Ireland Plans to Filter the Internet?

If you look through the items refused you’ll see just how insidious the plans are

One involves a copy of the minutes from a meeting between the DOJ and mobile phone operator Vodafone on the “introduction of Internet filtering” that took place on June 29th, 2009

Also refused were some pages of detailed minutes of a July 2008 meeting between the Office of Internet Safety (OIS) and An Garda Siochána (DOJ?) regarding the “proposed introduction of blocking technology.”

In August 2009 the DOJ even went as far as to develop operational procedures for the implementation of ISP-level filtering

It’s hard to argue against the fight against child pornography – impossible in fact – but filtering the Internet will have ostensibly little effect on the problem. Criminals will only turn to trusted methods of evasion like VPN, FTPs, P2P, etc.

All filtering will do is deputize ISPs and put the power of judge, jury, and executioner in the hands of unelected commercial institutions

As the US Ambassador to Australia, Jeff Bleich, pointed out recently in that country where a similar Internet filtering proposal is being considered, the US has had considerable success fighting child pornography without having to filter the Internet. Want to find out more about child safety in australia ?

"We have been able to accomplish the goals that Australia has described, which is to capture and prosecute child pornographers ... without having to use internet filters," he said. "We have other means and we are willing to share our efforts with them ... it's an ongoing conversation."

Perhaps those efforts need to be shared with Ireland now as well