Restricted Access Systems Insufficient for Links

7 May 2009

After it came out that the Classification Board had classified the infamous AbortionTV page R 18+, a number of people have suggested that you could link to the page if you made the link subject to a restricted access system. But restricted access systems in relation to R 18+ require proof of age and, in any event, must apply to the content itself and not to the link to the content.

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Classification Board Classifies AbortionTV R 18+

5 May 2009

Today, ACMA issued EFA with a final link-deletion notice for linking to the blacklisted AbortionTV page. From the notice, it appears that the Classification Board has now actually classified the content, and that the classification it arrived at was R 18+. The AbortionTV page is now ‘prohibited content’ as opposed to ‘potential prohibited content’.

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TrueCrypt Volumes Still Undetectable

1 May 2009

Last week, Forensic Innovations Inc announced on its blog that it has a tool that can identify headerless encrypted data, such as TrueCrypt volumes. For the tool to work, it would have to be able to distinguish between random or pseudo-random data and the output of ciphers like AES. I ran a quick test to see whether it could. It can’t.

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The Daily Show Now Unavailable Online in Australia

29 April 2009

Today, The Daily Show website joins a long list of innovative online content services, such as Hulu and Pandora Internet Radio, that are unavailable to Australian residents. The frustration is ineffable. At least we have Foxtel.com.au, where you can watch ads for Foxtel 24-hours-a-day.

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Exetel Trials Filtering with No Ability to Opt-Out

28 April 2009

Around noon yesterday, Steve Waddington of Exetel announced that Exetel would run its own filtering trial, independently of the Government-run trial. The kicker? There is no ability to opt-out of the trial.

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Classification Board Website Finally Back Online

24 April 2009

On 26 March 2009, the Classification Board website was hacked, and the text on the homepage was replaced. Today, nearly a full month after the site was hacked, an overhauled version of the site is finally back online.

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Why ACMA Probably Won’t Fine You $11,000 a Day

20 April 2009

After ACMA threatened Whirlpool’s host with an $11,000 per day fine if it failed to remove a link to a blacklisted anti-abortion website, some people expressed concern that they’d receive surprise fines. To explain why this isn’t the case, I provide a detailed look at the regulation of Australian-hosted prohibited content.

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Why It’s Legal to View Prohibited Content

2 April 2009

‘Prohibited content’ suggests content that is illegal to view or possess. In fact, it is a legislative term that includes all content classified RC or X 18+ and some content classified R 18+ and MA 15+. I have a detailed look at the regulation by ACMA of overseas-hosted prohibited content.

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Force CommSec to Use HTTPS with NoScript

2 April 2009

I previously wrote about how CommSec uses a non-SSL frameset to deliver sensitive financial data. It turns out that you can use the NoScript add-on for Firefox to force CommSec to use HTTPS.

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Classification Board Website Hacked

26 March 2009

Three versions of the ACMA blacklist have leaked to Wikileaks. Then it was revealed that anyone could extract the blacklist from the Integard filter in a 30-second hack. Now the Classification Board website has been hacked. Wouldn’t it have been ironic had the hackers elected to post the leaked ACMA blacklist on the site and then report the site to ACMA?

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Commonwealth Insecurity: Banking over HTTP

20 March 2009

CommSec uses a non-SSL frameset to deliver sensitive financial data. You never know (without some digging) whether the content frame is at the www.comsec.com.au domain and whether it’s using SSL, so you’ll never know whether it’s safe to enter your details there.

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iTunes 8.1 Takes 8.1 Seconds to Load

14 March 2009

Apple released iTunes 8.1. ‘iTunes gets a speed boost.’ I suppose ‘speed boost’ means that it’s faster, not fast. It takes 7–8 seconds to load, compared to one second for each of Windows Media Player 12, Microsoft Office Word 2007, and Firefox 3.0.7. It’s about time apple wrote a native Windows iTunes interface that just works.

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