I attended the Mandatory Internet Filtering protest held in Brisbane today. Here is my thoughts on the rally.

There was a good turnout of people considering the heat and humidity around at the time. 11am isn’t the best time for anything in Brisbane in summer, but when is a good time? I handed out some of the flyers and it makes me happy to know that others are interested in being informed on the issues.

The ABC and Brisbane Times (edit: updated link)have picked up the story, however it is a shame that the Courier-Mail (or as I like to call it, the Curious Snail), hasn’t as yet run anything. Shame, Courier-Mail. Shame.

It was a shame that some of the speakers were not heard by all due to megaphone issues — the megaphone wasn’t so mega. There was a good cross section of the community at the protest and considering it is hard to get a gathering of geeks in a place without connectivity it is a good first step.

I’ve read on Twitter that there was concern at the use of in-jokes on placard and how this does not have any meaning to the general layperson. However I think it is important to have this issue to relate to all. The in-jokes help some people feel included. Having a mix would be a good solution, and keeping in-jokes out of official flyers is good.

Where to from here? That’s for another time.

If you are into protesting of the peaceful kind, why not consider attending your local internet censorship protest. I will be at the Brisbane event. You could come and say hi, but that would be kinda creepy. Plus who would you say I to? I could be anyone.