Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's censorship policy won him the Internet Villain of the Year trophy, awarded by the British internet industry.

"Community advocacy group GetUp is running a new campaign against Australian Federal Government plans to censor what we view on the internet. The ‘Save the Net’ campaign is gaining momentum, with over 55,000 Australians having already signed a petition to Communications Minister Senator Conroy voicing their outrage over the Government’s ill-considered ideas..."

The Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, has launched a stinging attack on Google and its credibility in response to the search giant's campaign against the government's internet filtering policy.

Hundreds of websites joined an Australia Day "internet blackout" today to protest against the Government's web censorship agenda

"The spectre of broadscale Internet censorship in Australia has been covered previously here on The Next Web before, but many outside Australia may wonder: why should you care if you don’t live in Australia..."

Australia's Labor government doggedly plods on with their hugely unpopular plan to censor the internet. Other governments will be watching their efforts with unhealthy interest.

Web experts recoiled today at communications minister Stephen Conroy's assertion that the internet is not "special" and should be censored like books, films and newspapers.

In case any readers would like to give Australia's Minister for web censorship their views on the subject, a link to his blog appears here. Note that Conroy intends to censor other matters than kiddie porn, but refuses to say what they are.

The internet is such a great enabler of free speech. Why do governments want to censor it?