Anime, Kevin Rudd and the censorship saga

Dateline recently did a very interesting (albeit disturbing) story about the emergence of a new anime style. With a decline in revenue and Japan's ageing population, there are animators who've turned their hand to what they describe as anime of the 'soft-core genre'. But let's cut the P/C bullshit. Really, it's anime porn!

And it has left the Japanese industry divided. On one side of the fence, there is the need to rack in some cash and they've been given the opportunity to cater for a financially well-endowed audience.
But then there's the catch: "Anime porn comes in forms that escape the rules covering photos and live-action videos, even when children are depicted sexually..."
Not all 'late night anime' is this way inclined, but it's growing.

I wonder what comments Mr Rudd would pass on this phenomenon. His Labour Party are certainly not scared to pass judgement on issues of censorship. Their proposed internet filter has stirred up much debate and even more resistance. The United States is now the latest band wagon jumper with both the US ambassador to Australia and a US State Department spokesman raising concerns over the Rudd Administration's new policy.
Their claim: "it runs contrary to (our) policy of encouraging an open internet to promote economic growth and security".
Concerns that mirror my own. Personally, I believe there are four major accusations that the government needs to stand trial for:

1. The filter will strangle free-speech on the internet, potentially blacklisting websites that may very well be controversial, but pose no real threats to 'innocent eyes'. 
2. Who controls the blacklist? Mr. Rudd claims there will be an independent board monitoring it, but conspiracy theorists like to suggest that there will inevitably be Government involvement. For once, I'm inclined to believe them.
3. There will be a significant and noticeable reduction on internet speed.
4. Internet users will ALWAYS find a way around it, rendering the filter useless. 

Points one to three raise moral and pragmatic issues that will forever be debated - even if the filter is abandoned - but it's the fourth issue that troubles me the most, simply because Stephen Conroy made the proclamation last year that "our pilot, and the experience of ISPs in many western democracies, shows that ISP level-filtering of a defined list of URLs can be delivered with 100 per cent accuracy." A comment like this (daring to use the phrase '100 per cent') can only be made by someone who is blindly faithful to their cause, who accepts what they're told is the divine truth, who hears only what he wants to hear. He is, for the lack of a better phrase, a cyber-safety evangelist.

Now anime has evolved in its 93 years from a small number of curious Japanese animators who were inspired by 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves' to (amongst other things) today's porn industry. There have been people - both in the industry and in the audience - who saw the demand for it, found the loop holes and established the means by which the (not so) 'soft-core' stuff could be produced.

The internet is no different.

And with the Government's filter described by many as draconian, there will inevitably be programmers who'll see themselves as the freedom fighters and martyrs of cyberspace, and will do all they can to circumvent the firewall. Likewise, there will be less-than-legitimate companies and individuals whose sole goal will be to hack their way through this system and simply go 'back to business as usual.' They will see the demands, find the loop holes and establish the means by which the net can be accessed.

And so it goes; as long as there is an audience, there will be anime porn. As long as there are users who want an uncensored internet, there will be internet hackers. And that filter, Mr Rudd, is just a red flag to the bull - and you, the inexperienced matador holding it.