The Government policy claims that the filter will obstruct those trading in child pornography. They have also indicated that one of their goals is to “protect” the general public from access to “refused classification” sites.

This policy is flawed on so many levels – technically, monetarily, morally and democratically. Let’s look at each these levels more closely.

Monetary

To understand how this will affect your pocket, you need to understand that this policy will essentially force all Australian ISPs to filter content at their level. To comply, ISPs will have no choice but to implement expensive infrastructure changes. To recoup the cost, they are going to charge someone.

If they charge the government, they will pass it on in taxes. If they don’t, they will charge you.

Anyway you look at it, the Internet just got a whole lot more expensive for everyone!

Technically

Quite simply the technical solution is poor; it doesn’t filter the very mechanisms that the perpetrators it is targeted at treasure so much.

• Email
• High traffic websites
• Secure http enabled sites
• BitTorrent
• Instant Messaging
• Peer to Peer

So what will it filter then?

It will filter websites and content that the Government deem unsuitable, or, to use their rhetoric, “Refused Classification”. This means that sites that even discuss issues that are deemed unsuitable by a Government official will be blocked.

We are talking subjects like abortion, euthanasia, political commentary and a host of other content. What’s worse is that they have nothing to do with the so called target of blocking Child Pornography. If a website has been unknowingly hacked or compromised they stand at risk to be filtered.

This puts Australia’s whole Internet-based economy at risk. I struggle to understand how the Government even thinks they will be able to keep up with the demands of the Internet to block the so called “bad” sites and content. The Internet is growing so rapidly that over several billion pages a day are created.

Any way you look at it the solution doesn’t make sense.

Morally

This is censorship at its worst and totally Un-Australian. If the filter is allowed to be implemented then we will become the most monitored and filtered country in the world, more so than the likes of China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.

This gives our Government the right to dictate what you can and can’t see (yes there are technological ways to get around it; however you would be breaking the law).

Democratically

Our democratic rights are at risk. If we let this Government implement the filter, it negates our basic right to Freedom of Information. Searches for material with strong social, political and/or educational values will be blocked.

This means if you were searching for information on safe injecting or graffiti art it would be blocked. Yahoo’s recent submission to the Government highlighted these issues.

When it all comes down to it, the so called blacklist that drives what can’t be seen, could be subject to abuse by overzealous Government officials and politicians with personal or monetary agendas. Once the filter is implemented it will become a fixture and no Government will roll it back because of the cost. They will also have a mandate to expand their scope to other mediums such as television and gaming platforms.

Is this what Australians want?

Now that you have read this,I implore you to go forth and explain to your less informed friends what this means to them.
I believe our Government is relying on the general lack of understanding in the community to get this through parliament.
This really hit home with me when discussing the subject with a number of people who were not tech savvy on the weekend.
When they realised what it actually meant they were genuinely shocked. Before that they’d heard of it and just thought why should I care?

So what can we do to stop it?

Take up the challenge attend the rallies, write to your federal member, sign the online petitions, stand up and be counted as members of the Internet community and spread the word.