I like this, Whirlpool announces new legal threat policy.

For those of you who don't know, Whirlpool is:

Whirlpool.net.au is a fully independent community website devoted to keeping the
public informed about the state of broadband in Australia. Since its inception
in 1998, it has become a premier destination for broadband Internet subscribers.
As well as its rich source of broadband news and information, Whirlpool boasts
one of Australia's largest technology-related online communities.

And it rocks. They also provide Broadband Choice, with the ability to select a plan or ISP to your own needs, without just using the iPrimus or Telstra plan whacked inside the newspaper.

Whirlpool is brilliant. It has forums, big ones. It's often called Whinge-pool due to the fact that theres always someone complaining about something in any one of the forum areas. If you want to go with an unknown ISP, and the forum is filled with complaints about the hidden clause you missed, you can find out about it without suffering the same problems, business is held accountable.

I'm a nerdlinger, so I reckon it's the bee's knees. Whirlpool's headlines keep up to date with the latest scandals in the Australian Internet world, at least as far as providers are concerned. It's run by volunteers, has no advertising, and runs by donations, for the goodness of public awareness. ACA should be doing this, but instead, these guys are.

It works well, some of the ISPs CEO's answer questions (at least they used to), as well as having staff to represent the ISP within the forums to dispell rumours or false claims. It has been wonderful to see how some of the up-and-coming stars have had to fight against the mighty Telstra's evil doings, to the current point where they are activating exchanges for ADSL where Telstra won't using their own hardware.

All Australians should be aware of, and utilise the services of Whirlpool/BroadbandChoice, as a part of their internet service decisions. But they don't.

Anyhow, the initial news item about the legal threats fills me with gooey joy.

To paraphrase: "if a company threatens us with legal bullying, and tries to chisel away at the freedom of speech in our public forums, we will fudge you up." Kudos and power to 'em.