Internet Fascism: Australia To Blacklist 10,000 Websites

We have all heard of extreme internet censorship in countries such as China, but many of us thought that it would never happen in the western world. After all, who would ever imagine that we would see fascist internet censorship in the "free world"?

Well, the reality is that it has happened and it is happening.

Australia's new mandatory internet filter is being prepared to block 10,000 websites as part of a new effort to blacklist websites that contain "unwanted content".

1300 websites have already been identified as objectionable by the Australian Communications and Media Authority and have been placed on the blacklist.

So now people in Australia will not be able to go anywhere on the internet that they want to go. Now they will only be able to see the websites that the government allows them to see.

Perhaps you don't live in Australia, and you figure that since it doesn't affect you that you don't have anything to worry about. But what you do not understand is that these fascist police state measures always spread like the plague once they have been accepted in one major country in the western world.

Already we are seeing major restrictions on internet usage beginning to pop up in the United States and Canada.

On November 1st, AT&T, the largest U.S. Internet provider, began testing limits that would curb internet usage for customers whose video and music downloads are flooding their network.

Once one or two large internet providers get away with putting a cap on internet use all of the other providers will follow very quickly. Now that Comcast has announced a hard cap on internet use, it is only a matter of time until even more internet providers follow suit.

Canada's new internet subscription model is even more restrictive. What some internet providers in Canada are getting ready to do is to provide internet service on a subscription model similar to how cable television service is provided. In other words, your "package" will include 400 or 500 of the top websites, and if you want more than that you will have to pay for it:

http://realitycheck.typepad.com/commentary_news/2008/07/death-of-free-internet-is-imminent--canada-will-be-test-case.html

The truth is that there has never been a greater information tool than the internet in the history of the world. The free flow of information that has resulted has given a lot of power to the people of the world. Many governments around the world, including the Western establishment, do not like this at all. Increased censorship and other types of "internet reform" are being introduced in order to curtail our freedom of speech to a more "acceptable" level.

Large corporate media does not have a problem with this. Giant media companies are sick and tired of giving away their media for free. Huge newspapers are going broke, movie companies are losing revenue, news organizations have lost control over the flow of information and the "small guy" is finding a way to carve out a bigger piece of the pie. Giant media organizations desperately want their power and control back. Restrictions on the internet will give THEM more control.

Most people in modern society are sheep, and they will pay whatever someone tells them to pay, and they will passively accept whatever controls and restrictions are put on them without even a whimper.

Internet censorship is here, and most people probably won't even wake up enough to notice.