Ethics Assignment #2 (Assignment #1 Revise)

On February 10, 2010 Anonymous launched Operation Titstorm against the Australian government in response to a proposed internet censorship plan by the Australian Telecommunications Minister Stephen Conroy. The plan would require internet service providers to block users from accessing websites that feature bestiality, rape, child sex abuse, small-breasted women (who may appear under the legal age), female ejaculation, cartoons of the listed sexual acts are also included in the proposal. The proposal also includes gambling sites, sites that are showing drug use, and many others that didn't include adult content. This proposal would essentially give the government the power to block the Australian users from accessing content that they deem as illegal or unwanted. Anonymous didn't like that the Australian government was attempting to censor the internet so they DDoS government websites, spammed government offices with pornographic emails, faxes, and phone calls.

After talking with a friend of mine I support the reasons and actions that Anonymous made against the Australian government. I think that what they did could be considered as a form of protest. Sure what they did might be annoying to those involved, but at the end of it all no one was physically harmed in these attacks. Like Anonymous I believe that "No government should have the right to refuse it's citizens access to information solely because they perceive it to be 'unwanted'.". Allowing the government to censor would be bad since it would essentially allow them to block any information that lets the people know that the government is corrupt or puts them in a bad light. An example of this would be what happened in Tunisia. I think that the Australian government shouldn't censor given the outcomes of several countries that have or had internet censorship.