IF YOU care about democracy, follow the worm. This worm has a name: Stephen Conroy. While Australians were distracted by another worm this week – top of the screen for Rudd, bottom for Abbott – few bothered to watch the more insidious wormling, Conroy.

We get the democracy we deserve. Our failure to watch the squirming Conroy, the Communications Minister, means we're about to get the web we deserve: among the most censored in the free world. We expect China, North Korea and Iran to filter what their citizens see. If Conroy gets his way, Australians will be subjected to a mandatory filter on internet service providers within a year.

Few of us seem to appreciate what he's up to. Fewer seem to care. Conroy received just 174 submissions from the public on his proposal. They included this from a Franz Kafka: "What a joke!" Succinct, unambiguous, not the least Kafkaesque. Unlike Conroy's filter.

He and his government want to protect you and your children from images of bestiality and child sexual abuse. They also want to shield you from how-to guides on crime, terrorism and drugs, in case you're ever tempted to commit one, become one or try some.

Trouble is, nobody who understands the first thing about the web – or the behaviour of criminals, terrorists, drug abusers and child molesters – believes his filter will work. Kiddie porn peddlers use peer-to-peer networks, which will escape the filter. So will emails.