AUSTRALIA'S mandatory net filter is being primed to block 10,000 websites as part of a blacklist of unspecified "unwanted content". Some 1300 websites have already been identified by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. Communications Minister Senator Conroy revealed details of the Rudd Government's proposed web filter as he called for expressions of interest from internet service providers (ISPs) for a live trial of the technology, the Courier-Mail reports. ISPs will test ways to filter the web using volunteer subscribers. The trial will start before Christmas and is expected to last six weeks. What's the best way to control inappropriate web content? Comment below "The pilot will specifically test filtering against the ACMA blacklist of prohibited content, which is mostly child pornography, as well as filtering of other unwanted content," Senator Conroy told Parliament today. "While the ACMA blacklist is currently around 1300 URLs, the pilot will test against this list - as well as filtering for a range of URLs to around 10,000 - so that the impacts on network performance of a larger blacklist can be examined." A spokesman for Mr Conroy later said: ''The pilot will provide an invaluable opportunity for ISPs to inform the Governments approach. ''The live pilot will provide valuable real-world evidence of the potential impact on internet speeds and costs to industry and will help ensure we implement a filtering solution that is efficient, effective and easy for Australian families to use.'' An ACMA trial of web-filtering technology this year found it could slow internet access by as much as 87 per cent and by at least 2 per cent. Electronic Frontiers Australia board member Colin Jacobs said his civil liberties group was concerned at what would be deemed "unwanted content". "It is unclear how ACMA will scale up their blacklist to 10,000 websites and what will go on the list," he said. "Conroy said the list would contain illegal and unwanted content but we still have to see what would end up on that list. "Under the current mandate that includes adult material, which would mean most material that could be rated R and, in some circumstances, material rated MA15+."
Well nobody needs to see child porn, but I wonder what "other" stuff gets included. Slower access is certainly a step backwards.
more of our freedom taken away,classic left wing government,glad i'm over 50. in 20 years time how will we be controled?
It better not block my girl on girl and hardcore action sites!! Actually this might be good, people may get disillusioned with Krudd and vote against him in the next election.
"Under the current mandate that includes adult material, which would mean most material that could be rated R and, in some circumstances, material rated MA15+." So technically that includes youtube
Ban the Bible first! ---> http://blogs.news.com.au/jackmarxlive/index.php/news/comments/filtering_the_bible/44533
They seem more interested in the 0.00001% of the population that might d/l child porn then actually going after the people who are creating the child porn. Image Unavailable, Please Login
And content censorship aside (which in my opinion should be left to the individual to decide for themselves what they see - and parents (shock, horror) be the ones responsible for what their children access) - this issue of slowing down the speed of the Net is critical. Do numbnuts Krudd and his cronies have any concept as to the overall cost a slower Net speed will have on our already struggling economy? When will they wake up to the fact that such a slowdown in speed = decreased productivity to the point it will end up costing us a hell of a lot more than the billions they are trying to throw at this useless attempt at controlling what we think and do? Their total contempt for democracy is astounding!!!! This will affect everyone, including those who don't even use computers, because even they benefit from the technology. We are already a bit of a joke in other parts of the world, as our Net speed is so much slower than it could be - why not spend the billions on increasing the speed to be in line with other countries around the world. There has to be a way that as a so called democracy, we can prevent whatever government that was voted in at the last election, spending OUR hard earnt money on something the majority of people disagree with - sure we can remember and hopefully vote them out at the next election, but the damage will have already been done. And let's not forget that even at the last NSW Election, many people were still foolish enough to vote in an incompetent State Government (it would seem some people need to actually wait until their government has sent them broke before they react!!) who just keep digging us deeper and deeper into debt, and addressing it by introducing more taxes to compensate for their gross mismanagement of public money. Okay, end of rant - just needed to get that out I know I am probably preaching to the converted (and apologies to those who aren't).
I want episodes of TG banned !!! 700+ MB d/l with an addicted son means he wipes my bandwidth out in a day and then it's back to 64k BTW anyone else going to the TG live in Feb next year ?
Wearing thongs - poor form. Few folks are in so far: http://aussieexotics.com/forum/cars/top-gear-live-sydvegas-acer-arena-58-february-2009-t2405.0.html
Tell me about it!! According to scene rules they should only be 525mb an episode for 60min~ shows but the rules are lax and let them be 700mb. That's 200mb I could be using on other stuff! I mean damn it! I only have 55gb a month Image Unavailable, Please Login
