I did a quick search, saw that this hadn't gotten any press here yet so I thought I'd do a link and flick to see what you guys thought.

Taken from the main page of efa.org.au:

"Electronic Frontiers Australia today expressed its surprise and concern that the operators of the satirical protest site StephenConroy.com.au were given only three hours to justify their “connection to” the domain name.

Under Australian domain name regulations, it is quite common for website operators to be required to identify their reasons for operating under an Australian domain name, but it is unusual for operators to be offered so little time to provide those reasons.

“While we understand some of the quite sensible reasons behind the restrictive rules on Australian domain names, we are surprised at the level of energy with which auDA has pursued this particular matter”, said EFA spokesperson Geordie Guy. “At a time when criticism of the Minister around the government’s proposed mandatory filtering scheme is so prolific, it’s easy for Australians to be cynical about such assertive action from the domain authority particularly when we understand that other cases are usually afforded much more consideration.”

This incident reflects worrying concerns about the power that private domain name regulators have to silence critical political speech without going through legitimate legal channels. In 2006, a similar incident saw Melbourne IT cancel the domain registration for JohnHowardMP.org created by well-known political commentator Richard Neville, a move that was instigated on advice from the Australian Government. Cancellation silenced a satirical website that featured a parody speech from Mr Howard that apologised for Australia’s involvement in the most recent Iraq war."

It also goes on to talk about the RWB attacking K-Rudd for the filter plan:

"The Government’s nicely-timed announcement last week that they will proceed next year with their Internet censorship scheme has not only drawn widespread ire in Australia but has continued to raise eyebrows overseas. The filter has been covered around the world from the BBC to news outlets in Poland, Pakistan and even China. Unfortunately, it’s not a good look – despite any nuances the policy might have, we’re gaining a reputation as the Iran of the South Pacific.

This has culminated with no less an organisation than Reporters Without Borders, a global watchdog of press freedom, writing to the Prime Minister urging him to abandon the scheme. Given that one normally encounters RWB in association with jailed reporters and post-coup news blackouts this development should be alarming to anyone concerned with our image as an open democracy in the world.
The letter, signed by RWB Secretary-General Jean-François Julliard, spelled out the organisation’s disquiet with the broad criteria and uncertain goals of the censorship plan. In particular, they felt the lack of judicial oversight was a key problem:

“Firstly, the decision to block access to an ‘inappropriate’ website would be taken not by a judge but by a government agency, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Such a procedure, without a court decision, does not satisfy the requirements of the rule of law. The ACMA classifies content secretly, compiling a website blacklist by means of unilateral and arbitrary administrative decision-making. Other procedures are being considered but none of them would involve a judge.”

The letter also expresses concern at the vagueness of the filtering criteria, worrying that “subjects such as abortion, anorexia, aborigines and legislation on the sale of marijuana would all risk being filtered, as would media reports on these subjects.” Julliard notes the inherent unreliability of filtering and cites the leaked ACMA blacklist of earlier in the year as an example of how legitimate material can find its way onto a blacklist.

The Minister’s earlier attempts to deflect criticism by implying filter opponents were all card-carrying members of the Child Pornography Apologists League continue to backfire, with the letter noting that “a real national debate is needed on this subject but your communications minister, Stephen Conroy, made such a debate very difficult by branding his critics as supporters of child pornography. An opportunity was lost for stimulating a constructive exchange of ideas.”

The rest of the world is watching and worrying because of the precedent this sets. If a democracy such as Australia can implement a program such as this in full view of the electorate, where might be next? What hope remains for those countries that do not have our transparent system of government? Citizens of other countries can already sense that their own governments will gleefully point to Australia’s filter when proposing their own clampdown. While nobody would say that Stephen Conroy set out to be at the vanguard of a new wave of global censorship, the consternation this program is causing should demonstrate both our esteem overseas and how easy it would be to damage."

Hopefully with this sort of coverage emerging in and around the world, we can only hope that the decision is reversed. If only Conroy would come to his senses and stop proposing the nazi party-esque "doing it for the children" story.

The taking down of StephenConroy.com.au shows that the minister is ready to play hardball and is a blow for rights nation-wide imo.

What are your thoughts, comments or queries?

it was a matter of time

.com.au rules are tight yo

f***stephenconroy.com is available! Just $10.69*

Shotgun! =P

I would congregate and or march for this s***
it's like when those chicks burnt their bras for some reason or another all those years ago
they did it cause they had to

we, as nerds/geeks, must march.

We must burn our keyboards?

i like my keyboard :(

we must burn something but it ain't keyboards

Burn Faceman

I got that covered.

>10 (Plenty of Stock)

can we just get more hot chicks to burn their bras, and shirts

burn jim's thong.

Have you read Open Letter To Chris Disspain - auDA II yet

It is again with great disappointment that we note you have failed to acknowledge para 3 (point 2) of our previous communication. We feel that your initial handling of this issue is of particular relevance and again contest that your office acted politically in it's motivation to shut down our site.

We quote the following statement attributed to you in the ZDNet article (http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/auDA-No-govt-request-to-kill-Conroy-site/0,130061791,339300152,00.htm) titled "No govt request to kill Conroy site" -

" The domain name has not been taken out of Sapia's hands as yet, only made inactive, Disspain said. Sapia had fourteen days from last Friday to show that it is eligible to hold the name. If the company is able to prove a connection to the name, for example via showing it offers a product or service carrying the name, it will be allowed to keep using the domain."

We direct your attention towards the 'SC Stuff' page on our current website, here http://stephen-conroy.com/page.php?10. You will note that we are carrying three separate products clearly containing the words 'Stephen Conroy' in their product names. According to representations you have made to us, auDA's published policy, and the quote attributed to you in ZDNet we now comply with the domain eligibility policy governing the 'stephenconroy.com.au' domain name.

We acknowledge para 3 of your reply and note that this has now been well documented in the various media coverage of this issue. Whilst we feel that we can adequately explain in detail the reasons behind this, it is beyond the scope of this matter. The published auDA policy regarding change of eligibility indicates to us that we have 14 days to notify if this is the case.

We request that control of the 'stephenconroy.com.au' related domain names be returned to us within three business hours of this communication, the same time you granted us to make representations on Friday 18 December. Please note that this is an open letter which we intend to publish and release to the media immediately

http://stephen-conroy.com/news.php

Good on 'em