iiNet quits Government web filter trials

[Dropdeadqt]

http://www.news.com.au/technology/story ... 39,00.html

AUSTRALIA'S third largest internet service provider (ISP) has pulled out of the Government's web filtering trials, saying the plan is "no longer just about stopping child porn."

The Government's plan involves a nation-wide filter that stops "unwanted material" from appearing on Australian user's computer screens.

iiNet says the ambiguity of "unwanted material" is what caused it to pull out of the trials.

“We are not able to reconcile participation in the trial with our corporate social responsibility, our customer service objectives and our public position on censorship,” iiNet managing director Michael Malone said in a statement.

“It became increasingly clear that the trial was not simply about restricting child pornography or other such illegal material, but a much wider range of issues including what the Government simply describes as 'unwanted material' without an explanation of what that includes."
Related Coverage
Earlier this year, the Government snubbed larger ISPs Optus and iiNet when announcing participants for its first round of live trials, instead favouring a handful of small ISPs.

One of them, Primus, has since compared compulsory web filtering to China.

Optus will still seek to participate in the second round of trials, according to ZDNet.com.au.

iiNet had stated it would take part in the trials to prove that an ISP-level web filter won't work.

“Everyone is repulsed by, and opposed to, child pornography but this trial and policy is not the solution or even about that."

“In reality, the vast majority of online child pornography activity does not appear on public websites but is distributed over peer-to-peer networks which are not and cannot be captured by this trial or policy.”

The web filter is based on blacklist of websites administered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

Last week, a list of websites purporting to be ACMA's blacklist was leaked online, containing alleged links to child porn as well as more common sites such as YouTube, Wikipedia, and small businesses.

The Communications Minister Stephen Conroy denied that the leaked list was the same as ACMA's, but said it contained "some common URLs".

[Cartollomew]

Yeh, it's becoming apparent that the whole idea is pretty fail quail.

I especially liked the "That's not the ACMA blacklist - Wikileaks has a different list", followed by "We'll be fining Wikileaks until they take down our list". Consistency - not required in politics or law. GG.

[Johnnyrico]

so i go iinet means i dont get screwed by the stupid firewall?

Winrar!

[Cartollomew]

so i go iinet means i dont get screwed by the stupid firewall?

Winrar!

if they pass it as law, it doesn't matter who your ISP is.

But you can always buy a US proxy off me, and continue browsing for pr0n...

[Johnnyrico]

so i go iinet means i dont get screwed by the stupid firewall?

Winrar!

if they pass it as law, it doesn't matter who your ISP is.

But you can always buy a US proxy off me, and continue browsing for pr0n...

screw your 300% surcharge

[Cartollomew]

screw your 300% surcharge

We haven't settled on pricing yet - we're waiting on confirmation that the scheme will go ahead (it won't).

If it does, it'll probably be 5-10 bucks a month for 20 gigs via a US server. The connection will be through an encrypted tunnel with no logging on our servers.

Flipping the bird to Conroy every time you connect is optional.

[Kayleb]

thats a pretty sweet deal
I'm guessing thats through your normal ISP?

[Cartollomew]

thats a pretty sweet deal
I'm guessing thats through your normal ISP?

Yeh, you still need to pay for normal net access, but this'll give you unfiltered access - mostly just for browsing without pryin' eyes, and browsing what you want.

Also good for tunnelling at work :-O