Whistleblower site publishes Internet blacklist

by Rich Bowden - Mar 19 2009, 04:51

Whistleblower site WikiLeaks has today embarrassed the Australian government by publishing the country's communications regulator's Internet blacklist.

The sites listed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) catalogues a range of activities deemed unsuitable by the authority, including those related to child pornography and criminal activities.

Mysteriously a number of seemingly legitimate sites made it on to the now notorious list including a tourism site, a boarding kennel and the site of a Queensland dentist, reports the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

"We now find Australia acting like a democratic backwater," ABC reports the Wikileaks site as saying.

"Apparently without irony, ACMA threatens fines of up to $11,000 a day for linking to sites on its secret, unreviewable, censorship blacklist - a list the Government hopes to expand into a giant national censorship machine."

Federal Minister for Communications Stephen Conroy described the leak to media as "grossly irresponsible" and said he was considering his options on the matter.

"Under existing laws the ACMA blacklist includes URLs relating to child sexual abuse, rape, incest, bestiality, sexual violence and detailed instruction in crime," Senator Conroy said.

"No one interested in cyber safety would condone the leaking of this list."

The ACMA is expected to release a statement on the matter later today. Under Australian law, anyone who republishes the list is liable to face up to 10 years imprisonment, reports the Herald Sun.

The security breach could not have come at a worse time for the Australian government as it struggles to pass controversial legislation which would allow the blocking of access to Web sites considered dangerous.

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