Exit
3Apr10

Sydney "Hacking Workshop" held for 80 Exit members

Around 600 Australian Seniors have booked to attend Exit International “Safe Suicide” workshops to be held across Australian cities over April.

The workshops will now all include a ‘Hacking Masterclass’ segment.  The addition of the Masterclass follows a successful meeting of around 80 Seniors (many with their laptops) in Sydney on 1 April which was led by leading young IT guru, Newcastle-based David Campbell.

The Masterclasses were prompted by the inclusion of Exit International websites (www.peacefulpill.com) on the Government's secret Blacklist of soon-to-be-banned websites.  While the Australian Government’s plan is to prevent elderly Australians accessing end of life information, Dr Philip Nitschke says this creates a dangerous environment of desperation amidst those dealing with the challenges of old age and serious illness.

The Enex Content Filtering Report which was commissioned by the Government and released in October 2009 noted that a technically competent user could, if they wished, circumvent the filtering technology with relative ease.” 

“To ensure that elderly Australians can continue to receive this important information after the Federal Government's Censorship takes effect, the Hacking Masterclass component of our meeting will provide plain language information designed for Seniors on how to bypass the Government’s filter.

Communications Minister Senator Conroy has refused to comment of the growing campaign among the elderly to develop strategies to circumvent the Federal government’s planned mandatory internet censorship.

Safe Suicide Workshops

Perth - Wednesday 7 April (10am - 3.30pm)
Boulevard Centre (Boulevard Nth Room)
99 The Boulevard, Floreat
 
Melbourne - Monday 12 April (11am - 4.30pm)
Hawthorn Town Hall, 358 Burwood Rd
 
Hobart - Thursday 15 April (10am - 3.30pm)
Glenorchy Civic Centre, Cooper St
 
Adelaide - Wednesday 21 April (10am - 3.30pm)
Burnside Community Centre
401 Greenhill Rd, Tusmore
 
Brisbane - Saturday 24 April (10am - 3.30pm)
Toowong Snr Citizens
9 Maryvale St, Toowong
 
Canberra - Friday 30 April (10am - 3.30pm)
Griffin Centre
20 Genge St, City
 
Sydney - Friday 7 May (10am - 3.30pm)
Chatswood Community Centre
7 Victor St Chatswood

For Information or to Book a workshop place contact:
contact@exitinternational.net
or ring 03-9850-8192

 

No penalty for bypassing Conroy's internet filter

By Andrew Ramadge, Technology Reporter From:
news.com.au
April 16, 2010

http://www.news.com.au/technology/no-penalty-for-bypassing-conroys-web-filter/story-e6frfro0-1225854496213

CAPTION: Melbourne teen Tom Wood, who says he will try to bypass the Rudd Government's web filter / Rob Baird Source: Herald Sun
 
Circumventing filter won't be a crime
Teen says he'll be trying 'just for fun'

A TEENAGER famous for cracking the Howard government's $80 million web filter will be among the first lining up to get around the Rudd Government's as well - and there won't be any penalty for doing it.

The office of Communications Minister Stephen Conroy this week confirmed it would not be an offence to bypass the Government's planned mandatory internet filter once it was introduced.

The admission comes after pro-euthanasia group Exit International began teaching elderly Australians how to bypass internet filters earlier this month amid fears information about euthanasia would be censored under the plan.

Now Melbourne teenager and cyber safety advocate Tom Wood, famous for getting around the axed NetAlert web filtering software in 2007, says he will be among the first to try to bypass the Rudd Government's planned filter "for fun".

Mr Wood, now 18, couldn't say whether it would be easier to bypass the Rudd Government's filter than NetAlert — but he was sure it was possible.

"Well we can't know for sure because the software hasn't been released, but most server-type filters are pretty easy to bypass. The smart people will always find out how and share that information," he told news.com.au.

Mr Wood made headlines in 2007 when, at the age of 16, he managed to get around the Howard government's NetAlert web filter in about half an hour.

Unlike the NetAlert scheme, which offered Australians free filtering software to install on their home computer, the Rudd Government's plan will see filtering take place at the internet service provider level.

