This is not, apparently, a joke: The new Australian government is ready to demand that ISPs block access by home and school Internet users of Web content which contains pornography and violence. A home user would have contact his or her ISP and ask that Web content be 'unblocked'. As Lauren Weinstein remarked: “I suspect would rapidly become known as the “pervert list” by the Australian overlords of Internet decency.”
Online civil libertarians yesterday warned the freedom of the internet was at stake, while internet providers are concerned the new measures could slow the internet in Australia down to a crawl.
But Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said everything possible had to be done to shield children from violent and pornographic online material.
“We have always argued more needs to be done to protect children,” he said.
Senator Conroy said the clean feed, also known as mandatory ISP filtering, would prevent users accessing prohibited content. “We will work with the industry to get the best policy. (But) Labor is committed to introducing mandatory ISP filtering.”