In an October 6 Associated Press article, AP Hispanic Affairs writer Laura Wides-Munoz reported that McCain adviser Ana Navarro "allows that the [Republican] party lost support among new Hispanic citizens because of some Republican lawmakers' remarks during the recent congressional debate over proposed immigration reforms. But the McCain campaign is using Spanish-language ads to convince Hispanics that he was on their side of that fight." However, while reporting the McCain campaign's claim that McCain was on the "side" of Hispanics during the recent congressional "fight" over immigration reform, Wides-Munoz did not mention that McCain now says he would no longer support the legislation Congress was "fight[ing]" over. As Media Matters for America has documented, McCain said in January that he "would not" vote for the immigration reform bill he co-sponsored with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) if it came to a vote on the Senate floor. McCain now says that "we've got to secure the borders first" -- a position at odds with his prior assertion that border security could not be disaggregated from other aspects of comprehensive immigration reform without being rendered ineffective.

As Media Matters documented, in a July 13 AP article, Wides-Munoz wrote that McCain "is respected by many Hispanics for refusing to pander to anti-immigrant sentiment over the years," but did not mention that McCain altered his position on immigration reform to more closely conform to the views of the GOP base. The AP has ignored McCain's reversal on border security in numerous articles since March, as documented by Media Matters here, here, here, here, here, and here.

From the October 6 article:

Ana Navarro, McCain's adviser on Hispanic affairs, said Republicans aren't investing the same amount of money as Democrats on registering new citizens. She also allows that the party lost support among new Hispanic citizens because of some Republican lawmakers' remarks during the recent congressional debate over proposed immigration reforms.

But the McCain campaign is using Spanish-language ads to convince Hispanics that he was on their side of that fight and that he has had a lifelong interest in Latin America, Navarro said.

Belizean reports that the government “is making a move to introduce a forced National I.D. system as part of new Anti Crime legislation being promoted by the U.S.A. and the British Governments.”

The Hong Kong government has issued a consultation paper on the “Review of the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance” last Friday (Oct 3). The first round of consultation will be lasted until end of January.

A most controversial issue is the suggestion on introduction of an internet filtering system in Hong Kong. In part 4 of the consultation paper, it states that the main issue at stake is:

Given the emergence of new forms of media, particularly the growing popularity of the Internet, members of the public consider it important that measures are taken to protect youngsters from the dissemination of obscene and indecent materials on such new media systems.

The government layouts a number of options:

Option one: co-regulation approach that demands Internet Service Providers to:

1. tighten up their service contracts with subscribers by incorporating specific clauses which prohibit subscribers from publishing obscene or indecent articles;

2. formulate measures against repeated offenders, which may involve limiting the bandwidth made available to such offenders or imposing temporary suspension or termination of service in case of contravention of contractual terms;

3. implement a voluntary labelling system and encourage webmasters to label their websites to indicate whether they are suitable for children and youngsters;

4. provide filtering services to subscribers for the purpose of filtering out web content which is not suitable for children and youngsters.

Option two is mandatory approach via legislation:

to make it mandatory for ISPs to provide filtering service to their subscribers so that
children and youngsters will be protected from web content not suitable to them. This would enable filtering of content from both local and overseas websites.

Option three is statutory approach, which targets at content providers:

1. websites are required to provide warnings if they display indecent materials;

2. an access control system is to be established to authenticate the age of the web users. For example, web users are required to input their credit card data before getting access to webpage containing indecent materials to ensure that they have attained the age of 18;

3. empower enforcement agencies, upon receipt of a judicial warrant, to issue a “take-down notice” to the indecent websites or the ISPs concerned; and

4. prosecute content providers who fail to comply with the statutory requirements.

Martinoei criticizes that all the suggestions imply an introduction of Great Fire Wall in Hong Kong:

蘇錦樑呢æ¢X建è¯é»¨å“¡ï¼Œè©±å’å¿«å°±è¦åœ¨é¦™æ¸¯å¼•é€²é˜²ç«é•·åŸŽï¼Œæ·«å¯©è™•æœ¬ä¾†å·±ç¶“被指權力éŽå¤§ï¼Œä¾å®¶æ¬ŠåŠ›ä»²è¦å¤§åˆ°æžéŽæ¿¾å單，係咪想æžé¦™æ¸¯ç‰ˆé˜²ç«é•·åŸŽã€‚照香港有大衛åƒéƒ½ä¿‚淫褻嘅硬膠å‰ç§‘，隨時æˆå€‹é«˜ç™»éƒ½æœƒåˆ—å…¥éŽæ¿¾å單，å’樣仲æˆä¸–界？仲惡éŽå»¿ä¸‰æ¢ã€‚

Although the government stresses that it doesn't have any fixed position, erynnyes from Those were the days is still angry at the government's suggestions:

