Riiight… This whole ISP-level filter thing is becoming an even bigger joke than we’d previously thought. Not only did the government only select half a dozen tiny ISPs to trial the effectiveness of their filter technology (ignoring the fact that the country’s second and third largest ISPs were prepared to play along to give some meaningful data), but the largest of the selected ISPs is going to trial the filter as an opt-in option for customers. iPrimus announced yesterday that they would begin trials in late April or early May, and that the process would be on “an opt-in basis and customer participation will be totally voluntary. The ability for the customer to opt-in to the trial provides them ultimate freedom over their internet experience.”Never mind the fact that if the Government goes ahead with the filter, nobody will have that kind of choice, but let’s ask who would willingly sacrifice their internet speed and reliability to test out some filter for the Government? Seriously – who would? I want to meet these people.
One can only hope that the farcical nature of this trial process is because the government is slowly pulling away from the whole idea. Because if this is the best the government can do, we all need to be really, really scared for the future of our freedoms online…
iPrimus to participate in ISP filtering pilot
iPrimus announced today that it will be participating in the Australian Government’s ISP filtering pilot.
iPrimus is among six service providers selected by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy to participate in the ISP filtering ‘live’ pilot after submitting an expression of interest.
iPrimus’ General Manager of Marketing & Products, Andrew Sims said, “Our customer demographics are well suited to the trial, with a large concentration of families with young children who would welcome the ability to opt-in to a content filtering trial.”
“It will be offered on an opt-in basis and customer participation will be totally voluntary. The ability for the customer to opt-in to the trial provides them ultimate freedom over their internet experience. We expect to gather a lot of interesting data from the trial, especially surrounding how well filtering works in practice and our customers’ responses to it.”
iPrimus will be looking for customers to participate in the trial and will provide feedback on an ongoing basis.
Sims said, “It will be important to receive feedback from our customers on this pilot. Our customers will be notified via email details about the trial including when it will begin, how they can choose to opt-in and where they can post their feedback.”
The trial is expected to begin late April or early May and will run for a period of six weeks.
More information on the iPrimus’ trial, including Frequently Asked Questions will be available at http://www.iprimus.com.au along with instructions on how customers can participate.