Confidential blacklists, secret files and hush hush memos are normally the preserve of slick American tv drama on Sky One. Military bases, disused farm out-buildings and a cast of shadowy figures are the staple of such shows. You wouldn't normally have put Australia in the same subversive bracket. The land that gave us Rolf Harris, Neighbours and Crocodile Dundee has itself entered the murky world of the classified and the covert.
The Aussie Government, who we only normally hear from when they ratchet up immigration policy, have endured a leak of potentially uncomfortable proportions.
A supposedly secret blacklist of various adult orientated websites unjustly features at least a dozen online poker and gambling sites. This is contrary to the stated intentions of the list, which was produced by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
The sinister move is part of a trial run which will see Internet Service Providers secretly blocking access to any site on the list.
Whistle blowing website wikileaks.com is not known for a particularly pro authority stance. A cursory examination of this internet based black-balling reveals that littlewoodspoker.com has escaped the list, but a whole phalanx of our poker peers haven’t been quite so fortunate.
Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has been quick to play down the authenticity of the list, lambasting it as a fake. “This is not the ACMA blacklist”, he pronounced, citing the disparity between the number of URLs as hard evidence of its bogusness.
Cynical to the last, Wikileaks maintains the government claim of banning pornography is a catch all statement that makes broad based censorship fait accompli for any administration.
Meanwhile, we’re wondering if the post “Minister for Broadband” is a real job or just a dot con.
