After Delays, ISP Filtering (Censoring) Goes Ahead

The testing will take place for six weeks once the equipment has been installed at the ISP's, and will examine impacts on performance, user experience and also the ease of circumvention. Customers will get to choose if they want to participate in the trial.

The first phase of the Government's ISP filtering (Internet Censoring) trial has been confirmed with an initial rollout to six participating ISP's.

The "test" group of ISPs are Primus, Tech 2U, Webshield, OMNIconnect, Netforce and Highway 1.

Consultations are continuing with a number of other ISP's that have applied to take part.

Apart from Primus, most internet users would not be familiar with the other ISP's due to their small size.

According to Senator Conroy (the Minister for censorship), consultations are continuing with a number of other ISP's that have applied to take part. They include iiNet, Internode, Optus and others, some of whom have voiced concerns that the filtering tests will be watered-down and won’t represent real world conditions.

Telstra, Australia's largest ISP, refused to participate in the trial, calling mandatory Internet filtering an attempt to "boil the ocean".

The pilot will involve two filtering techniques — a simple filter of the Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA) blacklist, and a more invasive content filtering solution.

Addendum - 15 Feb 09

Primus, one of the ISP's involved in the Government’s mandatory filtering system trials, has compared the new filtering process to China’s harsh censorship laws.

Primus – the largest ISP to take part in the trials – also says any filtering systems shouldn’t be mandatory.

Andrew Sims, the Manager for Marketing and Products has stated that, "customers should have a choice as to whether their internet connections are filtered". "We've got instances of that around the world, particularly in China where the Government forces filtering upon their population," he said. "My professional opinion is I don't really believe that forced filtering is a good option". "If a family chooses not to have their children exposed to some of the nasty stuff on the internet, that's an option. But forcing everyone to do it, I don't believe it's a good idea".

Sims also said that Primus customers will be given notification of the trials, and they have the ability to opt-out. "Customers who feel that it's an invasion of privacy or who don't wish to participate for whatever reason won't have to".

Iain

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