Category Archives: Mandatory ISP Filtering

All Without a Filter

Do not be fooled by the lack of news in regards to Australia’s planned mandatory internet filter. It is still on the agenda, and the powers that be who think we can’t protect ourselves and our children from the “bad stuff” still want to develop and deploy a censorship mechanism to deliver on their goals. [...]

Why Legislated Internet Filtering is Utterly Pointless

The powers that be, in their infinite wisdom, believe that the way to stop people from viewing and distributing the so-called “worst of the worst” or copyright protected material online is to legislate various forms of filtering mechanisms. In Australia, we have Stephen Conroy’s mandatory internet filtering scheme. In the US, there is the proposed [...]

Internet Filter Demonstrably Useless

Earlier this year I speculated that the National Classification Review, set up by the federal government via the Attorney-General’s (AG) department and the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) might become a vehicle for a tactical retreat on the mandatory internet filtering policy. Certainly, the government has been noticeably quiet on the [...]

84,000 Filter Hits: I Call Bullshit

Some interesting numbers have emerged in the last couple of days in regards to the the “voluntary” filter applied to internet connections by four of Australia’s biggest service providers – in this instance from Telstra, the nation’s largest. Telstra Logs 84,000 Filter Redirects “Telstra has redirected internet users that try to access child abuse materials [...]

Why Our Classification System Is Broken

I don’t think that anyone in their right mind denies the need for a system of classification for media content. Such a system provides a valuable tool for anyone to understand the content of material, as part of the decision process of whether or not that material is for them. In Australia, we have had [...]

Why I Dumped Telstra

About a year ago, Telstra – (along with Optus and iPrimus) – agreed to “voluntarily” apply a version of the government’s mandatory internet filter to the connections of all of their customers. They agreed to “voluntarily” filter out at least a certain subset – (mainly child pornography) – of the ACMA blacklist, the complete contents [...]

More Stumbles For Internet Filter

In recent days we have seen more bumbling and stumbling from the government in regards to its proposed mandatory internet filtering plan, further suggesting that it might just be on the outer from the government’s policy agenda. Last week, it became clear that without fanfare, the branch of the Department of Broadband, Communications and the [...]

Does Review Make Implementing Filter Impossible?

For some time I have believed that a possible function of the so-called National Classification Scheme Review (NCSR) could be to position the government for a soft-landing, get-out-of-jail-free card in relation to their mandatory internet filtering plan. I most recently discussed my feelings on this topic in this article from last week. Reading some more [...]