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Voluntary blocks
The decision of Internet service providers to block access to websites was controversial because they censored the unedited content of the Australian Communications and Media Authority or the eSafety Commissioner, and most small service providers have decided to keep open access.
The media has named the 8chan and 4chan newsgroups, as well as the LiveLeak video sharing site, the Voat social media aggregator and the Zero Hedge financial market blog, among currently blocked websites. The Australian Financial Review saw a list totaling 25 websites that had been banned Tuesday night, with content teams of ISPs monitoring sites to determine when access can be reinstated.
The major Internet service providers coordinated their approach and industry sources indicated that Telstra, Optus and Vodafone shared information about which sites to block.
"Due to exceptional circumstances, several major Internet service providers in Australia have decided to voluntarily implement temporary blocks of websites that continue to host video footage of the Christchurch terrorist attack," said John Stanton, CEO of Tel Alliance Telecommunications Group. .
"These ISPs have sought to balance the expectations of the community to remove access to video with the need to minimize the inconvenience that may result from blocking legitimate content as an inevitable and temporary consequence."
Zero Hedge forbidden
Writing on Zero Hedge, the site's internal contributor, who wears the pseudonym "Tyler Durden", noted that images of the mbadacre were still available for download online for those who had made the effort to search for it, and Asked why The site was treated differently from the social media giants.
He stated that the site had presented uncensored conversations about the mbadacre, but had not been involved in the dissemination of the images.
"We learned that Zero Hedge was now banned in New Zealand and Australia, despite the fact that we had never filmed the Christchurch bombing." We were not contacted before the censorship Instead, we received a steady stream of people pointing out that the site is unavailable in both countries unless a VPN (Virtual Private Network) is used, "he wrote.
"And while Australia and New Zealand represent a negligible volume of traffic to Zero Hedge, the staggering arrogance of telecom operators NZ and OZ to arbitrarily impose content restrictions on content is a little disturbing. "
On Wednesday afternoon, a spokesman for Telstra said that he had begun to unblock sites that had contacted him and proactively remove the badociated content from their websites. He conceded that some websites had been blocked while they had already removed the images, and that these sites had been unblocked.
"The major social networks proactively manage the appearance of sequences and therefore are not included in the blocks we have undertaken," the spokesman said.
Vodafone also said Facebook and Twitter were spared because they were actively trying to remove the offending content.
No major global platforms have been blocked, even though Facebook and Twitter are the main methods of sharing images of Christchurch. AP
The problem of blocking websites has long been a subject of controversy in Australia. In 2012, a former Minister of Labor Communications abandoned his efforts to put in place a mandatory Internet filter to block unwanted sites.
In addition to issues related to the risk of inexplicable censorship of content and inaccurate blocking of professional websites, industry experts have often pointed out how blocking can be easily bypbaded by methods such as VPNs, which hide the location of 39, a user.
"We are actively watching"
While Telstra announced its plans to block Monday night, Optus first announced that it would only block websites on the order of law enforcement.
However, he said he changed his mind based on the comments and the observation of the expectations of the community.
Communications Minister Mitch Fifield said the time has come for those who own and manage platforms to take greater responsibility for how they are used. Alex Ellinghausen
"Given the horrific nature of this attack and the community's deep concern over the proliferation of inappropriate online content, Optus has seen fit to place a temporary block on a limited number of sites known to contain footage filmed by the media. victims and their families. "We are sorry," said Andrew Sheridan, vice president of public affairs and regulation at Optus.
"We recognize that some of these areas are taking their own steps to remove offensive content, and we are actively monitoring the situation and changing the list of blocked sites."
Phillip Britt, general manager of small Internet service provider Aussie Broadband, said he had not blocked websites because of the difficulty badociated with this operation and that they doubted that they were best placed to rule on the content.
"As a small Internet service provider, our opinion to date is that the decision to block belongs to a court, which seems to us more qualified to determine what should and should not be blocked," Britt said. .
"We are thinking about whether this point of view should change, but to be honest, this discussion is difficult and there is no easy answer.A secondary problem is that we do not currently have the infrastructure and resources needed to effectively block a website, we believe that the largest ISPs will have because of recent copyright lawsuits. "
Optus has yet to answer questions about how the blocked sites were chosen and why Facebook and Twitter escaped the same fate.
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