The plans made by the current Australian government to implement mandatory internet filtering for their country has been meeting with some very vocal opposition. Plans are in place and live trials being run to create a filtering system that would theoretically block out “illegal and inappropriate” content being streamed into the country via the web. This plan will cost in the region of $44 million.
Critics have stated that the governments plan fails to address the root causes of the target problem, that of child pornography and sexual content that may be seen by minors. At the same time, it appears to infringe on personal freedom by making the filtering process mandatory for everyone in the country.
To top off this outcry, even members of Australia’s Save the Children group believe that the project is doomed to failure. They believe that the funds being used to create this system would be better used in law enforcement and education of young internet users. Given the rapid rate of online technology, they are of the opinion that even young people would shortly be able to bypass the filter, effectively rendering the Australian government’s plan a catastrophic and expensive failure.
Brett Venter
