ISP Filter Trial May Have Been Illegal

Despite the fact that there are a lot of people out there who openly oppose the mandatory internet filter proposed by the current Labor government, most are unable to argue their case from a purely technical standpoint. Fortunately they don’t need to, thanks to outspoken critic and engineer Mark Newton, who is now claiming that the ISP filter trials held last year may have been illegal.

According to Ben Grubb over at ZDNet, Newton has been talking to the government for a year over how they conducted the trial, believing that some of the equipment used would have intercepted customers traffic, which would breach section 7(1)(b) of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979.

The key item in question is the Marshall M3000, which according to Newton received a complete transcript of all internet data from the trial period, which would contradict the Telecommunications Act

Despite the process taking over a year, Newton still hasn’t received the answers to his questions, only a statement from the Government claiming they did no wrong. He’s now hoping that the matter will be investigated by law enforcement.

[ZDNet]