Have we already lost our freedom to view what we want on the net? David Neiger investigates censorware and Australias Internet policies.
Recent amendments to the Australian Broadcasting Act make Australia one of the few countries in the world that attempts to regulate and censor Internet content and impose obligations on ISPs to provide content filtering software - also known as censorware.
Proponents of free speech such as the Electronic Frontiers of Australia maintain that this law imposes on Australia a more authoritarian regime than Singapore or Malaysia - and makes us the laughing-stock of the world (www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/stop.html).
Others such as Senator Brian Harradine of Tasmania are clearly concerned about the effectiveness so far of the regulation of the Internet and imply that further review is required. Senator Richard Alston, at a recent Internet Industry Association (IIA) dinner was quoted as clearly advocating the need to control Internet content in the same way as movies and books are classified in the physical world. If [material] is refused classification, then it is essentially hard core porn or worse - in other words, criminal. We take the view that [this material] is not acceptable in any jurisdiction.
Does Australia need an electronic Dingo Fence to keep out the perverts and paedophiles or are certain conservative elements in the government pushing their own agenda? Who should control what adults and children can access over the Internet? Does censorware work or are there better alternatives?
The legal basis for Internet censorship
The censorware debate
Censoware products
Exposing how these products work
What can you do if your site is blacklisted?
Future policies and directions