Stallman slams filter as ‘human rights attack’
AUSTRALIA–Labor’s controversial mandatory internet filter project is an attack on human rights, and Australians should beware of the project and other tyrannical government policies, free software luminary Richard Stallman has said in an interview ahead of a visit to Australia in October.
“Censorship is an attack on human rights. Australia already practices Internet censorship: it prohibits links to forbidden sites. Rudd was proposing to make this even worse by blocking access to those sites. If that plan is rejected, the existing censorship still stands between Australians and liberty,” Stallman said.
“The government also plans surveillance of Australians’ internet use, and is keeping the details secret to ‘avoid premature debate’,” he said.
“Has Australia taken China as its model?” he wondered. “Australians should stop being distracted by the minor issue of refugees that come from Asia, and start focusing on the real threat: tyrannical government policies that come from Asia.”
From Delimiter