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VIRTUALISATION Internet filtering trial exposed as a Government sham?
VIRTUALISATION Internet filtering trial exposed as a Government sham? | Internet filtering trial exposed as a Government sham? |
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| by Stan Beer | |
| Thursday, 12 February 2009 | |
  
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The issue then is why are none of the top three ISPs, who between them have several million subscribers, taking part in the trial? Could it be because all of them have expressed misgivings over the proposed content filtering scheme? The Government may be able to claim that number one player Telstra Bigpond has not put up its hand to volunteer its services. However, that is certainly not the case with the number two and three ISPs Optus and iiNet. In fact the boss of iiNet, Michael Malone, told iTWire a couple of months ago that his company was keen to take part in the trial so that it could be exposed for the sham it is. Yet the Government has passed over the opportunity to use the substantial subscriber bases of both Optus and iiNet and opted for a bunch of bit players instead. What is the Australian public to think? There are no prizes for guessing. Media tongues are already wagging and the blogosphere is alight with indignation. If the Government really has snubbed two of the top three ISPs for its trial because they have openly expressed opposition to the concept of ISP content filtering then many will justifiably think it is engaging in a cynical plan to fix the outcome. Government apologists in this matter could no doubt claim that Senator Conroy and his department are merely trying to get an objective result by excluding openly hostile ISPs. Maybe so. However, with a prevailing view in the Internet community, including the top three ISPs, that mandatory content filtering is technically unsound and even dangerous in a democracy, the best thing Senator Conroy could do for himself right now is invite Optus and iiNet to the party. |
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