In light of the prime minsters' statement today that we shouldn't "treat the Internet differently from any form of communications, like films and books and so on", Stephen Control, Minister for the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Eekonomy, revealed plans to bring all electronic communications into line with government policy.
"Following on from the prime minister's reasoning, we are expanding our proposed regime of censorship to encompass filtering of such things as email, blog comments, online chat, online video, online games and in-game conversations, Internet phones, the public telephone systems, SMS, Facebook "likes", and Google search results," Mr Control explained.
"In addition, as part of a multi-million dollar project, top engineers at DBCDE say they they are just days away from cracking the so-called 'strong encryption', or SSL, that is used by customers of banking websites, e-shops, and other secure online sites, allowing them examine all online transactions for illegal activity, such as stolen credit card numbers, fraudulent or inflated business claims, or any number of spams and scams coming through the Portal."
"We all know that it is only the really IT-savvy users know how to access secure websites such as online shops, and the small number of other sites that start with HTTPS, and so this has not been a high priority for us. Even so, we are making great headway on this," Mr Control said.
"We find it laughable that some believe that the filter should be opt-in. Frankly, if you don't want your phone calls monitored, you shouldn't be using the telephone in the first place," explained Mr Control.
To allow the public more time to send feedback, which so far has been overwhelmingly receptive, the government has postponed the tabling of its legislation to later this year, coinciding with the end of the federal election.
