In a bizarre case of mistaken identity the department of Customs and Border Protection appear to think that OpenAustralia.org‘s republishing of Federal parliamentary discussions constitutes a blog.

Last week we were told by a person who works for the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service that OpenAustralia.org was blocked by their IT department’s security policy.

Curiously ironic, Open Australia (.org) being censored by an Australian federal government agency. Its not unique though. The internet is often perceived as a major security threat to government bodies and therefore needs policing, gatekeepers and "automated, outsourced and sometimes unreasonable or illogical" blocking to those who work in the public sector.

Seriously, if security was the real issue, why on earth are these departments connected to the internet in the first place? The subscribed internet-filtering-blacklist is apparently the panacea for all risk managed security.

Silly isn't it? I wonder how much these protective solutions cost the taxpayer? Really.

Sylvestor

note: I am a public sector employee, just being open and honest about it ;)