[LINK] Net censorship to cost users
Bernard Robertson-Dunn
brd at iimetro.com.au
Tue Aug 5 21:40:05 AEST 2008
Net censorship to cost users
Fran Foo
August 05, 2008
Australian IT
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,24128728-15306,00.html
INTERNET users could be forced to subsidise the federal Government's
quest to censor the internet, with early estimates indicating the scheme
could cost $60 million a year.
In the federal budget the Rudd Government said internet service
providers would receive only a one-off subsidy towards the cost of
installing the filters.
"This funding will largely occur in 2009-10, with funding in following
years only for new providers," the budget papers say.
The Government has earmarked $125.8 million for a range of internet
security initiatives, including the filtering program, over four years.
About $49 million of the allocation has been slated for online law
enforcement, but it remains unclear how much has been set aside solely
for web filtering, as the budget includes research, international
collaboration and education programs.
The true cost of the filtering program is expected to be revealed after
live trials are held later in the year.
In a recently concluded government trial in Hobart, several filtering
products were tested in a closed, laboratory environment. Testing
perimeters were set by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's
predecessor, Helen Coonan, but the current Government had to abide by
them. Compared with previous tests, the results were hailed a success by
Senator Conroy, but he said it was too soon to tell who would end up
footing the bill.
The merits of blocking illegal websites, especially child pornography,
are well canvassed, but the scheme's business case has flown under the
radar - mainly because none exists. Instead, the Government is seeking
leadership from service providers. "The pilot will enable the Government
to collect evidence on the effectiveness of filtering systems in a
real-world environment, and on the potential impacts on network
performance and the costs to industry," a spokesperson for Senator
Conroy said.
Web filtering vendors have welcomed the results of the Hobart test, but
are concerned commercial realities will rear their heads later. Eric
Krieger, whose company Secure Computing Australia sells security and web
filtering products to ASX100 companies and most government agencies,
said the main question for parents would be whether they would have to
pay for it.
Software filters to shield families and their children from net nasties
were provided by the Howard government at no charge, but uptake was
abysmal. The $85 million National Filter Scheme had 110,000 downloads
for the free filters and 27,000 CD orders, according to published figures.
Mr Krieger said the Government was politically motivated to make
mandatory web filtering work. "My cynicism stems from political
necessity," he said. For a small service provider with 5000 users, the
fit-out for web filters would cost about $10 a user annually. The price
would be massively reduced for service providers with a larger base.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were 6.14
million household internet subscribers at December 31, 2007. At a rate
of $10 per user per year, the cost would be about $61.4 million.
At the top end, a service provider such as Telstra BigPond has more than
2.8 million retail broadband customers. Small service providers have
users in the hundreds or low thousands.
Australia has more than 400 service providers and Mr Krieger fears small
outfits will be left in the lurch when mandatory filtering kicks in.
Other security vendors have also expressed similar concerns as they face
a shrinking base, but one small service provider is unperturbed. South
Australia's Webshield says the first thing the Government must do is
clearly articulate what it wants to achieve with mandatory filtering.
"Generally, things are headed in the right direction with this program
but a number of questions remain unanswered," Webshield managing
director Anthony Pillion said.
If each service provider had to individually purchase web filtering
software, costs would be higher, Mr Pillion said. However, if the
Government bulk-purchased, costs would be lower.
Webshield already offers its 5000-plus internet users content filtering,
but other service providers would have to invest in the platforms to
offer the service.
"Customers already pay us to filter the web for them," he said. "If
larger service providers don't offer customised service or adopt a
set-and-forget approach, we'd have a fair amount of business. If BigPond
offers exactly what I can, my business will be in trouble. In business
there's always a threat but I'm not concerned at this point in time. I'm
looking at how to position my business."
--
Regards
brd
Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
brd at iimetro.com.au
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