After a storm of protest from everyone from civil libertarians to the U.S. government, Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has folded like a cheap suit on his controversial plans to censor the internet. While the plan was ostensibly designed to combat child pornography, it soon grew into a sort of digital driftnet, encompassing all manner of “inappropriate content”, including online gambling. As the late great Frank Zappa pointed out to a U.S. congressional hearing seeking to ban music “certain Christians don’t like”, their reaction was akin to “treating dandruff by decapitation.” Rudd is promising that pulling the issue off the table is only a temporary retreat, but for the moment, it’s a victory for digital freedoms and common bloody sense. Read more.
Australia rethinks plan to ‘treat dandruff by decapitation’
