{"id":236,"date":"2010-08-06T21:44:49","date_gmt":"2010-08-06T10:44:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/?p=236"},"modified":"2010-08-06T22:22:41","modified_gmt":"2010-08-06T11:22:41","slug":"when-jounalists-inject-misinformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/2010\/08\/when-jounalists-inject-misinformation\/","title":{"rendered":"When jounalists inject misinformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

In iTWire\u2019s \u2018The inter\u00adnet fil\u00adter is dead! Long live the fil\u00adter!<\/a><\/em>\u2019 James Riley writes:<\/p>\n

\n

Despite the nar\u00adrow focus of the gov\u00adern\u00admen\u00adt\u2019s pro\u00adposed fil\u00adter, despite its tech\u00adni\u00adcal fea\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty and despite a series of trans\u00adparen\u00adcy and account\u00adabil\u00adi\u00adty mea\u00adsures that were to be put in place, the fil\u00adter sim\u00adply unnerved peo\u00adple. And a great many sim\u00adply said the fil\u00adter would not work.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Mis\u00adin\u00adfor\u00adma\u00adtion ahoy. The focus of the fil\u00adter has and will always be vague, mean\u00ading\u00adless trite in the style of \u2018save the chil\u00addren\u2019, with a creep\u00ading scope and absolute\u00adly no<\/em> account\u00adabil\u00adi\u00adty. Wit\u00adness how the leaked URL list blew out to include cur\u00adrent\u00adly legal porno\u00adgraph\u00adic mate\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal, infor\u00adma\u00adtion about euthana\u00adsia and a Wik\u00adileaks page. Google et al have spent the last two years com\u00adplain\u00ading that the scope is ill-defined, sub\u00adjec\u00adtive and hard to enforce.<\/p>\n

On the mer\u00adit of its tech\u00adni\u00adcal fea\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty, where are the con\u00adcrete sta\u00adtis\u00adtics on the effect of trans\u00adfer speed, reli\u00ada\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty and false pos\u00adi\u00adtives? Where is the inde\u00adpen\u00addent study? Why was the Gov\u00adern\u00admen\u00adt\u2019s report so delayed? Again, iiNet and oth\u00ader ISPs whose exis\u00adtence does\u00adn\u2019t depend on con\u00adtin\u00adued gov\u00adern\u00adment con\u00adtracts force\u00adful\u00adly opposed the tech\u00adni\u00adcal imple\u00admen\u00adta\u00adtion for a wide swathe of reasons.<\/p>\n

Beyond the tech\u00adni\u00adcal imple\u00admen\u00adta\u00adtion prob\u00adlems there\u2019s also the fact that the fil\u00adter is incred\u00adi\u00adbly sim\u00adplis\u00adtic and inef\u00adfec\u00adtive; any\u00adthing based on URL lists is prone to bypass via proxy, tun\u00adnelling and encryp\u00adtion (to name just a few tech\u00adniques). Two min\u00adutes after this thing goes live a thou\u00adsand Yahoo Answers pages will list ways to bypass it. And who\u2019s like\u00adly to have the tech\u00adni\u00adcal knowl\u00adedge to do so already? The very peo\u00adple you\u2019re \u2018pro\u00adtect\u00ading\u2019 or \u2018stop\u00adping\u2019: the tech\u00adni\u00adcal\u00adly-mind\u00aded new gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion and any\u00adone else who\u2019s ever stepped off the main\u00adstream web. No, seri\u00adous com\u00admer\u00adcial pae\u00addophiles would not be stu\u00adpid enough to use unen\u00adcrypt\u00aded web traf\u00adfic, and the fil\u00adter won\u2019t block their content.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to see the size of the URL list should the gov\u00adern\u00adment start block\u00ading pages that describe how to work around the filter.<\/p>\n

And no James, there is no<\/em> \u2018tech\u00adni\u00adcal trans\u00adparen\u00adcy and account\u00adabil\u00adi\u00adty\u2019. The gen\u00ader\u00adal pub\u00adlic don\u2019t know how the sys\u00adtem works, can\u2019t review it from a tech\u00adni\u00adcal or source-code lev\u00adel, and have no con\u00adtrol over the blocked address\u00ades even as a mat\u00adter of peri\u00adod\u00adi\u00adcal pub\u00adlic or inde\u00adpen\u00addent review. A telling part of the quote above is \u201c[\u2026] a series of trans\u00adparen\u00adcy and account\u00adabil\u00adi\u00adty mea\u00adsures that were<\/strong> to be put in place\u201d (empha\u00adsis mine). Note the \u201cwere\u201d. They had\u00adn\u2019t been dis\u00adcussed pub\u00adlicly, or reviewed, or imple\u00adment\u00aded, or stress-tested.<\/p>\n

