[xasop]

Our two major parties have colluded in another spectacular violation of voter trust:

http://www.cnet.com/au/news/site-blocking-laws-pass-parliament-as-critics-slam-internet-filter/

The whole thing is a shocking display of blatant corruption, but there's one part in particular that stands out as putting Australia ahead of the pack in our government's disregard for their own people:

The Greens Senator also brought nine amendments to the bill on behalf of the Greens, including moves to refine the definition of "online locations" to not include VPNs, changes to the Copyright Act "to explicitly state that evading geo-blocking does not constitute copyright infringement" as well as the definitions of 'facilitating' copyright to ensure legitimate websites aren't caught in the net. Senator Ludlam also sought to include provisions to allow third-party appeals of website blocks.

These amendments were all voted down.

That is, the big wigs weren't even willing to consider amendments to make the bill less vague and facilitate recourse for blocked websites in their rush to pass it into law. This is a move with one purpose alone; to pander to wealthy copyright holders at the expense of Australian voters.

I hope voters respond to this by giving those who voted against the bill, such as the Greens and the Liberal Democrats, more power in the next election. Otherwise, we're headed for dark times ahead.

[Vindictus]

Pirate Party has a good write up on this. I doubt anyone, besides those already voting for minor party's, will care about these changes. They'll likely be easy enough to get around anyway.

[xasop]

Pirate Party has a good write up on this. I doubt anyone, besides those already voting for minor party's, will care about these changes. They'll likely be easy enough to get around anyway.

It's the obvious disregard for the Australian people by both the government and opposition that grinds my gears, not the material effects of the legislation. This isn't an isolated case, either.

It wouldn't even bother me so much if Bill Shorten had the balls to side with the government on things that will actually help our economy, like some of their spending cuts. He has no vision of his own, spends Question Time taunting Abbott with petty squabbles, and then every time the government introduces a real stinker of a bill, he keels over and votes for it.

Worst opposition ever.

[Vindictus]

The irony.

[Vindictus]

People have suggested changing your DNS in order to get around the filter, but the government are yet to determine how it will be done. It will suck to lose iiNet's unmetered bonuses if I switch to, say, Google's DNS servers.