[LINK] Canberra calls net filter trial

[Stilgherrian]

Or, this story just posted:

Net censorship plan backlash
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/11/11/1226318639085.html

Opposition is mounting to the Government's controversial plan to  
censor the internet, with the head of one of Australia's largest ISPs  
labelling the Communications Minister the worst we've had in the past  
15 years.

Separately, in Senate question time today, Greens senator Scott Ludlam  
accused the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, of misleading the  
public by falsely claiming his mandatory censorship plan was similar  
to that already in place in Sweden, Britain, Canada and New Zealand.

...

Michael Malone, managing director iiNet, said he would sign up to be  
involved in the "ridiculous" trials, which are scheduled to commence  
by December 24 this year.

Optus and Telstra both said they were reviewing the Government's  
documentation and would then decide whether to take part.

But Malone's main purpose was to provide the Government with "hard  
numbers" demonstrating "how stupid it is" - specifically that the  
filtering system would not work, would be patently simple to bypass,  
would not filter peer-to-peer traffic and would significantly degrade  
network speeds.

"They're not listening to the experts, they're not listening to the  
industry, they're not listening to consumers, so perhaps some hard  
numbers will actually help," he said.

"Every time a kid manages to get through this filter, we'll be  
publicising it and every time it blocks legitimate content, we'll be  
publicising it."

...

Stil


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