Communications minister Senator Stephen Conroy last week reminded us that internet filtering is still very much an item on the government’s agenda. That’s a worrying prospect, but it could be worse: the UK is contemplating a plan where access to all adult content would be ‘opt in’, with adult material blocked by internet service providers (ISPs) unless customers specifically ask for it to be switched on.
Have we talked about internet filters before? Yes, just a little. While we’ve been kicking the issue around, we shouldn’t forget our cross-Tasman siblings in New Zealand have had their own filter running since March of 2010. As far as experiments go, Australia really couldn’t ask for a more convenient test subject.
Ah, compulsory Australian Government Internet Filter. Why won’t you die? Oh, that’s right — because you’re still part of government policy. At the NBN three year rollout launch today, Senator Stephen Conroy was asked about the progress of the Internet Filter. His response didn’t say much, but it was rather worrying.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy’s suggested in relation to the Federal Government’s controversial — and not popular here at Gizmodo — Internet filter that Optus and Telstra have implemented it. That’s not quite the whole story.
Giz is no fan of the current government’s mandatory filtering proposal, but the history of Australian government net filtering is rife with wasted money and wasted opportunities. Realistically, though, what should any government be doing?
It’s no secret that Giz isn’t a fan of the government’s filter. Though Telstra has now adopted a more moderate voluntary framework (and Optus soon will), other ISPs like Internode and iiNet call it “security theatre” bypassed with basic DNS tweaks. The latest filter news: NBN Co has confirmed it won’t be filtering–that will remain in the hands of ISPs.
In last year’s budget, the federal government introduced a $9.8 million program to assist ISPs in offering voluntary filtering measures. In last night’s budget announcement, that program was scrapped. Turns out, nobody actually wants internet filtering…
Just before the election the government’s proposed internet filter was postponed until next year, in what was widely regarded as a quick and easy way for the government to kill off a controversial election topic. But it didn’t die. Now John Hilvert at ITNews is reporting that a strategy brief from the DBCDE is stating that the legislation couldn’t be introduced to parliament until the middle of 2013.
It seems that no matter how many FTW’s Senator Ludlam drops in his press releases, the Labor government is like a stubborn mule when it comes to filtering the Internet. Or, perhaps a more apt simile is a stubborn ass. PM Julia Gillard told an audience at the Queensland Media Club in Brisbane that implementing the filter is a “moral question”.
After the high drama that was the 2010 Australian Federal Election, things are starting to settle down into a sense of normality. Well, as normal as you can get with a minority government, anyway. But the news relevant to technogeeks like yourselves is that filter-loving and NBN-dishwasher creator Senator Stephen Conroy still has his BCDE portfolio, while across the floor on the opposition side, Malcolm Turnbull has risen up as his new political nemesis.
