Stephen Conroy Good For The World: YouTube, Fark, SlashDot Very Bad

Written by:
C Costigan
Published on:
Apr/09/2009

If you've been following our coverage of Australian Senator and Communications Director, Stephen Conroy, it may be abundantly clear that he wants to censor just about every website under the sun that can be justified somehow as "not politically correct", then lumped into the dreaded "pornography" classification.  He's gone after a dentist website and YouTube links among others.  Conroy also is not fond of online poker websites.

But in the whole scheme of things, Senator Conroy may not be entirely off his rocker, not when one looks at the recently released Virginia Fusion Center Report.  No, Conroy is not the author and, no, Australians need not worry about this one....at least not yet.  This is a report released in the US.

On the surface, the report is well meaning and important to national security:

The purpose of the 2009 Terrorism Threat Assessment is to convey potential terrorism threats affecting the Commonwealth of Virginia. Terrorism, for the purpose of this report, is defined as politically motivated violence or threat of violence designed to coerce action or to prevent others from taking intended actions. While there is no intelligence that indicates terrorists are currently planning attacks in Virginia, the presence of extremists, evidence of trends linked to terrorism, and the abundance of potential targets, suggests that the potential for Virginia to be targeted remains significant.

Look at little deeper and not all is what it appears to be.

From Prison Planet:

The report smears anyone who is "anti-government," "anti-abortion," as potential terrorists, equates people who enjoy rifle shooting practice and hunting with terrorists, and demonizes the use of the Internet and websites like You Tube, Fark and Slashdot as terrorist tools. The use of "e-protests" is also talked about in the context of terrorism.

The document also discusses "special interest groups" who "incorporate a political message" in its section about domestic terrorists, which could be defined as any mildly political organization whatsoever. Despite the report listing political groups that it admits do not espouse violence nor have ever engaged in violence, it defines being "confrontational during demonstrations" within the context of domestic terrorism.

The report also identifies people who identify themselves as "sovereign citizens" and carry documents proclaiming their status as sovereign citizens, as domestic terrorists and links them with the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

SInce the Virginia Terrorism Threat Assessment doesn't stretch as far as to equate a sitting member of Congress with terrorists, it might not go the same way as the MIAC report, where it should, and end up in the trash can.

Needless-to-say, the Fark readers - and there are many - weren't very happy about this assessment.  Commented one:

"Now another reason that people should keep their Fark activities under wraps... If you admit to being a Farker in public, you'll probably be arrested and interrogated, or thrown into some secret prison in eastern Europe."

Payton O'Brien, Gambling911.com Senior Editor

 

 

 

 

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