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The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, today announced that Optus will participate in the Australian Government’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) filtering pilot.

Senator Stephen Conroy outlined the process as being evidence-based.

“The participation of Optus will help ensure the Government obtains robust results from the pilot, which will inform the evidence-based development of our ISP filtering policy.”

This news comes after iiNet withdrew from the trial process.

Optus have released Q & A info on their website.

Tech Wired have been given the following information:

Gary Smith, General Manager of Regulatory Compliance at Optus said:

• Optus has been accepted into the Governments’ ISP filtering Pilot, due to begin on 22 May 2009.
• The trial will last for approximately six weeks.
• An area covering Sydney/Newcastle will be used for the trial.
• Residential customers in the chosen area will be eligible to participate.
• Customers can opt-out of the trial, even after it starts.
• Communication via email to customers will be issued from 22 April, 2009.
• Optus is participating in order to accurately gauge the effectiveness of filtering and the impact on its network, including download speeds and customer experience.
• Participation will be strictly limited to filtering ONLY the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) blacklist which contains URLs of prohibited content.

Maha Krishnapillai Director of Government and Corporate Affairs at Optus said:

“Optus has always been a strong advocate of promoting the safety and wellbeing of our customers online, in particular families.

Our participation in the ISP filter pilot is further proof of our commitment to explore ways in which Optus can contribute to the protection of families, and their safe use of the internet.

We are looking forward to working with Government on this initiative, and to better understand the implications of internet filtering.

Additionally, as an IIA accredited Family Friendly ISP, Optus informs customers of how they can obtain a content filter which they can download onto their home computer.

The telecommunications industry must be able to demonstrate that using the internet can be as easy, safe and secure as possible – especially for families using the internet to live, work and play.

Optus believes the best way to accurately gauge the impact that this type of filtering may have on our network -including download speeds and customer experience – is to play a proactive role in the pilot.”