ISP Filtering in Australia

I wrote earlier this year about the Australian Governments proposed ISP filtering scheme and out lined a number of very good reasons as to why this is extremely bad policy. Yesterday, over six months after I wrote to the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, I received an unsatisfactory response.

The letter states:

A key part of the Government’s plan to make the internet a safer place for children is the introduction of ISP level filtering. Filtering would cover illegal and prohibited content using an expanded ACMA black list of prohibited sites, which includes images of the sexual abuse of children.

Consideration is being given to more sophisticated filtering techniques for those families who wish to exclude other online content.

The Government’s ISP filtering policy is being developed through an informed and considered approach, including an AMCA laboratory trial, extensive industry consultation, and close examination of overseas models to assess their suitability for Australia. A real world ‘live’ pilot involving ISPs and their customers will follow the laboratory trial.

The Government is committed to working closely with the industry to address any concerns, including costs and internet speeds. These concerns will be carefully considered during the pilot and will inform the Government’s cyber-safety policy.

To comment on these statements – firstly the government’s ISP filtering plan will not make children safer. As I outlined both in my letter to the Minister and the related blog post, filtering is an imperfect technology, there are many ways for content producers to get around the attempts to restrict material and any filtering scheme will simply initiate an arms race where each side will constantly try out do the other. This leads to enormous ongoing maintenance costs which in the end will be put back on the consumer without ever achieving the desired results.

The second of the above paragraphs provides further concern. Whilst the Government to date has not gone down the path of filtering content other than that which is deemed offensive, the prospect of filtering other content raises serious questions. Filtering in any form posses a significant threat to free speech, diversity, neutrality and democracy.

It is interesting that the Government refers to the process as being ‘informed and considered’ particularly as previous inquiries on exactly the same topic found that ISP level filtering was ineffective, expensive and ultimately unjustified. A real space trial proposed by the Howard Government was abandoned after the major telecommunications carriers refused to participate.

Further statements from Senator Conroy’s letter do little to ease my concerns:

The Government regards freedom of speech as very important and the Government’s cyber-safety policy is in no way designed to curtail this...

[W]hile the internet has created substantial benefits for children, it has also exposed them to a number of dangers, including exposure to offensive content. As such parents rightly expect the Government to play its part in the protection of children online.

The Government’s actions and policy do very little to reflect a genuine concern for free speech. Regardless of how the try to justify it on this occasion, it nonetheless remains the first step on a slippery slope to censorship.

Furthermore, attempting to use parental concerns as the basis for introducing ISP filtering is erroneous. The most recent survey on this matter, conducted by the Government’s own Australian Communications and Media Authority, found that parents were overwhelmingly satisfied with their children’s safety on the internet. Reponses suggested a range of techniques being implemented including keeping computers in open spaces in their house, reviewing the history of web pages visited, sitting with and monitoring their children’s use and browser filtering.

It seems more likely to me that the Government made a rash and sensationalistic policy statement during the election designed to secure the votes of swinging conservatives. One can only question whether, in the face of an adverse report on this proposal out of their own inquiry, the Government would have the strength to resist the pull of a minority of conservative voters.

Further Reading
ABC News, Govt sticks to guns on internet porn filters (6 March 2008) <http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/06/2181828.htm> at 26 June 2008

Australian Media and Communications Authority, Media and Communications in Australian Families (17 December 2007) <http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_310893> at 10 March 2008