That means companies that provide internet access like Telstra, Optus and iiNet will be the ones doing the filtering.

The Government says it is introducing the filter, which will apply to all Australians, to stop "inadvertent" access to refused classification material.

"This content includes child sexual abuse imagery, bestiality, sexual violence, detailed instruction in crime, violence or drug use and/or material that advocates the doing of a terrorist act," said a spokesperson for Senator Conroy.

The Government was aware that tech-savvy people were likely to find a way around the filter, the spokesperson said.

"The independent report on the ISP-level filtering pilot trial found that technically competent people could circumvent filtering technologies," they said.

"Under the Government’s policy it will not be an offence to circumvent the filtering measures or to show someone how to circumvent."

Mr Wood said the internet filter didn't address many of the "real" problems faced by young people online, such as internet addiction.

"For the real problems online like security, privacy, addiction — especially with kids — filtering doesn't help them at all. Given the lack of education and services there are the moment I think that's what really should be given the most attention," he said.

The Government says its cyber safety policy includes "a range of measures including education, law enforcement, research and technical-based solutions".
 

Euthanasia doctor gives internet tips


ABC News
Fri Apr 16, 2010

 
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/15/2874219.htm

CAPTION: Doctor Philip Nitschke tells a Hobart audience how to bypass internet filters blocking euthanasia sites. (ABC News)

Video: Elderly residents look into euthanasia (7pm TV News TAS) Map: Hobart 7000 Australia's pro-euthanasia movement is trying to stay one step ahead of any move to block access to internet sites promoting euthanasia and assisted suicide.

About 50 people attended a workshop in Hobart run by Exit International and its high-profile campaigner and author, Doctor Philip Nitschke.

He is now teaching elderly and terminally ill people to become computer savvy, as well as giving them information about how to end their lives.

Dr Nitschke says his online book may be blocked by the Federal Government's proposed internet filter.

"Even the technical report the Federal Government commissioned said a technically competent person could bypass this filter so we're going to make sure that our 70 and 80-year-old members are technically competent so that they can, when they want to, bypass the filter and get access to the best end-of-life information," he said.

Judy Oldham had a special reason for attending Dr Nitschke's workshop.

Mrs Oldham says her husband was not terminally ill when he took his own life last year, but he was unwell and had had enough of living.

"He didn't go the way he wanted to go because he wanted to go by lethal injection and he had been pleading with doctors for years to have this and of course they can't," she said.

Also at the workshop was Doctor John Paull, a retired anaesthetist, who believes there should be alternatives for people who become tired of life.

"I think they should have that option to end their life in as pleasant and non-traumatic was as possible," he said.

Doctor Nitschke says it is likely any proposed voluntary euthanasia legislation would only cover the terminally ill, not people who are tired of life.

But the debate worries the Australia Christian Lobby group.

Spokesman, Nick Overtson, says the elderly and terminally ill need to be given help and hope, not information about how to end their lives.

"Right through the euthanasia debate last year we continually said that we need to ensure we protect our most vulnerable and weak citizens and the legalisation of euthanasia would not do that," he said

Dr Nitschke's organisation, Exit International, is holding workshops around the country.

A spokesman for the Federal Government says Doctor Nitschke's book has been banned in Australia and the government does not support such material being available on the internet.
 

No conviction for euthanasia drug

The Age
ADRIAN LOWE AND STEVE BUTCHER
April 16, 2010
 
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/no-conviction-for-euthanasia-drug-20100415-shm2.html

A MELBOURNE cancer patient who imported the euthanasia drug Nembutal has avoided conviction after a court heard she was motivated only to relieve the suffering of others.

Her barrister described Ann Leith, 61, of Camberwell, as an outstanding person and selfless community contributor for many years who had been moved by witnessing the elderly in pain.

Barrister Geoffrey Steward said what differentiated her circumstances from others who pled guilty to offences was that her ''sole motivation for the commission of the offence was born as a result of her kindness, humanitarianism and a desire to potentially relieve the suffering of a fellow human being''.

