Australian Government Storms Ahead With Internet Censorship - 12-23-08

December 23 - The Australian Federal Government plans to test its Internet filtering system in the coming weeks through a series of trials. What started of as a commendable initiative to target child porn has now mushroomed into something that will make the Chinese government's own censorship laws look like a Mickey Mouse copied in a Chinese sweatshop.

The project is being forced on a number of Internet Service providers, despite valid criticism by the the Greens and the Liberals, as well as anti-censorship advocates. In addition, technical experts have pointed out that it is near impossible to avoid legitimate sites being filtered out in the process.

Trials are to start in the coming days and any arguments over the civil liberties of the citizens of Australia are being blatantly ignored by the government. In fact, the government has hardly even made any public comment over the issue themselves. Internet providers will begin mandatory censorship of what the government calls "unwanted content" in the coming days.

Insiders are reporting that the scheme could cost tens of millions of dollars, and it appears that the industry is fighting back with the largest Internet Service Provider, Telstra, now refusing to participate in the trials.

Moreover, there is a rumor that a report was leaked that found the technology to be flawed, but as we all know, governments all over the world love to implement things that everyone else tells them won't work. They will do well to take

The Internet Industry Association, an industry body of which the ISPs are members, say that the technology is immature and because of the way that industry addresses work, non targeted sites will often get filtered. Add to this the anticipated impact on Internet speeds and the whole idea looks even more insane.

During its campaign to win office, the Rudd government promised that the scheme would allow for opt-out by users, but they have since added a mandatory layer of filtering.

Observers and Internet users wait in anticipation to see what happens in the coming weeks. This is a test for the civil liberties of Australians, something people in that country hold very dear.

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