Net filter protests fail to deliver crowds

Can't say I'm surprised, I'm fully against the filter but knew little of these events. Why? Because I refuse to use Facebook and the only way to really get any information about them is through Facebook!

Apart from that, the best way to combat this issue is to educate the public so that they may eventually feel inclined to turn up to a rally such as this. The average Joe punter still doesn't know jack about this filter, and unless groups walk around malls, shopping centres, major events etc and tells people about it, they never will.

I signed the petition in Brisbane against the filter. It was small, and there needs to be more support to stop the filter.

I dont know what time that photo (perth) was taken but it certainly wasnt at 12:15pm. there was huge queues lining up to sign the petition, I waited for 15 mins in the queue before giving up and deciding to come back later. I also cna see that the photos are positioned to fulfil the article needs rather than what really happen.

The picture of the crowd at the Perth protest is totally misrepresentative, it appears to be taken on the stroke of midday. By about ten minutes past midday, about 150 people had assembled, the crowd turnout was actually pretty decent. Both petitions were enthusiastically signed, and the location was much better than last year's, being directly in front of the city's train station, we had a steady flow of passers-by picking up on the loudspeakers and stopping to listen.
The main problem with the rally appears to be getting the word out. Even those very familiar with the issue had trouble finding out when/where these rallies were planned to be held. Creating an event posting on Facebook is NOT the way to do this.

As someone else pointed out, the photo above is not a good reflection of the crowd that came out in Perth.

At the height of the rally I estimate up to 300 people were there listening to the speakers.

We got hundreds of signatures on petitions, we marched and many of the protestors were at their first ever protest.

Numbers were effected by the amount of time we had to promote the event, considering Stop the Filter only started up 4 weeks ago, and due to an environmental rally that was held on the same day - and people gearing up for the ACDC concert.

We did promote the rally outside of Facebook as much as possible - we sent press releases, spoke on 3 different radio shows, had coverage in the Perth Voice, as well as word going out on various contact email lists - and put posters in internet cafes and other shops that would allow us to, as soon as we could.

In spite of being interviewed by the West Australian - the only mainstream newspaper in Perth - they chose not to run with the story.

Against the odds we got a decent crowd and I personally thought that it was informative, productive and entertaining.

Special thanks to the band Project Mayhem, who came on board in the days just prior to the rally and agreed to play on the day. It was the icing on the cake.

Anyone who would like to help us with an ongoing campaign and future events is welcome to come to our next organising meeting. Please email stopthefilter@iinet.net.au.

Trish Zanetti
Stop the Filter

re- this part of article
"Sydney protest organizer, Shaz Salimian, said attendees at the Parramatta rally had decided with-- Rhiannon--- to re-organise under a new group free of political agenda.
"[The] Net Freedom Coalition will unify [groups] to stop the Internet filter. All groups are welcome and will not feel threatened that a political party will take advantage," Salimian said in an online video.said in an online video."

Rhiannon never agreed to anything and she did not come to the meeting after wards the only thing i asked her was on stage and that was would she be willing to provide public liability insurance like the parramatta event that block the filter organized that day for a city protest /rally event where she answered with only" contact me or someone in my office " she never agreed to or did i mention her agreeing to anything in my vid about a working with other political groups in unity for
net freedom coalition events that my vision for was a unity of all political groups free of point scoring etc

Thanks Darren,

All is forgiven :-)

Feel free to contact me for an interview with regards to future stories about Stop the Filter activities.

Thanks again.

Trish Zanetti
Stop the Filter
stopthefilter@iinet.net.au

I was at the Sydney rally. We had people who had never protested before including people who didn't know about the filter until they learned about it on the day.

We also had the loudspeakers booming down Macquarie Street, and people coming from within Parramatta Park, and local press coverage, as well as several people taking video of the speeches.

Focusing on just the perceived numbers says little. For example there are approximately, 400,000 Facebook users that have joined groups against the filter.

If each of those represents unique Australian citizens, I think Conroy has a problem.

But like others have said, Facebook is a terrible medium for organising protestors. People say they will come (in Sydney, around 710 people said they would come, and 13,000 for the NDA more generally) but they don't.

Facebook makes people lazy and distracted. It's too easy. But that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of people who are already against Conroy's policy.

Unfortunately, sometimes you have to go where people are, and they tend to be on Facebook these days......