Government porn filter now in test phase
THE federal Government's plan to have internet service providers filter pornography and other internet content deemed inappropriate for children is going full-steam ahead.
Net filter at test phase
The Government wants to evaluate content filters in a controlled environment
Trials are to be conducted soon in a closed environment in Tasmania.
Today is the deadline for expressions of interest to Enex TestLab, the Melbourne company evaluating internet service provider content filters on behalf of the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
ISP-based filters will block inappropriate web pages at service provider level and automatically relay a clean feed to households.
To be exempted, users will have to individually contact their ISPs.
The trial will evaluate ISP-level internet content filters in a controlled environment while filtering content inappropriate for children, Enex said.
"We invite vendors of all types (hardware appliances, software - proprietary or open-source) of ISP-based internet content filters to participate.
"Vendors will be involved in the installation and configuration of their filters to ensure their correct deployment," Enex said in a newspaper advertisement.
The testing is slated for completion by July and will be followed by live field trials.
Enex was selected more than six months after ACMA closed a tender for an organisation to test ISP-based content filters.
"The contract has been let. It will be completed by June 30, as we originally planned," Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said at a Senate Estimates hearing last week.
"We have indicated that there will be a field test to follow."
The tender was awarded to Enex on January 16, ACMA spokesman Donald Robertson said.
The tender closed in July and evaluation was conducted late last year, but ACMA decided not to let the tender until after the federal election caretaker period, Mr Robertson said.
Privacy advocates have long argued that ISP-based filters are too onerous and web users should be free to choose what they want to access online.
They also say several measures, including PC-based filters, would be more effective in protecting children online.
The internet sector has consistently voiced concern about the Government's ISP filters. [full story and source]
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It will be interesting to see if Australian traffic decreases to our sites. Does anyone think this is a testing ground for what's to come in the U.S.?
