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Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Australia to filter the internet, joining China and Iran
The Australian government has announced compulsory internet filtering. Rejecting arguments that it will trifle free speech.
"Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said new laws would be introduced to ban access to "refused classification" (RC) sites featuring criminal content such as child sex abuse, bestiality, rape and detailed drug use."
"Under the Chinese-style system, Internet service providers (ISPs) in the country would be legally obliged to filter out banned material.
The move would mean more than 1,300 sites that show child pornography, bestiality, sexual violence or give instructions about committing crime would be blocked. The government says such a system would help protect people, especially children, from harmful material found online.
"Telstra, Australia's largest Internet service provider, said blacklisting offensive sites using a filter system was feasible as long as the list was limited to a defined number of Web addresses, but that no single measure would make the Internet 100 percent safe.
Under the new system the exact meaning is still unclear. Will it really work and how many legitimate sites might get blocked. This is a mandatory system which will be implemented across the country. Internet right groups are up in arms against this move and it will block freedom of Speech and also slow down the internet.
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