Greens warn Gillard over internet filter

By James Riley
Thursday, 08 July 2010 17:39

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

The Greens have ratcheted up pressure on Prime Minister Julia Gillard to dump the controversial internet filtering policy ahead of the looming Federal election, saying it is one policy the ALP will regret taking into the poll.

But after early speculation that the new Prime Minister might shelve the mandatory ISP filtering plan, Ms Gillard told ABC Radio she was happy with the aims of the policy – to target the internet's "dark side" – and was confident it would not degrade network performance or jeopardise the legitimate use of the internet.

She said Communications Minister Stephen Conroy was still working on getting the scheme into the "right shape" and that government would expect to see the legislation "sooner rather than later," although the complication of the election meant that could be towards the end of the year.

Senator Conroy has been conducting a public consultation looking at the scheme's "accountability and transparency" safeguards. While the consultation won't be completed by time the election is called, he said government had no intention of backing away from the policy.

Greens communications spokesman Scott Ludlam says there was a wealth of research and considered opinion in cyber-safety that underscored ISP-level filtering as a "clumsy, expensive and pointless proposal."

With sections of the technology community vocally opposed to internet filtering in any form, and a variety of advocacy groups from Open Internet to GetUp running populist  campaigns painting the filtering plan as the thin-end of a more sinister government censorship ambition, the issue has been identified by some as a vote-changer.

"The friendless net filter proposal is one policy that the ALP will probably regret taking into the 2010 election," Senator Ludlam said.

"Prime Minister Gillard should have taken time to hear the evidence before throwing her support behind the unpopular net filter."