No opt-out of filtered Internet

by Darren Pauli, Computerworld

Australians will be unable to opt-out of the government's pending Internet content filtering scheme, and will instead be placed on a watered-down blacklist, experts say. Under the government's $125.8 million Plan for Cyber-Safety, users can switch between two blacklists which block content inappropriate for children, and a separate list which blocks illegal material. Pundits say consumers have been lulled into believing the opt-out proviso would remove content filtering altogether.

The government will iron-out policy and implementation of the Internet content filtering software following an upcoming trial of the technology, according to the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. Department spokesman Tim Marshall said the filters will be mandatory for all Australians. “Labor’s plan for cyber-safety will require ISPs to offer a clean feed Internet service to all homes, schools and public Internet points accessible by children,” Marshall said. “The upcoming field pilot of ISP filtering technology will look at various aspects of filtering, including effectiveness, ease of circumvention, the impact on internet access speeds and cost.”Internet Service Providers (ISPs) contacted by Computerworld say blanket content filtering will cripple Internet speeds because the technology is not up to scratch. Online libertarians claim the blacklists could be expanded to censor material such as euthanasia, drugs and protest. Internode network engineer Mark Newton said many users falsely believe the opt-out proviso will remove content filtering. “Users can opt-out of the 'additional material' blacklist (referred to in a department press release , which is a list of things unsuitable for children, but there is no opt-out for 'illegal content'”, Newton said.

“That is the way the testing was formulated, the way the upcoming live trials will run, and the way the policy is framed; to believe otherwise is to believe that a government department would go to the lengths of declaring that some kind of Internet content is illegal, then allow an opt-out. “Illegal is illegal and if there is infrastructure in place to block it, then it will be required to be blocked — end of story.” Newton said advisers to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy have told ISPs that Internet content filtering will be mandatory for all users. The government reported it does not expected to prescribe which filtering technologies ISPs can use, and will only set blacklists of filtered content, supplied by the Australia Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

EFA chair Dale Clapperton said in a previous article that Internet content filtering could lead to censorship of drugs, political dissident and other legal freedoms. “Once the public has allowed the system to be established, it is much easier to block other material,” Clapperton said. According to preliminary trials , the best Internet content filters would incorrectly block about 10,000 Web pages from one million.

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Phone a friend in exams

Anna Patty Education Editor, The Age, August 20, 2008 - 10:31AM

A Sydney girls' school is redefining the concept of cheating by allowing students to "phone a friend" and use the Internet and i-Pods during exams. Presbyterian Ladies' College at Croydon is giving the assessment method a trial run with year 9 English students and plans to expand it to all subjects by the end of the year. An English teacher, Dierdre Coleman, who is dean of students in years 7 to 9, is co-ordinating the pilot which she believes has the potential to change the way the Higher School Certificate examinations are run. The Board of Studies is looking at ways it could incorporate the use of computers in the exams. Ms Coleman said her students were being encouraged to access information from the Internet, their mobile phones and podcasts played on mp3s as part of a series of 40-minute tasks. But to discourage plagiarism, they are required to cite all sources they use.

"In terms of preparing them for the world, we need to redefine our attitudes towards traditional ideas of 'cheating'," Ms Coleman said. "Unless the students have a conceptual understanding of the topic or what they are working on, they can't access bits and pieces of information to support them in a task effectively. "In their working lives they will never need to carry enormous amounts of information around in their heads. What they will need to do is access information from all their sources quickly and they will need to check the reliability of their information."

A year 9 PLC student, Emily Waight, said she was apprehensive about the new approach when it was introduced. "I was a bit hesitant because I didn't know how it could help us," she said. "But I don't think it is cheating after having done it twice. It just helps you find information to answer the question appropriately." A fellow student, Annie Achie, aged 15, said she loved the new method. “Phoning a friend really helped," she said. "It was good to have someone else to talk to and brainstorm some ideas with. "I phoned my aunty who is pretty good at English. I asked her about the Olympic Games and whether it was a waste of finances. She gave me the idea that they use the money for infrastructure instead of for China's people. I expanded on that idea."

Ms Coleman said the assessment task was set after students had read Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech and Dickens' book, A Christmas Carol, as studies in persuasive language. "They weren't marked on their information about the Olympic Games but on whether they used persuasive language effectively to make their argument." PLC's headmaster, William McKeith, was inspired to stretch the open-book exam to new technological heights after hearing the views of an international education consultant, Marc Prensky. Mr. Prensky threw out the following challenge to educators in a British Educational Communications and Technology Agency publication: "What if we allowed the use of mobile phones and instant messaging to collect information during exams, redefining such activity from 'cheating' to 'using our tools and including the world in our knowledge base'? "Our kids already see this on television. 'You can use a lifeline to win $1 million,' said one. 'Why not to pass a stupid test?' I have begun advocating the use of open phone tests ... Being able to find and apply the right information becomes more important than having it all in your head."

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Why buy the format when the premise is free?

We could be heading back to the dark days of 2004/05, when accusations of TV format theft were flying all over the place, if what appears to be a leaked memo from ABC Studios is anything to go by.

