The government of Australia today introduced a bill into the parliament giving the commissioner of the Australian Federal Police the power to censor the internet. Did I miss a memo, is it 1984 or something? This sort of thing should not be allowed in what is supposed to be a civilised country. I shall be writing to my MP for all of the good that will do. Details of the bill are here. The press release from the Australian Privacy Foundation explaining why this is a monumentally bad idea can be found here. Update: I should mention that this has all the hallmarks of a slimy underhand trick by the government. Parliament is likely to be in its last week before an election is called and my suspicion is that they are slipping this bill in at the last minute and hoping that no one notices before it is passed as law. The good news is that the media has picked up on it already.