Australian Gambling Foe Rejects Online Casino Censorship
Despite being a leader of Australia's anti-gambling movement, Senator Nick Xenophon withdrew his support for a nationwide Internet filter to block online casinos, pornography, and other "unwanted materials." Xenophon released a statement Thursday saying, "'The more evidence that's come out, the more questions there are on this (Internet filtering).The censorship plan involved two tiers, one voluntary and one mandatory. The mandatory level would block Internet gambling sites and casinos.
But technical advisers told government officials that the block would be ineffective and problematic. If enacted, it was expected that the filtering would slow Internet speeds by as much as eighty percent, miss sites meant to be banned and block legitimate sites, and fail to deal with peer-to-peer transfers.
Senator Stephen Conroy has continued to advance the plan, despite the testimony of experts. But opinions in Australia have fortified against the censorship proposal, as ninety percent of voters are against it.
Many objections came from observers worried that beginning censorship would lead to a slippery slope, and it already has. Conroy has expanded the goal from the original of blocking child pornography to including sites with depictions of drug use, crime, sex, violence and an amorphous category including "revolting and abhorrent phenomena that offend against the standards of morality."
Last week Conroy added an anti-abortion site to the list. Xenophon, while an ardent foe of gambling, found the technical difficulties, philosophical questions, and public resistance of the proposed censorship more than he could stomach.
