The Australian government has proposed a mandatory Internet filtering scheme that will require ISPs to block access to certain sites for all Australians. The government says it's doing this to protect children from accessing pornographic or violent content but some sources – including Google, Yahoo and the United States government – have criticized the plan since it is, in essence, censorship.
For example, a post on Google Australia's blog said that Google is "concerned by the Government's plans to introduce a mandatory filtering regime for Internet Service Providers (ISP) in Australia, the first of its kind amongst Western democracies... [O]ur primary concern is that the scope of content to be filtered is too wide." (Source: ABC News, March 29, 2010)
How the Filter Works
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has created a blacklist of websites hosted outside of Australia that contain what it considers to be objectionable material not suitable for viewing. The ACMA calls this material "Refused Classification" (RC) and defines it depictions of child sexual abuse imagery, bestiality, sexual violence, detailed instruction in crime, violence or drug use and/or material that advocates the doing of a terrorist act.
The Government plans to maintain a list based on complaints or "through arrangements with highly credible overseas agencies to share child sexual abuse content lists." Failure by the ISP to comply with the filter scheme will result in heavy daily fines. (Source: Australian Government, Dept. of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, December 2009)
Controversy and Technical Issues
If Australian ISPs begin filtering material based on a Government-maintained blacklist of URLs, Australia will be on par with China as far as blocking Internet content. While it is presently unclear how the technology will be effective in determining what is "objectionable" and what is "safe" – aside from human input – a leaked list made its way onto Wikileaks in March, 2009 and demonstrated that the Government had included many sites outside the scope of its ACMA's definition of RC content.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that "... about half of the sites on the list are not related to child porn and include a slew of online poker sites, YouTube links, regular gay and straight porn sites, Wikipedia entries, euthanasia sites, websites of fringe religions such as satanic sites, fetish sites, Christian sites, the website of a tour operator and even a Queensland dentist." (Source: Sydney Morning Herald, March 19, 2009).
While many consider reduced access speed to be the biggest problem, civil liberties groups are more concerned that the government will censor any content it considers inappropriate – including news and current affairs that reference material that has been deemed not only illegal but controversial in the subjective opinion of the classification board.
Considerations
It should be noted that peer-to-peer file sharing will not be targeted, since the list includes material published on a website; nor does it affect instant messaging, email or video chat – which, arguably, could be far more dangerous for children if they encounter an online predator.
The filter would be in effect for all Australians – including households with no children – and could potentially affect someone's site that has no illegal pornographic or violent content. Since the government's list would be kept from the public eye, no one (besides the classification board and ISPs) would be given the right to determine what is inappropriate and what isn't.
For more information:
- Australian Government, Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy:The official Government site for information regarding content classification, cyber-safety and Internet filtering
- Open Internet and The Electronic Frontier, supporting a free and open Internet for Australia, with compelling arguments against censorship.
- libertus.net, which compiles data, opinion and studies concerned with Internet censorship and the Australian Government's mandatory filtering plan
Edmund O'Reilly - Originally from New York, Edmund moved to Australia in 2006 and works as the Creative Director at a multimedia agency in North Sydney, ...
