Minchin also praises AFP on pwning child porn purveyors

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Friday, 12 December 2008 08:28

Opinion and Analysis

“These sophisticated and insidious underground networks, operating both here and abroad, highlight how Labor’s proposed mandatory filtering at ISP-level would be ineffective against ‘peer-to-peer’ activity.

“ISP-level filtering will do nothing to tackle those areas of the online world where the most predatory and illegal behaviour takes place.

“Mandatory filtering is no silver bullet and when it comes to tackling this behaviour head-on there is simply no substitute for effective and well-resourced law enforcement.

“The Rudd Labor Government is proposing to spend some $75 million on a mandatory filter at ISP-level, but in light of this successful operation, you would have to ask if this money wouldn’t be better spent on increasing AFP resources for tackling unlawful, online behaviour.

“The Coalition is prepared to consider any measures to increase online safety, as long as it can be demonstrated that they are sensible, workable and effective.

“In terms of computer use, adult supervision should be front and centre of any efforts to keep children safe, supported by optional pc-level filters, which are installed in the home and can be tailored to the needs of individual user settings,” Senator Minchin said.

15,000 videos and 500,000 images of child pornography were seized as a result of police efforts, in one of the largest operations in recent years.