Online civil liberties lobby group, Electronic Frontiers Australia has mounted a number of protest actions against the government's Internet censorship legislation, gathering hundreds of people to protest rallies around the country.
At the Sydney around 350 people marched on the offices of the Australian Broadcasting Authority (the ABA), the body that will be enforcing the new legislation. Rallies in Melbourne and Perth attracted a similar turnout.
In Brisbane 250 people marched on the Commonwealth Parliamentary offices. Although prevented from delivering a petition to the office they did get to speak to far North Queensland National Party MP Bob Katter who informed them that he wasn't aware of the bill but was "opposed to censorship".
In Sydney EFA's Matthew Arnison, said that the strong turnouts to the protests would serve as a message to the Minister for Information Technology, Senator Richard Alston that he doesn't have the widespread community support for the bill that he has claimed in the past.
"Alston has been claiming that there isn't any community opposition to these new laws, but I think that we've demonstrated very clearly that there are a lot of people that are very concerned about these laws," Arnison noted. "No only here, but around the country, we've had protests in every capital city around the country. I think this is a very clear reaction that says we don't want any more censorship, free speech is vital to Australian democracy."
Addressing the rally, EFA spokesperson, Danny Yee, said that the bill could effect the development of the Australian Internet industry and that the Internet was far from the unregulated medium that the government has made it out to be.
"It is often claimed that the Internet is unregulated and needs regulation, this is not correct," Yee stated. "ISPs are regulated under the telecommunications act, and are subject to trade practices acts like any other businesses, the Internet content is subject to state and territory laws regarding child pornography, defamation, racial vilification and copyright laws, this bill is therefore totally unnecessary and dangerous."
Each of the rallies featured a considerable turnout from members of the domestic Internet industry and IT developers. James McParlane, Senior Technical Consultant at Web development company, Massive Interactive, said that the legislation was going to cause major problems for the Industry.
"It's completely unworkable and it's been made by people who don't understand how the Internet works," McParlane stated.
