Julian Assange's Wikileaks has brought the US far right out of the woodwork again, where they have been hibernating since President Bush's days. One, Marc Thiessen, seems to be suggesting Assange should be kidnapped and renditioned by the US for revealing information. Trouble is, Mr Thiessen has done exactly the same thing himself, and boasts about it.

CLA works with advanced and honours students on topics of mutual interest, where the student gains credits for 'internship' programs or honours studies, and CLA benefits from excellent research papers which help to shape a current or future dilemma. See if one of these research ideas interests you.

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The Gillard/Conroy connection has closed off debate on internet censorship by releasing, under FOI, an secret industry consultation document with more than 90% blacked out. The reason for the blackout: fear of "premature unnecessary debate".   Read more, watch the video »...

There's a gale of fresh thought sweeping the UK after its recent election...and Her Majesty's Government is leading the way by launching, on 1 July 2010, a new website which asks British people for ideas on how to restore their civil liberties! When will Australia get a similar website here?

Cyber-safety comes down to trusting parents to choose for themselves how much educating and monitoring is right for individual children in relation to web browsing (and bullying and other youth concerns), CLA says. The Australian Government's role is to help parents make a free choice, not to act as control freaks over parents' decision-making role and responsibility. Read submission »...

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's internet filter will be bad for Australia because it imposes censorship. But there could also be technical, commercial and cultural reasons - not yet examined - why the proposed filter might limit opportunities and increase costs. Here Ben McGinnes analyses some dark paths down which the filter could lead us.
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Tasmania still has anti-freedom-to-blog laws that South Australia this month canned before the 20 March 2010 elections expected in both states. In Tassie, you can be fined $12,000 AND sent to jail for three months for not putting your name and address at the bottom of election comment online. CLA today called for Tasmania also to abandon the repressive legislation.

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Ideological but illogical, inefficient and expensive...words that sum up how the Australian Government buys in its legal expertise, Ernst Willheim says in analysing the recently-released Legal Services Procurement Report. The report has some excellent recommendations, he says, but it should propose further unwinding of the current "unsatisfactory arrangements".

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Senator Kate Lundy (ALP, ACT), the most enlightened backbencher in federal parliament on IT matters, proposes 'opt out' options for all internet subscribers. Now, if only her party - particularly Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy - would listen. Read more » ...
Caption: CLA President Dr Kristine Klugman and Senator Kate Lundy discuss internet censorship.

Australia looks likely to get a new form of major investigation - the Official Inquiry - as a second tier to the existing Royal Commission system, after the Australian Law Reform Commission tabled its report No 111, 'Making Inquiries'. The ALRC has made other recommendations that would make the inquiry process more open, and oblige the government to respond in a timely manner to inquiry recommendations.

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Updated: Michael Atkinson, the South Australian Attorney General noted for quaint ways, is at it again: a new law means you must attach your name/details to any letter or blog comment once the March 2010 SA election is formally called, which is expected imminently. The SA pollies can accept anonymous donations...but citizens can't make anonymous comments on the pollies' performance.

Atkinson backflip: when's the election?

Wed 3 Feb 2010  A-G Atkinson did a backflip

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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton linked the five freedoms of the US Constitution's First Amendment to the need for unfettered global internet access. "The freedom to connect is like the freedom of assembly, only in cyberspace," she said, directly countering the push by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and the Rudd Government to censor (filter) Australia's web access.

Read more »... (Photo: Hillary Clinton on the big screen delivering her internet freedom speech at the Newseum, Washinton).

What if the world's new superpowers - search engines and social websites - decided Australia was no longer worthy of service, and cut us off from the planet? Google is dangling that threat over China. Will Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's internet filtering system, akin to the Chinese censorship model that has Google boiling, put Australia at risk of being isolated from the world.

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At Ben-Gurion Airport, they prevent us from seeing human rights organisations, such as: Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, Peace Now, Michigan Peace Team; they also block "advocacy" groups like: ICAHD (Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions), Refuser Solidarity.

I've never seen any of these websites advocate violence, extremism, racism ... yet they are blocked. "For my own good," so they assert.

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Information within government is the people's information. The starting point for access rights and openness must be that the people are entitled to see and hear everything, with very limited exclusions. Currently, the reverse is true, certainly in WA, says Dr Johan Lidberg.

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