>:XX
I've always been afraid that the government's silly filtering scheme would go ahead simply because the vast majority of Australians don't care enough to do something about it. In fact, I'd say the vast majority of Australians don't even know the government is planning to implement such a filter!
There has been a somewhat vocal group of IT professionals, privacy advocates and so on who have been opposed to the filter from the start, but nobody has really tried to educate the general public on the scheme, or why it's such a bad idea. It might be obviously dumb and unworkable to an IT professional, but the general public doesn't understand the technical roadblocks to such a system, and also why such a system is a fundamental block on our right to freedom of speech.
But now, there's some good news. A joint media release, signed by numerous liberties/freedoms bodies has just been made, where the body (including the Australian Library and Information Association, GetUp!, Civil Liberties Australia and others) have promised to start an advertising campain to educate the public on the scheme and try to get some media coverage in the general media (rather than just the tech- and IT-specific publications I've seen it in so far).
That's gotta be a good thing, right?