Government Unplugs Internet Filter

In a move approved of by most of the Internet Community and nearly all civil libertarians the Federal Government has abandoned it long debated plans for an internet filter.

The plan has been controversial ever since it was first promised by then Kevin Rudd at the 2007 election and five years after it was first promised it has been dropped.

The Communications Minister is reported as saying that internet services providers have in the alternative been instructed to block websites listed on Interpol's worst of database.

"We've reached agreement with all of the telco service providers that they will block the worst of the worst - the child abuse pornography material that's available on the public internet . . . Police have issued notices to a whole range of companies, and the few remaining companies that make up about 10 per cent will start receiving notices [soon]."

As a result of using the Interpol Block List around 1,400 offensive websites monitored by Interpol will be blocked.

Most commentators are of the view that the initial plan for a compulsory filter was discarded because it would have failed to get through the Parliament, especially in the light of opposition from the Greens and the Coalition. However, the Minister insists the change in policy was prompted by the findings of an Australian Law Reform Commission inquiry which suggested the plan was too broad.

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