We laughed when the original six ISPs were announced to trial the Government’s ISP-level internet filtering scheme – aside from iPrimus, we’d never heard of any of them. Well, yesterday the Government added a seventh ISP to the trial, and this time it’s a biggie. Optus will be taking part in the trial from May 22.If you’re a Optus Internet customer based in Sydney or Newcastle, you may be part of the trial – everywhere else is safe for the moment. The trial is expected to last for six weeks, and Optus has stated that they’ll be informing customers who have been selected to participate via email from yesterday, and the program is opt-out (unlike the real filter if the Government gets its way).
So our advice: opt out, opt out, opt out. Despite Optus stating that they want to play a proactive role in the trial to measure the impact of filtering technologies, the truth is that filtering trials have already been done before and told us that these technologies DO have a negative impact on performance. Not to mention the simple fact that, as any real anti-virus software company will tell you, filtering through a blacklist isn’t an effective way to stop access to internet nasties.
Anyway, I’m just happy I’m not an Optus internet customer today…