A-Infos (en) New Zeland, Internet Filtering in Public Schools]

Auckland Anti-Capitalist Group Radical Youth is blowing the whistle
on an internet filtering device in public schools that independent
legal advice has declared is probably in breach of both the Human
Rights Act, 1993 and the New Zealand Bill of Rights, 1990.
Radical Youth, a coalition of Auckland secondary school
students and young workers are saying no to discrimination
in public schools. The illegal censorship was uncovered on
Monday Afternoon when a 17 year old Auckland anarchist
decided he would check the world anarchist news on infoshop.org
from a school computer in his public high school.

Instead of the website being displayed as had happened in
the past he was shocked to discover it had been blocked by a
privately owned web filtering device called, WATCHDOG
CORPORATION.

His school, Takapuna Grammar had installed the software
allegedly unaware that it would filter out websites that
were used by students for legitimate educational and
intellectual activity.

Since Monday the student has had regular meetings with
senior management in an attempt to resolve the issue. On
Thursday management told the student they would seek a
meeting with WATCHDOG CORPORATION in an attempt to
re-establish the school's control over what exactly gets
filtered out. Radical Youth will be closley monitoring the
issue as it sets a precedent for internet censorship of
anarchist ideas in New Zealand public schools.

On Friday morning http://infoshop.org articles, which are
currently illegally censored at Takapuna Grammar, about
censorship and the legality's concerning web filtering
devices will be distributed to senior management at Takapuna
Grammar in an attempt to raise awareness of the threat to
democracy that they have been party too and in a symbolic
gesture of defiance against privatisation of the control of
information.

So why was http://infoshop.org targeted for restriction?
Alongside Pornography, Hate groups (or Corporate Watchdog’s
definition of them which does not include Destiny Church)
and "obscene" material Radical Youth would have thought that
schools would not have been interested in screening a
political and economic system. Knowledge of political and
economic systems is one of the key foundations of democracy.

WHO IS WATCHDOG CORPORATION AND WHY DO THEY CONTROL WEB
FILTERING?

In 2004, Trevor Mallard, the Minister of Education approved
Watchdog as a "supplier of a managed internet service for
state and state-integrated schools." Watchdog watches or
re-routes the internet of hundreds of state schools.
Internet, now the most used source of information for many
high school students was now to be regulated by a private
corporation. Funded by the Ministry of Education, Takapuna
Grammar is now funnelling the web sites that students and
teachers access through a private corporation's filtering
device. A filtering device that contains thousands of web
sites. This list of restricted sites has not been provided
to the users of this censored internet, the teachers and
students. It has not even been provided to the Management
staff, Board of Trustees or as far as Radical Youth can
gather, the Ministry of Education. What is obviously a
serious challenge to democracy is being supported by the
government and our education authorities.

Watchdog is a Christian principled corporation run by a man
called Peter Mancer. Mancer told Christian bulletin
Challenge Weekly that, "It is also good that we, as a
Christian principle-based company, can use those principles
in providing services to the school." Yet this Christian
principled corporation was blocking web sites if they
contained information "containing information regarding
militias, weapons, anti-government groups, terrorism,
overthrowing of the government, killing methods, etc." This
is a generic description that Mancer has acquired off
American safe internet use web sites reacting to curb the
spread of alternative viewpoints.

Yet according to Nancy E. Willard an American author on
responsible internet use whose report is available on New
Zealand Internet Safety web site http://netsafe.org , "If
this description [of anarchy] were used to block access to
information in the late 1700s the United States Declaration
of Independence and all other writings of the founding
fathers would be blocked." Willard goes on to stress that,
"viewpoint discrimination is also apparent in the category
descriptions provided by some [of] the companies."

"Viewpoint Discrimination" not only sounds bad, it is bad.
"Viewpoint discrimination" otherwise known as discrimination
regarding political opinion is in clear breach of the Human
Rights Act, 1993 and the New Zealand Bill of Rights, 1990.
Effectively this opens public schools up to Human Rights
complaints and possible court cases. Although responsibility
is being quickly passed around in relation to what is
essentially a Ministry of Education pilot scheme, schools
clearly do have a responsibility under the Bill of Rights.
Those performing a "Public function" must ensure that,
"Everyone has the right to freedom from discrimination on
the grounds of discrimination in the Human Rights Act 1993".

Who should control what sites are deemed unsuitable in schools?

The answer is obvious. Us. Students and teachers at
educational institutions and not 'well meaning' Christian
Chief Executives. We should have the last say on which web
sites are available to the students. Regulation of
information to secular public schools controlled by private
corporations guided by religious interests and a fiscal
bottom line is not acceptable.

Radical Youth wishes to send a clear message to the Minister
of Education that censorship of anarchist ideas will not be
tolerated in what purports to be an open and fair democracy.

YA BASTA

ENDS
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