Week 9 Blog 1

What opportunities can you find for political participation via the internet. How many of the following can you achieve while sticking to your political beliefs?

    * Sign an e-petition.


I used Google to search "Current Australian e-petitions" and it directed me to this link of Australian petitions. I then went to the petitions page and had a laugh at some of the petitions. Jokingly, I was going to sign the 'legalize marijuana' petition but as the blog states we're meant to stick to our political beliefs I decided I would keep looking. I then saw one to Ban the killing of pitballs in Melbourne, but hey, if Pitbull wants to tour in Melbourne I think he should. Joking. Finally I decided to sign for telecommunications access for deaf people. Having experience with deaf people I feel strongly to this cause and would happily sign the petition for the purpose of this task as well as self gratification. 


    *  What is Barack Obama up to today? Can you send him a message about the importance of freedom on the internet?


In an attempt to stalk Barack Obama I found it quite easy being directly linked to http://ochairball.blogspot.com/ which is in fact called 'Today with President Barack Obama'. It has everything you need to know about Obama, including a daily schedule which is perfect to answer this questions. Obama's day on the 22nd of September goes something like this:

1:00 AM	The President and The Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing Oval Office Closed Press
10:30 AM	The President meets with senior advisors Oval Office Closed Press
12:30 PM	The President departs the White House en route Joint Base Andrews South Lawn Open Press
12:45 PM	The President departs Joint Base Andrews en route Cincinnati, Ohio Joint Base Andrews Travel Pool Coverage
2:05 PM	The President arrives Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport Open Press
2:30 PM	The President delivers remarks on the American Jobs Act Hilltop Basic Resources Open Press
3:50 PM	The President departs Cincinnati, Ohio en route Joint Base Andrews Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport Open Press
5:10 PM	The President arrives Joint Base Andrews Joint Base Andrews Travel Pool Coverage
5:25 PM	The President arrives the White House South Lawn Open Press

    * What are the Australian Government's plans to censor the internet (the so-called "Clean Feed")?


I got this information by searching Australian Government's plans to censor the internet "clean feed", which was pretty standard. I got linked to this website which gave me this information.

"The Australian Federal Labor Government has a "plan" (since late 2007) to mandate that ISPs block adults' access to Internet content on a secret blacklist, compiled by a government agency, that the Government deems unsuitable for adults.

The Labor Government's "plan" has changed at least three times since they were originally elected in November 2007, and their 2009-2011 plan bears zero resemblance to Labor's November 2007 election policy. On 15 December 2009, the Labor Government announced the third version of their mandatory ISP-level blocking policy/plan stating (contrary to their 2007 election policy) that adults will not be able to opt-out, and that ISPs will not be required to even offer to block any adults-only material, i.e. X18+ pornography or R18+. Hence, the mandatory ISP blocking system will be utterly useless for a purpose of protecting children online.

The sole purpose is to require ISPs to (attempt to) block adults' access to content that the government deems unsuitable for adults. If implemented, the Labor Government would be the first government in a "western democracy" to mandate that."


http://libertus.net/censor/isp-blocking/au-govplan.html