Australian Women Online's 'wholehearted' support of Stephen Conroy?

This was Deborah Robinson, editor of Australian Women Online (AWO), in an email last Sunday concerning the website's stance on the Rudd Government's plan for national mandatory ISP-level Internet filtering:

Our statement only says that we support the "concept" of ISP filtering of "illegal" content. We think it would be rather preemptive of us or anyone else to debate about what form that will take when the government hasn't even made some final decisions on this yet. The government and their advisors are still researching and testing ISP filtering. The last I heard they are "considering" a two tier system of ISP filtering however, no final decisions have been made in relation to this. But as I said in the statement, we are not prepared to be drawn into a debate about the issues and nor are we in a position to provide a public forum on our website - we just don't have the manpower to do that and it really isn't our responsibility to provide a public forum anyway - it is the government's policy and therefore, it is their responsibility to handle the issue and public reaction to ISP filtering on the Internet.

On first glance it appears that Ms. Robinson is in denial that Australian Women Online had entered the debate on Internet censorship.

Even though the website's post of 30 October clearly stated:

Our motivation in being part of the debate is simply to say that we believe that as the internet is a shared space, what goes on in this space needs to be negotiated.

While AWO no longer wishes to be "drawn into the debate", there is one interesting echo of a 3 January 2008 post which appears to be missing in action from AWO along with at least one other concerning filtering:

A few days ago I wrote a post on this blog in support of the Australian government's plans to introduce a mandatory clean feed in homes and schools. Since then I have been villified and personally attacked all over the Internet. Now I'm wondering where are those groups who are against porn? I feel like I'm all alone taking the heat for everyone who agrees with the government's policy of ISP filtering of porn and violence, whilst so many who have fought for this remain silent. I maybe one of the most hated women in the blogosphere at the moment. But at least I had the guts to voice my opinion on this issue.....

Even before that 3 January post she was quite happy to personally enter the debate over at Search Views on 31 December 2007 with this comment linked to AWO:

Deborah Robinson [ December 31st, 2007 at 5:02 pm ]

Australia isn't censoring the Internet. They are providing a clean feed to filter out porn and violent material, something European countries have been doing for quite some time. Bloggers like Duncan Riley from TechCrunch are making a big fuss over nothing. Riley sprouts conspiracy theories and other rubbish to his legions of fans who are hungry for news. Bobbie Johnson from the UK is the only voice of reason in this debate and your readers should read his post on this issue and give Riley's a miss.

And again at Librarians Matter on 1 January when she posted a comment (also linked to AWO) which included mention of non-mandatory filtering which occurs elsewhere:

5 Deborah Robinson on 01 Jan 2008 at 5:24 am

It seems to me you have already made up your mind to condemn the move by the government to introduce a clean feed. So I don't know why you ask for further information on the subject.

There has been a massive over-reaction to the announcement by Stephen Conroy. Clean feeds have existed in the UK and and other democratic countries in Europe for years and no-one has had their civil liberties violated or been persecuted as a result.

I applaud Kevin Rudd and the Labor government for having the guts to clean up the Internet. For too long it's been a haven for child pornographers and other undesirables and it's about time something was done about it.

Indeed, so into the debate was Deborah that two days later she turns up on Austrolabe and other sites besides over time.

Australian Women Online was so enamoured by one port locking option that on 9 January 2008 it invited the rest of Australia to participate in lobbying:

Join Australian Women Online in the campaign to introduce the CP80 Internet Channel Initiative in Australia.

Now Ms. Robinson may feel put upon because she came out and cast a few stones at bloggers who objected to Senator Conroy's grand plan, but I'm not about to weep into my hankie for her or Australian Women Online.
They are quite happy to correspond with the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and be part of the online debate until challenged - then cravenly they try to hide behind government departmental processes.

For the record, here's a quote from Ms. Robinson and Australian Women Online which gives a small clue as to why they may not fully understand the Internet and those who use it:

Here is what we know so far: Although we would like to do more feature articles on the serious issues, the public just don't respond to them, which is why we don't see more websites for women dealing with the big issues. Women don't want to think about the big issues, they want to relax, make some new friends and be entertained. There is also a section of the community who just doesn't know what they want from the web.