He said Leith committed the offence after regularly attending Exit International meetings where she saw aged and infirm people in pain who were unable to know what to do to alleviate their suffering.

In placing her on a $500, one-year bond, magistrate John Lesser said while individual views were respected, ''when the law is in play against them, the law wins out. If you offend again, the courts will treat you much more harshly.''

Leith was stopped at Customs at Melbourne Airport last March with two perfume bottles later confirmed to contain Nembutal with a purity of 5.32 per cent. She was believed to be the first Australian to be charged with importing the border-controlled drug.

When police searched her home a month later, Leith was candid and honest, said Mr Steward, and told them her motivation.

Prosecutor Mario Camilleri said Leith told police she imported the drug to help others in a similar situation to herself. She had previously imported the drug for herself and her husband, both in remission for breast and bowel cancer respectively, and had stored it ''for a rainy day''.

Mr Steward said that Leith did not want to turn the case into a cause celebre, and unlike the prosecution, which suggested she might reoffend, her admissions, guilty plea as well as her acknowledgement of wrongdoing was an acceptance of a ''dichotomy between the law and her philosophical views and she acknowledges and accepts the law must take precedence''.

Mr Lesser told her: ''The notion of importing anything for other people has serious implications for the community. What you do in relation to yourself and your husband is another matter.''

He also ordered her to pay $1000 to the court fund and ordered $137.70 of costs against her.

Exit International founder Dr Phillip Nitschke said the sentence was ''a victory for common sense''. ''This shows an understanding judgment on the part of the magistrate,'' he said.


 

Internet filter policy under fire

7.30 Report
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 14/04/2010
Reporter: Kirstin Murray

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2010/s2873045.htm

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has been forced to defend
the Rudd Government’s $120 million 'cyber safety' policy after
industry giant Google criticised it as heavy handed.

Transcript
KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: In Washington, the State Department
has raised concerns over the Rudd Government's internet
filtering legislation. The $120 million cyber safety policy

would force internet providers to block websites deemed to be
carrying offensive material, but this week the US Ambassador to
Australia has argued that the internet should be free and that
there are other ways to combat content like child pornography.

The industry giant Google has weighed in, criticising the
exercise as heavy handed, warning that it could help legitimise
regimes like China censoring the net. The Government isn't
budging, labelling critics as misguided and promising a
completely transparent system. Kirstin Murray reports.

KIRSTIN MURRAY, REPORTER: Many who've come to this community
hall are still learning how to use a computer. But if all goes
to plan, by the end of this workshop each senior citizen will
have mastered how to hack a computer to sidestep the law.

PHILIP NITSCHKE: What the Government has planned, that is, to
keep you in the dark, is not going to succeed.

KIRSTIN MURRAY: Armed with computer engineers, outspoken
euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke's travelling the country to
teach followers how to get around the Government's proposed
internet filter.

DAVID CAMPBELL, COMPUTER ENGINEER: These guys aren't very
technically skilled. A lot of them barely know how to turn on a
computer. But I'm confident that over 90 per cent of them now
can just walk straight through this filter. And it makes me very
happy.

KIRSTIN MURRAY: If the Government's successful, sites like The
Peaceful Pill will be deemed illegal, refused classification and
blocked from Australian computers.

It's part of a plan to make the web for family friendly and it's
just what's needed, according to the Australian Christian Lobby.

JIM WALLACE, AUST. CHRISTIAN LOBBY: At the moment we have a
internet which is full, it's almost a cesspool. Violence and
sex, children are degraded, women are degraded. Within that is a
lot of illegal material.

KIRSTIN MURRAY: But what was an election promise has created a
massive backlash.

IARLA FLYNN, GOOGLE AUSTRALIA: The Government's proposal for
filtering we view as heavy handed.

JOE HOCKEY, SHADOW TREASURER: There's a scheme that will create
the infrastructure for government censorship on a broader scale.

STEPHEN DALBY, CHIEF REGULATORY OFFICER, iiNET: I think it's a
political exercise to show that the Government is concerned.

CATHERINE LUMBY, JOURNALISM CENTRE, UNSW: There's a huge problem
in applying media content regulation that was developed where we
had a very narrow point of purchase, or distribution, to an
environment like the Internet.