當然，政府把一切說æˆè«®è©¢ï¼Œæ”¿åºœæ²’有立場，甚至在文件中æ出åå°è€…è²éŸ³ï¼Œä»¥é¡¯ç¤ºä¸­ç«‹ï¼Œå¯æ˜¯åœ¨ç«¥å·¥è§’度，有些立場ã€å»ºè­°ï¼Œæ ¹æœ¬æ出也是罪，因為這是削弱香港互è¯ç¶²è‡ªç”±ï¼Œå®Œå…¨æ¯‹é ˆè¨Žè«–，皆因沒有任何妥å”之餘地ï¼é‚£ä»½è«®è©¢æ–‡ä»¶ï¼Œå°±åƒäº’è¯ç¶²çš„23 æ¢ï¼Œåªæƒ³æ‰“造一個超越中國的打壓互è¯è‡ªç”±çš„香港金盾ï¼

Hystericireul posts a large picture of David Statue in his blog to protest against the Indecent censorship policy. He also makes a dozen points on the consultation:

10. 淫唔淫，根本就係åŒæ´©å””洩一樣，å„æ–½å„法å„隨心。除左少部分好明顯變態嘔心核çªæ—¢ç‰©å“之外，根本好多物å“就無一個清晰定義去界定點為之「淫ã€ï¼Œå°¤å…¶æ˜¯ç•¶ä½ æˆç­ä»†è¡—連大衛åƒéƒ½å¯ä»¥è¦ºå¾—係「淫褻ã€æ—¢è©±ï¼Œä»²æœ‰ä¹œé‡Žä¿‚唔淫？vv物語講西，淫唔淫？西廂記夢中交åˆï¼Œæ·«å””淫？莫éžæˆ‘地以後創作時就唔å¯ä»¥æ‰“ç ´å¤äººæ—¢æ›–昧，照樣講到扑野就「呵呵，哈哈，嗯嗯ã€ç®—數？

11. 根本個å•é¡Œä¿‚，å¥ç«‹ä¸€å€‹å¥åº·å¥å…¨æ—¢äººæ ¼ï¼Œå’ä½¢ç‡ä¹œéƒ½å””會變壞。而家係你ç­æ’šæ¨£æžæŸ’左個社會，æˆç­å°æœ‹å‹æœªå‡ä¸­å…ˆè¥¿çª¿ï¼Œ3456789p玩齊，呢個係佢地腦è€æœªç”ŸåŸ‹æ—¢å•é¡Œï¼Œæˆ‘地è¦åšæ—¢ä¿‚好好教導佢地，而唔係一味ç¦çµ•å›‰ã€‚

11. The issue at stake is to help our children to develop a healthy personality, then whatever they read, cannot have negative impact on them. Look at how this group of dick heads rule the society, children are having 34567 P (multiple sexual partners) before they enter high school because they are not mature in their attitudes. We should teach them, not prohibit them from knowing.

There are also some discussions from Internet forums, such as from pumb.org:

User169167 criticizes the government's official ability in governing Hong Kong:

雞有病 = 唔俾賣活雞唔使煩
樹有病 = 斬晒佢唔使煩
色情網é æ•™å£žç´°ä½¬ = block晒佢唔使煩

政府ç­é«˜è–ªåŽšè·æ—¢å¤©æ知唔知咩å«æ•™è‚²ï¼Ÿ

說穿了其實就係借管制色情網é ç‚ºé–‹ç«¯ï¼Œç¹¼è€Œé”至更容易收緊其它題æ網é (例如政治ã€ç¤¾è«–)，壓抑社會å¦é¡žæ¸ é“åå°è²éŸ³ã€‚

All these well-paid high ranked government officials, do they know what is education?

The hidden agenda is to start from controlling the pornography websites and then tighten the control of other websites (such as political and social critics) and repress oppositional voices.

User george2be said that the government power should stay out of the filtering mechanism:

家長åŒå­¸æ ¡æƒ³filter, 應該自己è£è»Ÿä»¶åš. 政府å¯ä»¥æ供資æºåŒæ¢ä»¶ä»¤å‘¢d軟件更易買到 (如跟機å¯ä»¥åŠ ). 根本無需è¦ç«‹æ³•è³¦äºˆæ”¿åºœè¨­ç«‹éŽæ¿¾æ©Ÿåˆ¶æ—¢æ¬ŠåŠ›.

正如莫乃光講, ç¾åœ¨æœ€å¤§å•é¡Œä¿‚淫審處è£æ±ºæ¨™æº–ä¸ä¸€, 缺ä¹å…¬ä¿¡åŠ›. 連定標準既機構都亂七八糟, 在未解決呢個å•é¡Œå‰, 點å¯èƒ½ç«‹æ³•æ¯”佢權力去éŽæ¿¾æ›´å¤šæ—¢è¨€è«–åŒè³‡è¨Š.

倒行逆施莫éŽæ–¼æ­¤.

Like what Charles Mok has said, now the problem is about the double standard in the OAT judgment. They have lost their credibility in the public. If they don't have a clear standard, how can we give the power to the government in filtering information?

This is such a regression in local governance.

User P-U-M-B pointed out that the internet would eventually become intranet under such policy direction:

å’æžæ³• !! internet 變左intranet

Kay sets up a facebook group on defending internet freedom to follow through the consultation.