I did the following article for iTnews:
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) yesterday demanded Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) remove a link to an abortion website from their blog, stating it would fine them $11,000 per day if not removed.
The document, issued by the ACMA to EFA’s hosting provider yesterday, explained that it was a final link-deletion notice, and if they did not comply by 6PM next business day their hosting provider, Sublime IP, would be fined $11,000 per day.
Speaking with Mark Newton, an IT expert, Tech Wired understands that a final-link deletion notice must be sent to the Classification Board for it to be “final”.
The decision from the Classification Board, available online, overruled the ACMA’s initial decision of the content being “refused classification”. The Classification Board instead deemed the content as being R18+ of which is also “prohibited content” and in turn blocked.
As seen in March of this year, Whirlpool, a Broadband discussion forum, received an interim link-deletion notice from the ACMA.
It is understood by Tech Wired that Whirlpool’s hosting provider, Bullet Proof Networks, received a final link-deletion notice last week.
Colin Jacobs, a representative for the EFA outlined in a blog post that this should alarm Australians.
“…the link was part of a political discussion about the merits of the existing and future Internet censorship policies,” he wrote.
“Nevertheless, we were forced to remove the link on pain of severe penalties.” he added.
Tech Wired was reminded of what Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy said at the ALIA Online conference on January 20th.
“…there has never been any suggestion that the Australian Government would seek to block political content.”
This decision by the Classification Board is sure to spark another chapter in the debate of whether blocking political content through ISP-level filtering is right or wrong.
No frills ISP (Internet Service Provider) Exetel announced on the 28th of April that they would start trialling a mandatory content filtering system. Yesterday afternoon it was announced by the company that the trial was a success and that there was no impact on Internet access to non blocked sites for any Exetel user.
In what came as shock to some end users of the ISP, they decided they would temporarily filter “illegal content” for a period of 1 week as a trial to see whether ISP-level filtering was feasible.
In a forum post from a representative from the company it was warned that it would not be responsible for “moral obligations” or the “right to free-speech”.
This is not a discussion about what it right or wrong about the content filtering, the filter list, or our trial of it. You should use other forums for that – preferably those run by the government.
The company represenatative also added that those wishing to complain should write to their local MP and promise not to vote Labor at the next election.
Any opinions or comments relating to your personal views on government filtering should be directed to your local MP along with your promise that you will not vote Labor at the next election (comments unrelated to actual technical experiences will be deleted from this thread).
The company concluded with the following summary:
This is the result summary:
- 20,000 active hits against the filter list
- no false positives
- no measurable impact on any Exetel router
- no impact on Internet access to non blocked sites for any Exetel user
- there were 56 problems reported that users attributed to the filter trial, each on investigation was a ‘harbour tunnel’ effect
- three people threatened to cancel their Exetel service(s) because of the trial
We were able to determine:
- how we could implement a mandatory non user optional filter system with very little/no disruption
- how we could implement a mandatory user optional filter system with very little/no disruption
- that we could offer a ‘clean feed’ filter system now, as a user pays option (similar to the spam filter) for a price of $5 per month per user
- the cost of a mandatory, non optional filter system would be in the order of $6 per year per user
This article is continuously being updated
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.”
