Internet Filtering

As the Australian government tries to firewall and filter the entire internet and protect us from the “evils” of the net, someone needs to tell them the rabbit fence has plenty of holes.

The Government wants to censor Australia’s internet with a system that goes further than any other democracy and experts say is unworkable, and will miss the vast majority of inappropriate material and threatens our democratic freedoms. Testing has already begun on systems that will slow our internet by up to 87% according to some experts, make it more expensive, and accidentally block up to 1 in 12 legitimate sites.

As a net citizen and a parent, it is important to be aware of what things we need to protect our children from online, but relying on a technology based solutions, over active parenting, participation and education seems very simplistic and naive.

Yet the Government will co- invest $5 billion in the development of a high-speed broadband internet – an initiative that will be drastically undermined by any ISP-level filter system.

Seems that there is a  huge contradiction at play between the need to develop critical high speed infrastructure to develop industry and advance the economy  and the filter fear factor, trying to regulate a medium that defies normal broadcast regulation.

ISP’s are not broadcasters and have no role in being judge and jury on individual freedoms.