Shooting the Messenger

Australia is seriously contemplating heading off down the draconian road of internet filtering a la China, Nth Korea and Iran et al. Under the pretext of protecting children the Australian government is seriously looking at implementing a technological fix to an education problem.

Utilizing the “Ostrich response” for questionable and the down right nasty internet sites is just plain dumb. It won’t make them go away but rather elevates them into the realm of forbidden fruits. And the internet savvy (read kids) will have little trouble circumnavigating the bureaucratically imposed restrictions. In fact to have done so and showing your mates will become a badge of school ground merit.

It’s like banning dictionaries because kids may look up the rude words.