KIRSTIN MURRAY: Compared to other Australian media, the Internet
remains largely unregulated. Communications Minister Stephen
Conroy says the Government simply wants to apply laws from the
real world to the virtual.

STEPHEN CONROY, COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER: Last time I looked into
this debate, the civil society did not equate to the Wild West,
completely unregulated, anything goes.

KIRSTIN MURRAY: It's content like this that would be
blacklisted: here gamers earn points for stalking and raping
young women. This is all that can be shown as more graphic
material's already banned from television.

STEPHEN CONROY: It's material like pro-rape websites,
bestiality, child pornography, glorification of crime, terrorist
promotion. This material is so damaging. One viewing could scar
an individual permanently.

KIRSTIN MURRAY: What was your response when you viewed this kind
of material?

STEPHEN CONROY: Well I have not viewed it because you're not
allowed. I've had some of it described to me, and I have to say
to you I still have an image in my mind of what was described to
me and it's nearly a year since this was described to me.

STEPHEN DALBY: It's a little bit like saying let's put a
roadblock across the main road when the child pornographers are
bringing in their illegal content via helicopter and boat.

KIRSTIN MURRAY: Stephen Dalby for iiNet, one of the internet
service providers that would be forced to filter, should the
plan go ahead. He says paedophiles know how to work undetected
and anyone wanting to access blocked sites can easily do so.

STEPHEN DALBY: It's pointless, it's pointless. Child pornography
is not posted on public websites anymore than it's published in
the Sunday Times. And the suggestion that ISPs will just filter
general public websites and have an impact on the trade in that

sort of illegal content is just a nonsense.

IARLA FLYNN: The concern we have with this is that parents may
believe or understand that the Government's filter will actually
block out all the bad stuff on the internet and thereby giving
parents a false sense of security that maybe they don't need to
be so vigilant with what their kids do online. That would be a
very wrong outcome here.

KIRSTIN MURRAY: What will instead be picked up by the filter is
politically and socially sensitive websites, warns
communications academic Catharine Lumby. She's analysed what the
filter might block.

CATHERINE LUMBY: There are public interest reasons, clear public
interest reasons for people to have access to information about
brutality and demonstrations politically. There are good public
interest reasons to allow young people in a safe social
networking environment to discuss their sexuality and their
sexual practices. There are good public health interest reasons
to have harm minimisation websites around drug use.

JIM WALLACE: The Government has to look very clearly at the
motivation of people who are opposing this. In the main it is
people like the sex industry who have said that they'll go broke
in five years if this comes in. It's people who have either a
pecuniary interest like that or an ideological interest like
civil libertarians who don't want any regulation of anything.

STEPHEN CONROY: The filter that we are talking about is a
complaints-based mechanism. It is not that we are filtering the
entire internet and then letting Australians see what we have
approved.

KIRSTIN MURRAY: Senator Conroy says while the list of banned
websites will be secret, it won't be controlled by the
Government.

STEPHEN CONROY: We will introduce a new mechanism. It could be,
for an example, a retired judge, every six months, looks at
what's on the list and says, yeah, that is exactly what the
Government are intending to be on the list.

KIRSTIN MURRAY: But Google says the Government's treading a fine
line with the mandatory model it's chosen and warns Australia's
actions are being closely watched by others.

IARLA FLYNN: Non-democratic regimes would point to Australia's
system as somehow legitimising their own censorship efforts and
it'd be very, very unfortunate because I think Australia is
seen, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region as a country that
provides leadership, a strong democracy in this part of the
world.

KIRSTIN MURRAY: But Australia's approach is being debated much
further abroad.

HILLARY CLINTON, US SECRETARY OF STATE (January): We stand for a
single Internet where all of humanity has equal access to
knowledge and ideas.

JEFF BLEICH, US AMBASSADOR TO AUSTRALIA (Monday): We have been
very clear: the internet needs to be free. It needs to be free
the way we have said skies have to be free, outer space has to
be free, the polar caps have to be free, the oceans have to be
free. They have to be shared. They're shared resources of all
the people of the world.

