Australian ISPs Censor Internet, Get Cash
Posted: December 15, 2009
Updated: October 4, 2017
The Australian government has given a green light to a controversial plan to filter the internet. Under new amendments to the Broadcasting
The Australian government has given a green light to a controversial plan to filter the internet. Under new amendments to the Broadcasting Services Act, all internet service providers (ISPs) in Australia must implement mandatory content filtering technology to block material rated “Refused Classification” (RC). A blacklist maintained by the Australian Communications and Media Authority will be used as the source of the filter.
Blocked content will include illegal material related to drug use, crime, and sexual violence, along with extreme pornographic materials. Dozens of films and video games are also included in the blacklist. A live trial involving 9 ISPs tested the system. Enex Testlabs, the company that conducted the tests, reported that the system is far from perfect. The filters produce false positives at a rate as high as 4%, blocking innocuous items such as references to sperm whales, and even the website of a dentist from Queensland. Enex called this overfiltering “unacceptable”, but it seems the Australian government disagrees.
The impact that this new filtering system will have on online gambling sites in Australia. It has been suggested that this additional filtering could be offered as an optional “feature” at extra cost to consumers, but this has yet to be confirmed.
This new internet censorship scheme will be implemented over a 12-month rollout period, beginning in last quarter of 2010.
