There are also some online gambling portals on the list.

The Australian government has come under a lot of criticism over the proposed legislation from ISP's and associated industry bodies.

In a somewhat predictable response, Senator Stephen Conroy, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy denied that authenticity of the list and reportedly even threatened Wikileaks with legal action.

In a post on his website, Conroy denied that the leaked list is authentic. "There are some common URLs to those on the ACMA blacklist. However, ACMA advises that there are URLs on the published list that have never been the subject of a complaint or ACMA investigation, and have never been included on the ACMA blacklist."

He went on to label the leaking of the list as irresponsible and that it undermines efforts to safeguard children.

But the plot thickens. As a result of the leak, Wikileaks themselves were added to the list, and can now be fined 11,000 Australian dollars ($7,424.40) a day.

Electronic Frontiers Australia said in a statement that the leaking of the blacklist is a "wake-up call for Australians concerned about secret censorship." Their Vice Hair, Colin Jacobs, said that the leaked list confirmed their worst fears.

"Now that we have seen the list, it is clearly not the perfect weapon against child-abuse it has been made out to be," Jacobs added. "Many of the sites clearly contain only run-of-the-mill adult material, poker tips, or nothing controversial at all. Even if some of these sites may have been defaced at the time they were added to the list, how would the operators get their sites removed if the list is secret and no appeal is possible?"

Send To A Friend

Add This Gambling Article To:
Del.icio.us	Digg	Google	Spurl
Furl	Simpy	Y! MyWeb	OnlyWire
Redit	StumbleUpon	Technocrati