Of Blacklists and Barbra Streisand

In the wake of news that Australia's blacklist has been leaked, I came across these interesting comments:

"Because this is a secret that has been leaked, everyone will be after it.”

“Every Australian will want to know what they were not they were considered so irresponsible to not leave alone.”

Guys said the leakage is proof that the list will be continually leaked if the Internet content filters are enforced, which he said will completely undermine its effectiveness.

Of course, the classic Streisand effect applied to blacklists: as soon as you create one, everyone wants to know whats on it, and some will manage to do so despite the blacklists - thus ensuring that those sites will get far more traffic than if no blacklist had been created.

So blacklists are actually one of the most foolish ways of trying to censor: wonder how long it will take the authorities to work this one out?