KIRSTIN MURRAY: Did you expect to come up against so much
criticism?

STEPHEN CONROY: We as a sovereign government are not going to
allow large multinational corporations or foreign governments to
determine what should be in our refused classification category.
Google signed a contract with China to do censorship. They
signed a contract to do that. In Thailand, Google have agreed to
filter any criticism of the Thai royal family. What's that
about? So, Google want to talk about legitimising censorship in
other countries; they should have a look in the mirror.

KIRSTIN MURRAY: With legislation still being drafted, Senator
Conroy's unlikely to get his bill debated in Parliament before
the election. But in the public arena, debate is off and running

SENIOR CITIZEN: People are entitled to have that information. I
mean, that's a different thing from things like child
pornography and so on.

SENIOR CITIZEN II: The Government needs to get everything else
right, leave Exit alone, leave old people alone, leave senior
citizens alone. They're not doing any harm.

KIRSTIN MURRAY: So even if the filter is introduced, this
workshop's shown those who want to get around it can and will.

KERRY O'BRIEN: Kirstin Murray with that report.

Euthanasia 'hacking classes' to help bypass filter

ABC News
Wed Apr 7, 2010
AAP
 
http://bit.ly/cybUy1

CAPTION: Dr Philip Nitschke says workshops will show the elderly and dying how to use proxy servers and virtual networks so they can slip past the filter and find information on "safe suicide". (AAP: Dean Lewins, file photo)

Related Story: Conroy attacks Google in net filter row Related Story: Critics blast 'great firewall of Australia' Pro-euthanasia group Exit International is training elderly Australians to bypass the Federal Government's proposed mandatory internet filter.

Exit International says it will show the elderly and dying how to use proxy servers and virtual networks so they can slip past the filter and find information on "safe suicide".

The group's founder, Philip Nitschke, says it is holding "hacking masterclasses" after leaked government information showed the Exit International website will be blocked when the internet filter is introduced.

Dr Nitschke says the Government is using the filter to stop debate on euthanasia.

"They don't want to engage with this particular issue," he said.

"The idea seems to be to increasingly use censorship as a means of curtailing or stifling public comment and debate on this issue.

"The idea that underpins that seems to be that you keep elder folk living longer and happy lives by keeping them totally in the dark."

It was revealed last year that the Government plans to block access to certain websites discussing euthanasia and assisted suicide, which is against the law, as well as sites devoted to pornographic and other illegal activities.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has been widely criticised for the censorship move by the US government among others.

Dr Nitschke says 100 people have signed up to the first five-and-a-half-hour Safe Suicide Workshop to be held in the western Perth suburb of Floreat on Wednesday.

Other workshops will follow in Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra and Sydney.

Dr Nitschke says of those who have already signed up, only a few are terminally ill.

"Increasingly, we're seeing the phenomena of what you might describe as 'tired of life'," he said.

"These are people who are elderly but not actually significantly or seriously ill but coming to a point where they think that now is the time they might wish to peacefully end their lives.

"They say to us they just want something in the cupboard in case things worsen, not that they want to take it tomorrow, but if things were to deteriorate they want know that they've got that option.

"These are rational people making rational decisions and obstacles shouldn't be put in their path ... which is why I think the numbers of people attending these sorts of safe suicide workshops is increasing.

"Suicide is not a crime in this country."

A spokeswoman for Senator Conroy says contrary to popular belief, euthanasia will not be targeted by the proposed internet filter.

"Discussion about euthanasia is not content that would be deemed refused classification," she said.

- ABC/AAP
 

Elderly learn to beat euthanasia blacklist

Sydney Morning Herald
GEESCHE JACOBSEN
April 6, 2010

http://bit.ly/a7IvU7

 
CAPTION: Hacking... Phillip Nitschke, of Exit International, assists Ian McIndoe in a workshop on bypassing the proposed firewall. Photo: Kate Geraghty

PAMELA LAZEMBY, 82, has beaten cancer: she has no fear of learning how to beat the law.

