FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Greetings Australian Government Officials, Members of Local and International Press, and the General Public. We are Anonymous.

Austrailia - 2/8/2010 - Over the past several years, we have maintained a close watch on the actions of the Australian Government with particular focus on its stance towards internet censorship.

Australia's laws on internet censorship are already among the most restrictive in the western world. Their government filters more internet content than any other Parliamentary Democracy. For some elements within the Government, including Telecommunications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy, this still is not enough. Late in January of 2009 he proposed legislature that would lead to mandatory ISP filtering for all of Australia. The stated goal is to prevent Australia from viewing "illegal and unwanted content" on the internet.

Anonymous' concern with this legislature is twofold.

First, the ambiguity of the term "unwanted content" is completely unacceptable. No government should have the right to refuse its citizens access to information solely because they perceive it to be "unwanted." Indeed, the only possible interpretation of "unwanted content" is content that the government itself does not want to be seen.

More importantly, Anonymous does not approve of the steps already undertaken by the Australian Government to cont