The inter\u00adnet fil\u00adter is about get\u00adting a black-box into every ISP to estab\u00adlish a base\u00adline sys\u00adtem for block\u00ading arbi\u00adtrary con\u00adtent at the Gov\u00adern\u00admen\u00adt\u2019s whim. Noth\u00ading more. It will not pro\u00adtect you, your kids or your dog. If you think it will then you are an idiot.<\/p>\n

\n

But the Howard Gov\u00adern\u00adment end-user fil\u00adter\u00ading pol\u00adi\u00adcy was a dis\u00adas\u00adter (if you define dis\u00adas\u00adter as a pol\u00adi\u00adcy that costs mil\u00adlions but is near\u00adly com\u00adplete\u00adly ineffective.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Labor\u2019s inter\u00adnet fil\u00adter has cost mil\u00adlions already (just for test\u00ading!) and will be com\u00adplete\u00adly<\/em> ineffective.<\/p>\n

\n

Under for\u00admer Com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtions Min\u00adis\u00adter Helen Coo\u00adnan, gov\u00adern\u00adment spend tens of mil\u00adlions of dol\u00adlars on its end-user fil\u00adter pol\u00adi\u00adcy \u2013 includ\u00ading $15 mil\u00adlion on an advertising\/awareness cam\u00adpaign to make sure par\u00adents knew the fil\u00adters were available.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

One Gov\u00adern\u00admen\u00adt\u2019s bad\u00adly-man\u00adaged project does not pre\u00adclude a lat\u00ader Gov\u00adern\u00adment from attempt\u00ading to do a bet\u00adter job. Also, how the hell do you spend tens of mil\u00adlions of dol\u00adlars on fil\u00adter\u00ading soft\u00adware devel\u00adop\u00adment? You know, it\u2019s not that hard, derr. I could give you the name of quite a few free projects the Gov\u00adern\u00adment could adapt to fit with the help of two C++ pro\u00adgram\u00admers and a few weeks. Unless said project decides to invest a few mil\u00adlion in gold-plat\u00aded chairs or a new build\u00ading full of point\u00adless super\u00advi\u00adso\u00adry staff.<\/p>\n

\n

At its peak, about 30,000 peo\u00adple had tak\u00aden up the gov\u00adern\u00admen\u00adt\u2019s offer of free fil\u00adter soft\u00adware. 30,000! From an Aus\u00adtralian sub\u00adscriber base of 12 mil\u00adlion or more!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Believe it or not James, not every\u00adone with an Inter\u00adnet con\u00adnec\u00adtion has kids, has kids of a the appro\u00adpri\u00adate age, requires new fil\u00adter\u00ading soft\u00adware (oth\u00ader soft\u00adware exists, includ\u00ading stuff ISPs offer already), or shares your obvi\u00adous polit\u00adi\u00adcal posi\u00adtion on carte-blanch filtering.<\/p>\n

\n

Fur\u00adther, despite the noisy oppo\u00adsi\u00adtion to the ISP-lev\u00adel fil\u00adter\u00ading pro\u00adpos\u00adal, par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly from the tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy sec\u00adtor, Mum\u2019s and Dad\u2019s were gen\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly in favour in Gov\u00adern\u00adment fil\u00adter\u00ading the kind of con\u00adtent that the RC cat\u00ade\u00adgo\u00adry is applied to.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Wrong<\/strong><\/a>, and a total\u00adly slant\u00aded sta\u00adtis\u00adtic. Again, we\u2019re not all par\u00adents, and we don\u2019t all have kids, and we don\u2019t all want the same arbi\u00adtrary restric\u00adtions as those who are<\/em> par\u00adents. You\u2019re miss\u00ading a fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal point here: why are you apply\u00ading a \u201csolu\u00adtion\u201d meant for a select tar\u00adget audi\u00adence to all of us? Your use of the col\u00adlo\u00adqui\u00adal \u2018Moms and Dads\u2019 instead of nam\u00ading a spe\u00adcif\u00adic demo\u00adgraph\u00adic also reeks of loaded lan\u00adguage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