''Now I'm on borrowed time I can afford to live dangerously,'' she said after attending the first in a series of workshops teaching people how to circumvent a proposed law restricting access to some internet sites, expected to include some on euthanasia.

Websites associated with Exit International and its suicide manual, the Peaceful Pill Handbook, are expected to be refused classification and therefore to be inaccessible from Australian computers once a mandatory internet filter is in place.

Ms Lazemby has nursed four elderly people to death and is determined she will not end up in a nursing home. If the time comes, she says she may want information about how to end her life. ''I'm not going to let that happen to me,'' she said.

While some of the 47 people attending the Chatswood workshop - which is not illegal but is expected to become so when the legislation comes into force - are still taking elementary computer lessons, others learnt in only a few minutes how to access any website through a proxy server to bypass the filter's firewall.

''It's not to do with Exit. The issue is wider,'' said Ken, one of the participants. He objected to the uncontrolled list of restricted sites. ''I see it [the Australian Communications and Media Authority which will administer the filter] as George Orwell's Ministry of Truth.''

Michael, who said he regularly downloaded information from Exit's website, said he attended to learn how to bypass the internet filter, so he could still access the site later.

The Exit International founder, Philip Nitschke, said after the ''hacking'' lesson that Exit would investigate if it could set up its own proxy server or VPN tunnel, so its members had a safe way of accessing its information.

Bettina O'Meara, 83, a mother of a mentally ill child, said she had noticed something was wrong with the system. She had seen what happened to sick elderly people in hospitals and nursing homes and was determined she did not want it to happen to her.

''I don't set out to do anything illegal but I firmly believe that all senior adults if they have severe illnesses have the right anyway to choose how they end their lives,'' she said.

Judith, from Potts Point, is still learning how to use her new computer. But with a ''prognosis of losing my memory'', she is determined to find a way to take ''a little pill'' when she finds she can no longer handle it.

''I don't want to be alive when I'm just a body.''

 

Elderly want to know about dying with dignity


West Australian
8Apr10
Phillipa Perry


It could have been a seminar on any of the latest medical developments.

About 100 people, mostly in their 70s and 80s, gathered yesterday at a community centre in Floreat to learn about the most recent drugs and how they worked.

But instead of hearing advice on what medications were recommended for their health and wellbeing, they were there to learn how to die safely and peacefully.

Some were in wheelchairs, a few had hearing aids – but most were mobile and sprightly.

The one thing they had in common was a desire to find information about how to die with dignity.

Right-to-die campaigner Philip Nitschke was adamant in his message to them.

“Prepare yourself now,” Dr Nitschke said. “Work out for yourself a good practical way to end your life.”

He was hosting the first of what will be a national tour of “safe suicide’ workshops by pro-choice organisation Exit International.

Dr Nitschke encouraged attendees to familiarise themselves with options on how to end their life “peacefully and reliably” without getting their loved ones in trouble with the law if they assisted.

Under the WA Criminal Code, anyone who helps someoneto kill themselves can be jailed.

Dr Nitschke also said he was concerned about a recent Federal Government move to censor Exit International websites.

A part of the workshop involved teaching th e attendees – who had tobeover50and had to pay to listen – how to hack into those websites and by pass the Government’s filter.

Outside the workshop, 80-year-old Frank McCarthy, of Mandurah, said politicians should not ignore polls such as the recent Westpoll which showed that almost eight out of 10 respondents wanted the government to legalise the right of the terminally ill to end their lives.

“It’s a dereliction of the duty of our legislators,” he said.” It is the dignity and right of the individual.”

Mr McCarthy, a father and grandfather, said he and his wife wanted to have the choice as to when they ended their lives.

“That is not a death wish,” he said. “It is reality. Every day is a bonus. I don’t say that philosophically, I say that with gratitude.”

A Bill legalising voluntary euthanasia, introduced by Greens MP Robin Chapple into Parliament at the end of last year, will be debated in WA’s Upper House later this year.

Attorney-General Christian porter said he had not made up his mind on Mr Chapples’s Bill, but he was not convinced by the quality of the proposed legislation.

