Every week, Computerworld collates all the things our readers have been saying about the news, both in the forums and in comments.
Once again, the ISP-level filter has become the week's hottest topic, sparking yet another heated debate on the state of Australian politics. Here's what you had to say about it:
"I think this is coming down to the fact that most people don't actually care about the filter, or are in favour of it as it's been presented as a way of stopping porn from reaching children. The only people I have seen who are actually against the filter are either people who strongly care about censorship or IT people, and I'm not sure the second group isn't just a subset of the first." - pasc on Content filter: Dumb and dumber
"All of the mainstream political parties (aka big business) are terrified of the Internet and are anxious to get it under their tight control like other media. Hence the Filter and the NBN." - Tapper on Content filter: Dumb and dumber
"The public overwhelmingly want this filter. It's just the geeks who are railing against it. That's where your article is fundamentally flawed. You are speaking on behalf of a very small minority." - Tony on Content filter: Dumb and dumber
"I'm pretty sure the poll that you a referring to only sampled about 1000 people. Even then, the majority of people supported a method to stop child porn, etc ...not supporting the MANDATORY Internet filter. Then there were the actual characteristics of the people involved (age, use of the Internet, etc). How about all those other polls that have surveyed thousands of people (not just 1000)? The majority of polls seem to show that people are opposed to a MANDATORY Internet filter; and that People support methods of law enforcement to track down those responsible for content such as child porn. These are two completely different points." - Corsair on Content filter: Dumb and dumber
"Exactly how are we going to determine anything at the ballot box? Like it or not, there's still a high percentage of people who have no real awareness of the Conroy censorship plan. They've been told it'll protect their kids and that's good enough for them. When it comes to voting time, Conroy's ineffectiveness as a minister will be low on the list of issues that matter to them. In addition, this censorship proposal is fully endorsed by the Labor Party and the Liberals are hardly making it an area of focus for opposition, since many of them support the idea. With both major parties broadly in favour of controlling our Internet access to suit their own ends, I don't see how we get to exercise our democratic right to reject it. Maybe I'm missing something?" - Phil on Content filter: Dumb and dumber
"Axing this filter will win a smaller percentage of votes within a very motivated online group. Australians take real notice when thousands march the streets and this gets reported and filmed on the 6PM news on all channels. None of that just yet. It is 10th on the list of priorities for the majority of Australians, and the Libs make their usual 'we do not like it because it is from the ALP' noises, but fundamentally do not speak out against the policy objectives of applying controls to the Net." - Arly on Content filter: Dumb and dumber
"This is quite clearly transparent, evidence based policy. Glad to see Labor are living up to the expectation I had of them. None." - Denis on Conroy unlikely to reveal secret filter forum results
"The merits of the filter are irrelevant, the fact is the filter will not be even slightly effective as it can already be easily bypassed and does not even attempt to address any of the so called illegal material it's touted as preventing. The fact is the filter will be nothing more than a gross on-going waste of tax payer money, which this government is very fond of under the guise of 'stimulus'. Would any sane person pay for something they know to be broken and not fit for purpose? Spend our money elsewhere on education and policing where it is proven to actually work." - Johnny on Conroy unlikely to reveal secret filter forum results
"Any of the privileged few want to leak the closed forums and evidence to Wikileaks? I'm guess someone in one of the larger ISPs ... go on, do it. We need something concrete to get rid of Conroy." - Cap'n Leaky on Conroy unlikely to reveal secret filter forum results
"I find the concept of an Internet filter "absolutely appalling" as do many others, but it doesn't appear to matter, so why should we be concerned with what the Government find appalling." - Mark (not Day) on Opposition NBN stance is ‘absolutely appalling’: Lundy
With CeBIT in town, this week has also been very busy with chatter on all manner of other topics. Here's what you had to say about:
Lundy vs Hockey on the National Broadband Network
"+1 to Kate Lundy's views. Should the Libs get in with this policy, good internet will only be available to metropolitan areas with considerable profits, or areas that will be subsidised by Government - if you are somewhere in the middle, you're screwed. If we are to move forward into the technological age, we need to consider access to GOOD internet as an essential service and treat it as such." - Gregaruss on Opposition NBN stance is ‘absolutely appalling’: Lundy
"I wasn't aware that Joe Hockey was a physicist. Someone should inform him that, unless significant advances are made in quantum computing and entanglement, fibre is as good as we're ever going to get." - Greg on Opposition NBN stance is ‘absolutely appalling’: Lundy
"Labor backbench senator, Kate Lundy, has described the Opposition’s stance on the national broadband network (NBN) as 'absolutely appalling' and 'schizophrenic'. Since when does schizophrenic mean indecisive, and since when does a mentally healthy person have the right to criticise an opponent by using the label as an insult?" - Asha on Opposition NBN stance is ‘absolutely appalling’: Lundy
The plan to scrap the NBN>
"The opposition just don't get it. You don't run a country like a business. You don't put people out of work just to balance the budget. In a business maybe, but not in government. At least I know that Labor holds employment in high regards! I expect Labor to do exceptionally well in this coming election. The opposition is a scary proposition... no matter how you look at it." - Daniel on Opposition sticks to public sector job cuts plan
"I'm too young to remember, but was there this much tomfoolery and political shinnanegins going on when they decided to rollout ELECTRICITY nationally? Or perhaps ROADS?" - Mr_Clue on Senate NBN committee says scrap it, don't scrap it
"And the Opposition claims to be the higher productivity party while canceling programs designed to achieve just that." - Richard on Hockey wields the meat axe on ICT
AusCERT 2010's security flaws
"It's interesting that you should mention staff sticking their password to their computer. One of the security vendors was doing just that at AusCERT 2010. They had a post-it note with their password on the laptop that they were letting delegates use. The password was also simply of the form 'vendor1'." - Robert Winkel on AusCERT 2010: A security masquerade?
"Calling your customers stupid is not exactly the way to improve the outcome that you desire - improved IT security. We all know that humans are fallible, it is what we should do about it that should be the issue. For example, despite billions spent on driving lessons, car design and safety fixtures including ABS brakes that are how ubiquitous, cars still crash due mainly to the failings of the driver. So we build passive features; progressive crumple zones, seat belts that tighten prior to impact and multiple airbags. Maybe the IT security industry should accept that humns fail and not insult those that ultimately pay us?" - Mike Mudd on AusCERT 2010: A security masquerade?
That's what you've had to say this week. Keep the discussions alive at the Computerworld Forums!