The fact that the oppo\u00adnents of manda\u00adto\u00adry fil\u00adter\u00ading qui\u00adet\u00adly accept\u00aded the vol\u00adun\u00adteer ISP fil\u00adter\u00ading by the nation\u2019s three largest ISPs \u2013 which will block child abuse sites \u2013 is just strange.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Wrong. We expressed dis\u00adsat\u00adis\u00adfac\u00adtion and frus\u00adtra\u00adtion that those ISPs caved in with\u00adout con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00ading the ram\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtions. We do not accept their deci\u00adsion. Where are you get\u00adting this idea from? And again, you\u2019ve tied that sen\u00adtence in with a sim\u00adpli\u00adfied ver\u00adsion of the truth: \u2018block child abuse sites\u2019. This para\u00adgraph\u2019s utter absur\u00addi\u00adty is exposed when you write it hon\u00adest\u00adly: \u2026 qui\u00adet\u00adly accept\u00aded the vol\u00adun\u00adteer ISP fil\u00adter\u00ading by the nation\u2019s three largest ISPs \u2013 which will block arbi\u00adtrary con\u00adtent at the Gov\u00adern\u00admen\u00adt\u2019s sole dis\u00adcre\u00adtion \u2013 is just strange.<\/q> Does\u00adn\u2019t quite have the same effect as the slant\u00aded rhetoric of the oth\u00ader ver\u00adsion though.<\/p>\n

\n

All the die-hard anti-cen\u00adsor\u00adship pro\u00adtest\u00aders and free speech lib\u00ader\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adans were in effect say\u00ading that Gov\u00adern\u00adment fil\u00adter\u00ading (or cen\u00adsor\u00adship in their lan\u00adguage) indeed had its place in our soci\u00adety and that only dif\u00adfer\u00adence they had with Gov\u00adern\u00adment was over pre\u00adcise\u00adly where the line was drawn.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is called a straw\u00adman argu\u00adment<\/a>. You may have heard of it. Don\u2019t do it; it\u2019s essen\u00adtial\u00adly a manip\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtive way to seed fear, uncer\u00adtain\u00adty and doubt<\/a>. If that\u2019s your goal then you should\u00adn\u2019t been in journalism.<\/p>\n

\n

With\u00adout the Lib\u00ader\u00adals sup\u00adport, with\u00adout the Coali\u00adtion, Gov\u00adern\u00adment will not be able to get its manda\u00adto\u00adry plan through the Sen\u00adate if it is re-elected.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What? I don\u2019t know how to inter\u00adpret this sen\u00adtence; is it just a state\u00adment, a request to put pres\u00adsure on the Lib\u00ader\u00adal par\u00adty, or polit\u00adi\u00adcal cam\u00adpaign\u00ading for Labor? I\u2019m very confused.<\/p>\n

\n

Regard\u00adless, even with the ad hoc vol\u00adun\u00adtary scheme, the account\u00adabil\u00adi\u00adty and trans\u00adparen\u00adcy mea\u00adsures that gov\u00adern the black\u00adlist will need to be passed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Wrong. Which sites a par\u00adent choos\u00ades to block in a PC-lev\u00adel fil\u00adter\u00ading pro\u00adgram becomes a deci\u00adsion for that par\u00adent alone. I don\u2019t see the Gov\u00adern\u00adment pass\u00ading a black\u00adlist bill for my AdBlock<\/a> sub\u00adscrip\u00adtion, so why this? Rec\u00adom\u00admen\u00adda\u00adtions are as far as this should go.<\/p>\n

\n

This debate has legs in it yet. Cer\u00adtain\u00adly the inter\u00adnet fil\u00adter issue gen\u00ader\u00adat\u00aded more heart than any tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy-relat\u00aded pub\u00adlic pol\u00adi\u00adcy debate of the past 30 years.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Yet hard\u00adly any\u00adone out\u00adside the ISP and tech\u00adni\u00adcal com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties know how it works or the future reper\u00adcus\u00adsions of installing black-boxed fil\u00adter\u00ading machines. The main\u00adstream media has\u00adn\u2019t dis\u00adsect\u00aded the sys\u00adtem for lay\u00admen, and arti\u00adcles such as yours con\u00adtin\u00adue to pave over all the inter\u00adest\u00ading tech\u00adni\u00adcal and polit\u00adi\u00adcal detail and tote the ben\u00ade\u00adfits while ignor\u00ading the problems.<\/p>\n

\n

And so much mis\u00adin\u00adfor\u00adma\u00adtion was prop\u00ada\u00adgat\u00aded about how the fil\u00adter would work, and what kinds of con\u00adtent that it would cap\u00adture that what passed for debate often descend\u00aded into per\u00adson\u00adal abuse and name calling.<\/p>\n

And much of the vit\u00adri\u00adol was heaped on Com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion Min\u00adis\u00adter Stephen Con\u00adroy, who became a kind of light\u00adning rod for crit\u00adi\u00adcism on any\u00adthing fil\u00adter related. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Sure\u00adly you\u2019re famil\u00adiar with how dis\u00adhon\u00adesty from the Gov\u00adern\u00adment leads to dis\u00adtrust amongst the peo\u00adple. We dis\u00adtrust Con\u00adroy and asso\u00adciates because time and time again they\u2019re used inac\u00adcu\u00adrate lan\u00adguage, mis\u00adin\u00adfor\u00adma\u00adtion and dem\u00ada\u00adgoguery when describ\u00ading the fil\u00adter. Con\u00adroy should\u00adn\u2019t have his post because he isn\u2019t tech\u00adni\u00adcal\u00adly com\u00adpe\u00adtent. The posi\u00adtion, espe\u00adcial\u00adly in this debate, requires explic\u00adit tech\u00adni\u00adcal knowl\u00adedge which he does\u00adn\u2019t possess.<\/p>\n

