At 5:30PM on April 1st, Activists protesting against the Rudd Government’s proposed Mandatory Internet Filter will gather in Hyde Park Sydney to speak out against Government Censorship.

One of the organisers of the protest and member of Pirate Party Australia, Simon Frew, said. “I think it is outrageous that the government has the audacity to force this filter on a supposedly free society. This is the sort of censorship you would expect of China or Iran, and it is being roundly condemned by the US State Department and Google for good reason.”

“Adding Wikileaks to the blacklist is a good example of how the Rudd government can and will abuse its power for its own political agenda.” Mr Frew continued. “Once censorship infrastructure is in place, it could easily be expanded to cover other politically sensitive material by successive governments. This needs to be stopped before it is started.”

“Our plan for the action is to take part in distributed street theatre. We will be fanning out across the city, wearing gags to symbolise being censored. Each group of people being censored will be accompanied by a ‘normal’ person who will distribute information leaflets to the public.”

“The idea for this action is to bring attention to how censorship is going to affect our lives once the Mandatory Internet Filter is in place. Hopefully some people will end up with a flyer in their hand and their interest sparked.” Mr Frew said. “We hope to create an action that is fun for the participants, as well as a bit of a spectacle that gets people talking.”