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Activists use Wikipedia to bait blacklist regulator

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Activists use Wikipedia to bait blacklist regulator
By Brett Winterford
Mar 18, 2009 3:20 PM | 5 Comments
Tags: ACMA | internet | censor | filter | Wikipedia | Whirlpool
The Wikipedia page for the Australian Communications and Media Authority holds a link to a site on the authority's blacklist in a further test to the regulator's ability to censor the internet.

Within days, a loose coalition of Australian activists hope to prove that filtering the internet by a blacklist is flawed.

In the middle of last month, an anti-filtering activist who spoke to iTnews on condition of anonymity, made official complaints to ACMA against sites that test the grey areas of the authority's classification guidelines.

One was an anti-abortion site that had pictures of aborted foetuses. The authority added it to its blacklist.

Under the authority's guidelines, a page that links to prohibited content is also considered prohibited. The activists tested the legal boundaries by posting a link to the abortion site in a forum entry on broadband user group site Whirlpool.

The authority served Whirlpool's host, Bulletproof Networks, with a "link deletion notice", threatening the provider with an $11,000 fine if the link was not removed by 6pm the next business day.

In documents seen by iTnews, an article on Wikileaks that lists sites censored by Danish ISPs was this week added to the blacklist.

In an attempt to check the authority's boundaries, activists are linking to these blacklisted sites from legitimate pages in Australia and overseas by big and reputable organisations.

They have linked directly to the anti-abortion page from ACMA's own Wikipedia entry under the "Internet Censorship and Criticism" section.

The activist who spoke to iTnews, a Sydney student, said some Wikipedia users were attempting to remove the link.

At the time of publication, the link still exists.

ACMA is now placed in a sticky situation, the activist said.

"It can't issue a removal order to Whirlpool for linking to an anti-abortion site, but not take equivalent action against Wikipedia," the activist told iTnews.

"If ACMA blacklists their own Wikipedia page, well that says it all doesn't it? If they don't, that is a very, very strong reason to call them hypocrites for making vastly different responses to two sites linking to the very same material."

 
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Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
Comments: 5
The simplest thing to do would to have a Wikipedia admin remove the link then lock the page from further changes
SC Magazine - comments icon Posted by bonez565Apr 25, 2009 2:25 PM
The issue isn't about removing the link from Wikipedia. It's about the ACMA using a flawed blacklist to hide legitimate pages from Australians.
SC Magazine - comments icon Posted by Joseph CellucciApr 26, 2009 6:11 AM
The real issue is the danger of censorship. Once it starts it will only get worse. What next? Do we burn books that have questionable or unpopular content because kids are allowed into libraries unsupervised? Let’s not avoid the other REAL issue of parental responsibility here. Any attempt to derail this hypocritical and fascist system has my support - well done.
SC Magazine - comments icon Posted by michaelMay 13, 2009 10:05 AM
I don't mind a black list as long as it's public and people can challenge and debate what is on it. The idea that a black list can be secret so that sites can be banned without anyone being able to challenge the listing is not acceptable in a free and open society.
SC Magazine - comments icon Posted by Cyrus LesserMay 18, 2009 8:17 PM
Someone put the link as a comment on a liberal party page. if you are going to bait, dont do it in half steps.
SC Magazine - comments icon Posted by trouble makerSep 3, 2009 5:38 PM
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