Per\u00adhaps we should put Fred Nile into the Com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion Min\u00adis\u00adter posi\u00adtion. I\u2019m sure Mr Nile\u2019s per\u00adson\u00adal views would\u00adn\u2019t affect the deci\u00adsions he makes as part of his respon\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty to reflect pub\u00adlic opin\u00adion in a senior polit\u00adi\u00adcal posi\u00adtion with the pow\u00ader to lim\u00adit the trans\u00adfer of infor\u00adma\u00adtion. Behold the sec\u00adond rea\u00adson we dis\u00adtrust Mr Con\u00adroy: deci\u00adsions with seri\u00adous, long-reach\u00ading con\u00adse\u00adquences require a com\u00adplete\u00adly objec\u00adtive view\u00adpoint, and that has\u00adn\u2019t been demonstrated.<\/p>\n

\n

The Coali\u00adtion has enjoyed watch\u00ading Sen\u00ada\u00adtor Con\u00adroy twist in the breeze over this pol\u00adi\u00adcy for well over a year. Final\u00adly they have announced which way they\u2019ll jump on this issue.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That the Coali\u00adtion has ten\u00adta\u00adtive\u00adly grown a sin\u00adgle ver\u00adte\u00adbrae of a spine should\u00adn\u2019t dis\u00adtract from the fact that their oth\u00ader\u00adwise jel\u00adly-like corpse has been silent\u00adly flap\u00adping in said breeze for two years. Their politi\u00adcians wait\u00aded until polling group returns showed they could use the issue to boost per\u00adcent\u00adages, not that they tru\u00adly believe what\u2019s said in their media release. Pol\u00adi\u00adtics in this coun\u00adtry (at least for the two intractable par\u00adties) has devolved into vague promis\u00ades of unique per\u00adspec\u00adtives and solu\u00adtions while effec\u00adtive\u00adly para\u00adphras\u00ading the oppos\u00ading par\u00adty\u2019s poli\u00adcies and work\u00ading only to main\u00adtain a sad and sor\u00adry status-quo.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n

Arti\u00adcles about poten\u00adtial\u00adly cru\u00adcial top\u00adics such as Inter\u00adnet fil\u00adter\u00ading require sta\u00adtis\u00adtics, frank lan\u00adguage and the abil\u00adi\u00adty to under\u00adstand a deep, tech\u00adni\u00adcal sub\u00adjec\u00adt\u2019s con\u00adse\u00adquences in both the tech\u00adni\u00adcal and soci\u00adetal areas. If you have the van\u00adtage of a jour\u00adnal\u00adis\u00adtic soap\u00adbox and only have a fleet\u00ading grasp on the top\u00adic \u2014 or even worse a polit\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly-biased view\u00adpoint \u2014 you run the risk of turn\u00ading a com\u00adplex argu\u00adment into a bunch of talk\u00ading points and sub\u00adjec\u00adtive gum flapping.<\/p>\n

Come on guys, jour\u00adnal\u00adis\u00adm\u2019s core is objec\u00adtiv\u00adi\u00adty. Watered-down report\u00ading and opin\u00adion-seek\u00ading has drained the media of its abil\u00adi\u00adty to present tan\u00adgi\u00adble facts that actu\u00adal\u00adly prompt read\u00aders to con\u00adsid\u00ader their posi\u00adtion on an issue. Weav\u00ading in your opin\u00adion between facts com\u00adpli\u00adcates your read\u00aders\u2019 abil\u00adi\u00adty to analyse and make deci\u00adsions since they first have to extract truth from fic\u00adtion \u2014 and that\u2019s sup\u00adposed to be your<\/em> job!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In iTWire\u2019s \u2018The inter\u00adnet fil\u00adter is dead! Long live the fil\u00adter!\u2019 James Riley writes: Despite the nar\u00adrow focus of the gov\u00adern\u00admen\u00adt\u2019s pro\u00adposed fil\u00adter, despite its tech\u00adni\u00adcal fea\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty and despite a series of trans\u00adparen\u00adcy and account\u00adabil\u00adi\u00adty mea\u00adsures that were to be put in place, the fil\u00adter sim\u00adply unnerved peo\u00adple. And a great many sim\u00adply said the [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245,"href":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions\/245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}