Locations sorted for Saturday's anti-filter protests

By Ry Crozier on Mar 1, 2010 3:23 PM
Filed under Telco/ISP

Picnics or protests? Take your pick.

Organisers of the 'Stop the Filter' and 'Block the Filter' national day of action have revealed a mix of protests, information sessions and picnics on Saturday March 6 to protest against the Federal Government's plans for a mandatory ISP-level internet filter.

Protests are being organised by the 'Stop the Filter' group in Brisbane and Perth, which organisers said would be "suited to people who already know about the filter and wish to protest." The group was also arranging a rally in Melbourne on the same day, but this was located at the Victorian State Library and would be "information-focused".

It will be a somewhat more relaxed affair in Sydney, Adelaide and Perth, where the 'Block the Filter' group has organised cyber safety picnics. These were "suited to parents, families and people who are unfamiliar with the filter."

The day of action comes just weeks after Anonymous scheduled a day of nationwide protests at the Government's plan, attendance at which was far lower than expected.

Western Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said over the weekend that his party would seek to block the legislation when it was introduced sometime in "Autumn 2010" - the last guidance from the Government on its timing.

Locations sorted for Saturday's anti-filter protests

10 comments in this discussion

"Melbourne Club for me thanks. We'll put it all on the Tab as per usual. Picnics are so 1800's"

By Digger11

Tags

march, censorship, filter, protest, rally, locations

Censorship fears as Iran's internet disrupted

Protests erupt across Europe against web piracy treaty

Abbott establishes cybersafety panel

Anonymous wage vendetta on copyright laws

Breaking Stories

Roses Only goes with its heart for hosting

Bankwest credits IT for flat operating expenses

Conroy warns of cloud uncertainties

Hiring strategy vital to government IT transformation

Melbourne scientists ready 2013 bionic eye trial

Comments: 10

Trish108 Mar 1, 2010 4:22 PM	Just to clarify as it really doesn't sound like anyone from Stop the Filter has been contacted prior to the writing of this article. Our rallies in Melbourne and Perth will be in central locations so that those who are unsure or uneducated on this issue will have access to information and knowledgeable speakers, and people who are already informed and are against the filter can show their opposition. Although we have groups now in both Brisbane and Sydney, unfortunately as people only recently found out that there were no protests organised in these cities, it has not left time to organise full rallies. STF Brisbane and Sydney members are keen to spread the word and get signatures on petitions against the filter though and will be actively doing that on Saturday. In Perth there will be the Stop the Filter rally in Forrest Place at 12 Noon and a picnic has been advertised by Block the Filter more recently to start at 3pm in Stirling Gardens. Trish Zanetti stopthefilter@iinet.net.au
Digger11 Mar 1, 2010 5:30 PM	Let's hope over 11 people turn up this time. Maybe get them to have a wash and then to dress a bit more respectably as well.....
Trish108 Mar 1, 2010 6:35 PM	@ Digger11 - I don't know which protests you are talking about but they weren't organised by Stop the Filter as we are a newly formed group with some experienced activists helping us to organise so that those sort of events don't become the norm. Trish Zanetti stopthefilter@iinet.net.au
Freda Mar 1, 2010 8:08 PM	I'm with Trish on this one. It's pretty clear to me that ITnews has lifted information directly from Block the Filter's Facebook event pages without consulting organisers from either group. Thanks for the article, but those were my words, thank you very much, so I'll clarify. I have promoted Stop the Filter's and Block the Filter's actions on March 6 as such, because I wanted to make sure that the events on the National Day of Action is clear, and that each type of event, whilst open to everyone, may be more beneficial to particular segments of the public. We need to get more people involved in the campaign, more people understanding what it's about, and I think the mix is good thing for this purpose. I hope people now know where they can go on March 6 for the National Day of Action, and I welcome the media to contact organising groups directly if they wish to interview us and/or publicise the event.
Freda Mar 1, 2010 8:10 PM	Also, pardon my double post, but everyone in Australia is also welcome to sign the petition at http://www.efa.org.au/petition, please do
rycrozier Mar 1, 2010 11:11 PM	I was under the impression that this national day of action was under some newly-unified campaign. I wonder what gave me that idea. Anyway I was clearly wrong to take that out of recent announcements. The source of the information we used was clearly linked - an STF-run site that (it appears) used BTF content. If STF didn't agree it was accurate, why republish it? It also says "can you please distribute this content through your networks?" If it needed this much "clarification" to be accurate why ask that it be distributed? Odd.
Trish108 Mar 2, 2010 9:27 AM	@ rycrozier and Freda Actually now I can see that the info was taken from a webpage called Sydney Anti-Filter Coalition who have a blog page called stopthefilter. This is a coincidence and Stop the Filter were not aware of this page. I can see where you would have got the impression that the groups had merged. At this point, although both groups have agreed to promote each others events, we are separate groups. What I mainly had to clarify was that there is no rally organised in Brisbane - they are having an info table as there wasn't time in the end to do anything else. Brisbane people can join Stop the Filter Brisbane here http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=331697581469 and if they want to help out on Saturday they can rsvp via the links on that page and contact the admins to volunteer. I also took issue with the comment that the Stop the Filter rallies were "suited to people who already know about the filter and wish to protest", because we feel that our rallies will be informative and suitable for all and we specifically chose central locations to give more people the opportunity to hear about the issue. As your article seemed to suggest that someone from Stop the Filter had said this, I wanted to put forward the actual perspective of STF and I also wanted to make clear what was happenning in Perth as the article didn't really do that - but the link did take you to the blogspot which spelled it out. Rgds Trish stopthefilter@iinet.net.au
deonast Mar 2, 2010 10:58 AM	Hmm I had wanted to go to the protest in Sydney but now I find it is a Picnic in Parramatta Park. I don't think the issue is going to get a lot of attention or media coverage there. AS for educating the public, I'm not sure reaching a handful of people who walk past the park is achieving much. Still despite my reservations I appreciate the thought and effort to organise the Picnic.
btone Mar 2, 2010 1:53 PM	@Digger: "Maybe get them to have a wash and then to dress a bit more respectably as well....." Damn right, and send in the press gangeers too, a stint in this man's armed forces would be just the ticket for the rapskallions, eh, what? See you in the businessman's club for pork bellys and claret, eh Dig m'lad? Your shout of course, AFACT should have boosted the coffers lately?
Digger11 Mar 2, 2010 2:00 PM	Melbourne Club for me thanks. We'll put it all on the Tab as per usual. Picnics are so 1800's