Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) have today announced their brand new initiative in the fight against the draconian Internet filter. “Time to Tell Mum” is all about encouraging Australians to tell their Mum (and Dad, and other family and friends) about the Internet filter and, more importantly, why the filter will not protect Australian children.

The campaign features a 4 minute video by comedian Akmal Saleh is also designed to highlight the misconception that this filter will somehow help families. It’s a brilliant video which will certainly raise interest with mainstream audiences.

“The Government took this policy to the last election as a ‘cyber-safety’ tool to help parents, but it’s since changed into something completely different. Not only will the filter not protect children, it might give parents a false sense of security and actually lessen the supervision kids get online,” said Colin Jacobs, EFA chair.

“Australian parents need help and information about real ways to keep their families safe – how to best supervise their children, and tools that can work inside their homes. The filter is a political stunt that distracts from that. Once people understand the cynicism of the policy, they go pretty cold on it. Even my mum thinks it’s a lousy idea,” said Jacobs.

The campaign’s website and video, plus links to purchase merchandise, are at http://timetotellmum.com. It’s time to tell your mum.

The Mandatory Internet Filter - No Substitution for a Relationship With your Child

This illustration was done by Natalie Perkins, also known as @definatalie on Twitter.

One of the things that’s come out of our first couple of planning meetings is that WE NEED CONTENT!!!

We need pictures, videos, tunes – anything that can help us spread the word that internet censorship is a bad idea. So if you’ve got any ideas, please turn them into reality and we’ll post them here.

Please do what Natalie’s done and licence your work under a Creative Commons licence – preferably an Attribution/No Derivative Works licence. That means you’re giving us (and anyone else) the right to use the work as long as we (or they) give you credit and don’t change your work. If you want to make sure no-one makes money off your work, use an Attribution/Non-Commercial/No Derivative Works licence. And if you need to know more about how to licence your work under Creative Commons, click here.

Thanks very much Natalie for coming up with this illustration – won’t you please do something for us too?