The memo (left) was apparently sent to US showrunners and exec producers to encourage them to 'be inspired by' successful foreign shows rather than pay the licence fees, and it has set the format industry ablaze. It's been emailed around Hollywood for the past few weeks and is now making its way out to the international market, after first appearing on LA blog site Deadline Hollywood Daily.

ABC Studios wouldn't comment on the memo, when contacted by C21, but it is seemingly written by ABC studios exec VP Howard Davine and tells exec producers who have deals with the studio that he would prefer that they come to him with hits from overseas before they licence the US format rights, so studio mandarins can see if they could get away with copying the "underlying premise" without having to licence the actual format.

The memo has split the format industry down the middle, with some saying it's a blueprint for format theft, and others saying it's a legitimate strategy for avoiding paying for something you don't have to. After all, "why pay for the format when the premise is free?" asks one online commentator. Furthermore, some remade shows end up so unlike their originals that some question why a licence was required at all. In the memo, Davine is quoted as saying: "Often-times, what is appealing in the format may be nothing more than a general underlying premise, which, in and of itself, may be no reason to licence the underlying property."

The downsides of format licensing are then listed: the original creators wanting exec production credits on the resulting show, "adding an unnecessary layer to the creative process"; the "significant" costs of format fees and exec production fees; a large chunk of the backend going to the original creator; and the added expense of having to then licence further rights, if the show hits, such as for a spin-off feature film or stage production. The memo also points to one of the oldest problems in format business, that of the original producer wanting unrestricted rights to sell their original show in the US, and the distributor of the new US version wanting unrestricted rights to sell their show internationally.

ABC Studios is apparently learning the lessons of Ugly Betty (left), which is a huge domestic and international hit but is based on IP its US producers (which include ABC Studios) and distributors (Disney-ABC International Television) don't own. The ABC Studios man then, if the memo doing the rounds is for real, suggests that instead of licensing foreign formats, either pitched via talent agents or spotted themselves, producers should first discuss the format in question with ABC Creative Affairs. This is so the studio can "make our own independent evaluation whether the licence of the property is necessary or appropriate."

The industry's reaction to the memo has been two-sided. One commentator on the original DHD story accuses the site of fear-mongering, adding: "Doesn’t this simply explain the legal need to differentiate between an inspirational source and a direct influence?" Another says: "Nothing in that memo proposes ripping anyone off, they are simply trying to protect themselves from over-zealous agents and attorneys." Others, however, are concerned that the memo will mean their ideas are now more likely to be stolen. One described the memo as "an elaborate justification for plagiarism" while another warned: "Who in their right mind thinks this attitude will stop with foreign properties. If they want your idea, but haven’t worked with you before, they’ll just go through the same process. We all need good lawyers."

The memo might simply be guilty of putting down on paper what most studio business affairs execs already think, but many on the creative side of the business are criticising its somewhat cavalier attitude to the ownership of original ideas. The original creators of any hit show don't like being reduced to simply "an unnecessary layer" in the creative process of the US version. And while producers, both domestic and foreign, are now worrying that ABC Studios might hear their pitches and simply take the "underlying premise" for free, the real issue is that across the studio lot from Davine's office is a very big company that relies on distributing not only US programming but also intellectual property. It's called Disney. Perhaps executives there won't appreciate a similar attitude being taken by its international clients when it comes to Disney's own formats?

Ed Waller 5 Aug 2008 © C21 Media 2008 http://www.c21media.net/features/detail.asp?area=24&article=43551

The ABC and RollerMache are pleased to present you a free teacher's tool kit!

Are you to teaching media studies or digital storytelling to school age students, now or in the future?

This complete media studies lesson plan can be used by teachers with no experience in media production but can also be used by established instructors to augment existing Media Studies, English, Art, Multimedia or related courses. You can download the whole toolkit here:

Rollermache Teacher Toolkit (PDF)

Whats in in the Toolkit?

Produced by staff from ABC TV Multiplatform in collaboration with Media Studies teachers, the downloadable classes cover all stages of media production and with a focus on animation. Providing overviews on key subject areas, instructions on making your own media, detailed class activities and links to related sites and media, this total lesson plan provides all the tools and information required for the conceptual analysis and practical production of media products.

At the end of this class students will have planned made and edited their own animation complete with sound, and will have uploaded it to the RollerMache gallery where they can send it to friends and family to see and rate. Students will also learn to:

• Investigate the nature of storytelling and the reasons for its popularity
• Consider the individual production of a media product from pre production through to distribution
• Learn to critically analyse films and other media
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• Learn to conceptualise, visualize and express their own ideas and gain self-confidence and communication skills through that expression
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You can download the tool kit in four separate heading areas

Media Heroes Trading Cards

Reclaim the Media honors a small handful of media heroes who have inspired thousands of people to become more thoughtful media consumers and media makers. Media heroes are everywhere: journalists, activists, media innovators and educators making sure that we all have access to media that supports democratic values of justice, community and respect. Some media heroes are solitary voices keeping a candle of truth burning through a period of darkness. Others are organizers working to expand the range of people who can wield the power of publishing and broadcasting. or reveal hidden aspects of the media that is all around us.

http://www.reclaimthemedia.org/mediaheroes