Australia/New Zealand

Regional Overview: Australia and New Zealand
Note: a previous version of this profile is available at Australia and New Zealand, 2006-2007. Introduction Australia maintains some of the most restrictive Internet policies of any Western country and over the past two years has taken steps toward a nationwide mandatory Internet...
ONI Blog: Anonymous' attack on Syrian Defense Ministry website: A window into the group's changing agenda?
Early this week, the online hacking community Anonymous launched a cyber attack on the Syrian Ministry of Defense website. This attack is one of the latest in a series of attacks by Anonymous/LulzSec against governments and companies perceived to be engaging...
ONI Blog: Threats to the Open Net: July 8th, 2011
Every week, the OpenNet Initiative provides a weekly news roundup (dubbed "Threats to the Open Net") in addition to our usual in-depth blog posts. If you would like to subscribe to the RSS feed for our newsreel, our entire blog,...
ONI Blog: Australian Filtering Goes Live, "Trivial" to Bypass
Last week, our friends over at Herdict reported on the proposed ISP-level censorship in Australia. The plan, released by Telstra and Optus (two major ISPs), aims to protect Australian citizens by blocking child pornography and child exploitation sites...
ONI Blog: McDonald's Blocks Gay Websites in New Zealand
News sources in New Zealand have reported that McDonald's may be actively censoring gay and lesbian online content in the country. The fast food chain's Wi-Fi network has come under attack from New Zealand's gay community for its apparent blocking...
Report: Internet Filtering in Australia and New Zealand in 2006-2007
Note: a newer version of this profile is available at Regional Overview: Australia and New Zealand. Introduction Australia maintains some of the most restrictive Internet policies of any Western nation, while its neighbor, New Zealand, is less rigorous in its Internet regulation. Without...
ONI Blog: Australian Prime Minister Backs Web Filtering
The AFP recently reported that Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has begun actively pushing to filter Australia’s Internet content. According to news sources, the filter would block websites that contain rape, bestiality, and child sex abuse. Included in the plan...
ONI Blog: Would Censoring the Internet Prevent Cyber-Bullying?
Playing out in the Internet tabloids this week is the story of Jessi Slaughter, an eleven-year-old girl whose YouTube rants have resulted in death threats and unsavory rumors in a classic case of cyber-bullying. In Australia, where a proposal to filter the...
ONI Blog: Is Blocking RapeLay the Solution?
Controversy is brewing over a Japanese video game called RapeLay which, according to Australia's Sydney Morning Herald, allows users to "earn points for acts of sexual violence, including following girls on commuter trains, raping virgins and their mothers, and then forcing...