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

"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..."

The One Laptop Per Child initiative has set up shop in Australia with a local board planning to lobby State and Federal governments to fund a roll-out into local communities.

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.

Australia's biggest technology companies, communications academics and many lobby groups have delivered a withering critique of the government's plans to censor the internet.

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.

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

Recent action by the Australian Government may see Google and many other popular websites banned in Australia under existing censorship laws.

“In line with ACTA and SOPA in the US, the Commission wants to impose privatized censorship schemes where companies (ISPs, payment processors) would directly ‘cooperate’ with the entertainment industry to censor their services."