Internet Censorship and Education

The Internet has rapidly evolved as a pervasive technology. The user-friendliness of the World-Wide Web has achieved a couple of observable ends in this respect. Firstly, it has facilitated the explosive popularisation of the Internet, increasing both the size and the diversity of the user population. Secondly, it has helped remove the requirement that its users share an "insider" perspective of the technology. While the former ensures a dramatic magnification of social issues, the latter raises the strong possibility that the ensuing debate will be largely driven by the uninformed.

This paper expresses the personal view that the recent actions in the senate to impose censorship upon Australian Internet users are a manifestation of exactly such a situation. The Bill is briefly introduced to establish that there are real doubts as to its viability and its motivation. It then explores some of the potential ramifications for the preservation of the traditional values of education, and the new legal and logistical burdens placed upon educational administration. In concluding, the Bill is condemned as an act of "legalisation" that is not only lacking - but also contrary to - the true spirit of the law in relation to the very matters that it claims to address.