"... Any Australian HN readers could explain why Australia (or at least its government) seems to be obsessed with controlling the Internet? ..." For the answer

"... Any Australian HN readers could explain why Australia (or at least its government) seems to be obsessed with controlling the Internet? ..." For the answer to that I think you might want to study the "classics": rhetoric and the Roman Republic ~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Republic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Republic You will find all the answers there. Legacy seen through the lens of history has a way of sorting the barbaric from the visionary government.