[plug] censorship in australia

[Garth Atkinson]

Bret Busby wrote:
> 
> Garth Atkinson wrote:
> >
> > Bret Busby wrote:
> > >
> > > Buddrige, David wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Slashdot have a link to an article about how the government proposes
> >  > >From newswire.com (URL at end of article
> > >
> > > 30/08/99 19:23
> > >
> > >   IIA inches closer to Net policy
> > >   Roulla Yiacoumi
> > >
> > >   ISPs should not engage in universal blocking of content deemed
> > >   This article is located at
> > > ..........................................
> >
> > Yeah, very good, but this is the plug (Perth Linux Users Group) mailing
> > list. Lets try and keep it that way. Im sure there are
> > newsgroups/mailing list dedicated to censorship issues....
> >
> > Garth
> 
> This is an issue that affects everyone on the mailing list, and a number of
> people on the mailing list are ISP's.

There are thousands of issues that affect everyone on this mailing list.
That doesnt mean you should post these issues to this mailing list. Most
(?) ISP's are members of the IIA and will receive far more detailed
information concerning censorship issues than the general public.

> 
> Also, there are issues here, such as whether these "screening programs" are
> going to be functional on Linux, whether they are going to be functional at all,
> how they will affect a user's download speeds, system performance, system
> stability, system security, etc.
> 

You didnt mention any of these issues in your first post!!! You inserted
in the body of your email a three page report from newswire (?). Why not
just insert the link to the report?

> Given that the feral government has apparently approved legislation to allow, or
> otherwise allowed, the government "security" (or insecurity!) organisations to
> breach computer security, by covertly entering a user's computer, and given that
> the USA governments are on the verge of allowing software companies to remotely
> disable software, the issue is one that is probably quite appropriate for the
> mailing list. How do we know, and what assurances do we have, that the
> "screening software" will not be so used to breach a computer's security?
> 

You didnt mention any of these issues in your first post!!!

> Do you know, Garth, what the effects of the issue will be on the aspects of
> Linux systems, as mentioned above? Do you know to what degree the applications
> will interfere with, or disable a Linux box, or an Apache web server, or the
> Linux mail applications, or other applications on a Linux box? Do you know
> whether the screening programs will interfere with ipchains and other
> firewalling and gateway software? Can you guarantee that what you believe about
> these issues is absolutely correct?
> 

Effect 1). Increase in unwanted email to Linux user groups.
Effect 2). Hysterical question raising.

> If not, then, how can you say that it is not an appropriate issue to be
> discussed on the mailing list?
> 
> All kinds of considerations arise, which relate to issues previously raised on
> the mailing list; system stability, system security, system performance, mail
> applications, proxies, web servers, etc.
> 

Gee its pretty complicated. Is there a better place to post these
questions?

> But then, I suppose, depending on a person's philosophy, none of those issues
> are pure Linux kernel issues, and therefore, perhaps none of those topics should
> be raised on the mailing list, either.
> 

A person's philosophy has nothing to do with - none of your issues are
pure kernel issues.
This mailing list is not dedicated to 'pure kernel issues' though.

BTW your second post was much more deserving of this mailing list than
your first, but you would get more mileage from newsgroups dedicated to
these issues.

Garth

> Bret Busby
> .......................