This filtering will not work.

[reynardo]

Copy of an email to the Risks digest

Since when has any filter been 100% effective?

Australian parliament has just made ISP-level filtering mandatory.

To quote http://www.itnews.com.au/News/162941,breaking-conroy-reveals-plans-to-censor-internet.aspx -

The Federal Government will introduce laws to make ISP-level filtering mandatory for all refused-classification material hosted overseas
...

Senator Conroy said a pilot conducted by Enex TestLabs in conjunction with Australia's largest ISPs proved that such filtering was viable.

"The report into the pilot trial of ISP-level filtering demonstrates that blocking RC-rated material can be done with 100 percent accuracy and negligible impact on internet speed," he said.

Find me a filter that TRULY filters 100% of the bad stuff and 0% of the good stuff without major impacts on the internet speed, and I'll give up porn.

More seriously, no filter is going to be 100% accurate. If it was, there would be no need for me to clean the spam out of my mailbox and yet check the Spam box for incorrectly-filtered real mail. When the blacklist (used to filter out unacceptable material) came to light a while back, it was because a dentist in Queensland had inadvertantly landed on the list and had no way of knowing that his patients couldn't get to his website. It didn't help that just having a copy of that blacklist is a Federal offence.

What also worries me?

"The Government announced that the list of blocked RC content would be compiled "through a public complaints mechanism".

So all it takes is a few complaints from a well-organised group about *any* website and it will be blacklisted. I'll be interested to watch as evolution education, breast cancer information, rape victim support groups and Furry Harry Potter Crossover Fanfiction is added to the "do not see" list.

I agree that there's material that shouldn't be out there. I agree that there's things schoolchildren shouldn't see. But filtering all Australia's content is not the way to go. Geniune sites will be blocked, while those that shouldn't get through will use the usual methods to bypass the blacklist.

And am I justified in calling "shenanigans" if the filter proves to be even 0.01% inaccurate? According to Conroy I ought to be.

signed

I'll be sending an amended version to my local MP too.

Comments

[nefaria.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering what the Internet will be like 50 years from now, after the world's governments have thoroughly implemented policies to protect humanity from its own curiosity.

[malloc1024.livejournal.com]

I assumed we'll just go back to samizdat. That and learning things on street corners.

[freyaw.livejournal.com]

May I take advantage of your work here and paraphrase it for my local people? I have email addresses for my Federal MP, my State MP, and the five SA Senators who haven't chosen to set up an online contact form. And I can copy and paste the online forms *grim*

And then I'll BCC: it to Dad, who is an agitator with time on his hands.

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

Abso-bloody-lutely. Go for it. The more voices from different parts of Australia, the better.

[freyaw.livejournal.com]

Done. Sent to everyone. Nick Xenophon is apparently not checking his email regularly over the Christmas break, and his email filter flagged my email as potential spam, too, according to the autoresponse :P