Google and Yahoo continue to vent there disapproval on the Australian Federal Government’s plans to introduce Internet content filtering censorship that is destined to fail.
The Minister for Broadband and Communications Stephen Conroy has stated that the filter will block Child Pornography, sexual Violence and access to number of other sites that display content such as violence and drug use. Industry analysts have stated that although much of this inappropriate activity is already non-existent on the general world wide web, the introduction of a content filter would not halt activities such as child pornography anyway, due to the elaborate networks that use software such as a VPN to navigate around the filter.
Many fear the Australian Government is being self righteous regarding what evidence and arguments come before them and will give Australian parents a false sense of security by introducing the filter. What’s more, google has stated that “moving to a mandatory ISP-level filtering regime with a scope that goes well beyond such material is heavy-handed and can raise genuine questions about restrictions on access to information.” Even though many checks and measures would be set in place, surely such controlling actions by the Australian Government could pitted along side China with their control and censorship laws and furthermore, be looked upon as a provocative action that could well and truly lay the foundations for a future Totalitarian government?
Extreme as it may sound, parties such as Yahoo and Google are not taking any chances, and are now just two of the 174 formal complaints thus far to have voiced their concerns to the Australian Communications and Media Authority regarding the proposed web filter plans.
Edit - Want to know more on why the Internet Content Filter won’t work? Then click here and read thepunch.com.au “Top 10 internet filter lies”.