CAPTION:  Wants to choose: Frank McCarthy at yesterday’s workshop. Picture: John Mokrzycki


 

Filter hacking teacher: IT industry need to step up anti-filtering action

Spandas Lui
(ARN)
13 April, 2010

http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/342869/filter_hacking_teacher_it_industry_need_step_up_anti-filtering_action/?rid=-100

Fear of being branded child pornography supporters are preventing IT companies from participating in direct anti-filtering activities.

The IT industry needs to be more involved in anti-Internet filtering initiatives, according to filter hacking teacher and reseller, David Campbell.

The Newcastle IT professional and The Pirate Party member has led several Internet filter hacking masterclasses for the elderly at events run by euthanasia advocacy group, Exit International. Campbell’s last lesson wrapped up at a Melbourne workshop on April 12.

Exit International’s website was listed on last year’s leaked ACMA blacklist. The list is slated as a basis for the Federal Government's proposed Internet filter, which is also intended to block refused classification (RC) content and explicit sexual material such as child pornography.

Campbell has been represented through his IT consultancy company, Clear Computers, a one-man hobby business. He also works full-time as a high-level IT technician but declined to name the company due to the controversial nature of the filter hacking classes.

“I do think the IT industry doesn’t push anti-filtering action enough,” Campbell said. He blamed hesitance on fear of being stigmatised as a child pornography supporter.

“I was really hesitant about this and a lot of people were ‘umming’ and ‘ahhing’ about it but I really wanted to get this information out there and people really need to get behind it,” he said. “I was quite scared of being labelled in with the paedophiles since if you side against anything supposedly blocking child porn, you can get lumped in with them in the public eye.”

Campbell believed this was also the big reason why many organisations the Pirate Party approach to do Internet filtering circumvention classes were reluctant. One of them was community advocacy group, GetUp, which pulled out at the last minute.

Campbell hasn’t experienced any adverse ramifications from the class and said he was heartened by the industry’s support. He hoped his filter circumvention lessons opened the floodgates for more IT professionals to step out and contribute to anti-filtering efforts.

“I couldn’t have predicted the response a few weeks ago,” he said. “It has really excited me to be an Australian.”

The founder of Exit International, Dr Philip Nitschke, criticised the Federal Opposition’s weak stance on the issue and lamented that only smaller political parties, such as the Greens and a number of independent MPs, were fighting against the issue.

He had also expected more organised opposition to the proposed filter and claimed people within the IT industry with expertise to beat it could do more for the anti-clean feed cause.

“We are trading away one of our fundamental rights – free speech – and I hoped this would arouse more passion and fight than we have seen since just about everybody has a stake in this,” Dr Nitschke said. “If there is anything that can be done to stop the filter, it should be done right now.

“Many other groups such as Google have done the right thing in putting forward submissions in the Internet filter public consultation process] but I think it has gone past that and there is need for somewhat direct action.

“I’m not sure what these actions can be but right now we see our particular proposal in getting people to stand up and say ‘look, I’m an elderly Australian and I am going to deliberately go out of my way to bypass this initiative’ is at least one way to draw some attention to the issue.”
 

EFA mulls publishing filter bypass instruction guide

Spandas Lui
Australian Radio Network
08 April, 2010

http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/342401/efa_mulls_publishing_filter_bypass_instruction_guide/?fp=16&fpid=1

No technical skills required to circumvent proposed Internet filter and it’s perfectly legal, according to the civil rights lobby group.

The Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) will consider publishing instructions on how to bypass Australia’s Internet filter if the Federal Government’s proposed legislation goes ahead.

On April 1, euthanasia advocacy group, Exit International, held its first ‘hacker master class’ to clue seniors in on how to get around the Internet clean-feed plan. The action was prompted by one of the group’s associate websites appearing on the ACMA blacklist which was leaked last year.

Exit International enlisted the help of David Campbell from Newcastle-based computer services company, Clear Computers.

EFA chair, Nicolas Suzor, said he supported educating citizens with ways to protect themselves from governments that independently decided to block access to certain material.

“Octogenarian people with varying degrees of computer literacy can get around it quite simply," he said. "It just makes you wonder why the Government is spending so much money and effort on such a flawed system."

