I'm just sending away today for my federal police file and saw this... Govt 'trying to prevent scrutiny of Net censorship laws' July 24 2002 The Federal Government is moving to prevent scrutiny of its Internet censorship laws which have been a dismal failure, according to the Australian Democrats. In a media release, Australian Democrats IT spokesperson, Senator Brian Greig, said these changes would enable any government department to block legitimate public access to records simply by saying the records contained offensive material. "Currently, the Broadcast Services Act allows the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) to order websites to be banned under a very broad definition, but so far, its excesses have been monitored and curtailed by online civil liberties organisations such as Electronic Frontiers Australia," Senator Greig said. "To date, this has been done through the legitimate use of the FOI Act. However, the Government's proposed changes to the FOI laws mean the ABA will be able to hide behind the Act in all its decisions and be protected from genuine public scrutiny". "This knee jerk reaction from the Government is a direct response to probing questions from the Australian Democrats and the Electronic Frontiers Australia into the workings of the ABA," Senator Greig said. "Back in 1999 changes to the Broadcasting Services Act forcing the ABA to apply unworkable censorship laws to Internet were criticised by the Australian Democrats. "The application of those unworkable laws was so embarrassing to the Government, it now sees the need to introduce these changes to the FOI legislation." FROM http://smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/24/1027332394529.html