The EFA is contemplating publishing information - possibly on its website - on how to circumvent the looming filter.

Although there are no solid plans at the moment, Suzor said it would not have to enlist a technical expert to supply the information.

“Instructions are quite simple so we would probably highlight a few different ways people can – if they chose to - circumvent any filter imposed,” he said. “It is really quite easy.”

One example Suzor gave related to using a Web annonymiser technology service based in the US.

“These are essentially servers, which are used to protect people’s privacy and get around restrictions imposed by territorial governments,” he said. “These are commonly used by school children, people in oppressive regimes like in China and Iran, and by those who don’t want to reveal their location when browsing the Web.”

Techniques and technology to bypass filters are unlikely to be criminalised as they have legitimate applications.

Suzor claimed only a small percentage of the websites on the blacklist were illegal, such as pages depicting child pornography.

“Two-thirds of the content listed on the blacklist is perfectly legal to view and access so we would expect people with a valid interest in accessing the material would have technical skills to bypass a filter,” he said.

The EFA expects more filter circumvention classes, similar to the ones held by Exit International, to become increasingly popular as the proposed filter edges closer to reality.

“We still hope the legislation will be voted down,” he said.

Last month, an independent software vendor (ISV) claimed an Australian Internet filter is a threat to national security.

Ey3 said the filter will force more people to circumvention technology which will make it harder for government intelligence agencies to monitoring Internet traffic.

The filter has also been criticised by the likes of Google and Yahoo!.
 

Pirate Party and Phil Nitschke teach seniors to hack filter

By Darren Pauli,
Computerworld Australia
April 06, 2010

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/040610-pirate-party-and-phil-nitschke.html

Pro-euthanasia group Exit International is holding national hacking crash-courses in how to bypass the Federal Government's planned ISP-level Internet content filter with help from the Australian Pirate Party.

The first of eight "Hacking Masterclasses" was held in Chatswood NSW on Thursday last week, and drew about 50 elderly people -- some bearing laptops. Exit International director and controversial Australian physician, Philip Nitschke, created the class to help the elderly access euthanasia-assistance material online, following fears that the Internet filter will block access to the information.

A leaked copy of the filter blacklist revealed Exit International websites, the UK publisher of the Peaceful Pill eHandbook, and three YouTube videos were on the list of banned materials.

"We were comprehensively listed," Nitschke told Computerworld. "We weren't totally surprised, but it will drastically curtail our ability to get out information to our 5000 Australian members."

Pirate Party and Phil Nitschke teach seniors to hack filter
The Peaceful Pill Handbook was published free online after the hardcopy version was banned in Australia, following the revocation of the original R18+ classification by then Federal Attorney General Philip Ruddock in 2006.

Nitschke turned to the Australian Pirate Party, via the Electronic Frontiers Australia, to locate an IT expert capable of teaching an average 70-year-old how to access pro-euthanasia material by using a proxy server to bypass the proposed national Internet firewall.

They found David Campbell, from Newcastle based company Clear Computers.

About 100 people have signed on to the Perth hacking class to be held 7 April. Each workshop takes five-and-a-half hours and will also be held in Melbourne (12 April), Hobart (15 April), Adelaide (21 April), Brisbane (24 April), Canberra (30 April) and Sydney (7 May).

A spokeswoman for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said it is not illegal to teach or enact methods to bypass the proposed Internet filter, following reports that the classes could be outlawed.

"Under the government's policy it will not be an offence to circumvent the filtering measures or to show someone how to do so," the spokeswoman said.

She said the Peaceful Pill eHandbook is refused classification, and its website will be blocked.

Debate on euthanasia which does not outline methods of killing, or means to import drugs will avoid the classification block.

Nitschke said he has "got to move quickly to get people up to speed [on how to bypass the filters]", and said the Exit International local chapters could carry out promotional, work if the organisation's web presence is blocked.

He said he believes the filter will pass through parliament with no or few amendments, and small opposition. "Opponents are accused of supporting child porn, and that kind of wedging has ensured there is support from the Federal Opposition," Nitschke said.