Two of the biggest telcos in Oz are to kick off web web policing from next month.
And the rival Internet Service Providers have 500 websites in its sights, which it will block from public access.
Two other smaller ISP’s will also filter out websites containing child porn and other illicit material, from a blacklist compiled by the Australian Communication and Media Authority as well as other names from international organisations, according to reports.
However, it is not yet clear the identity of these other ISP’s.
“The ACMA will compile and manage a list of URLs of child abuse content that will include the appropriate subsection of the ACMA blacklist as well as child abuse URLs that are provided by reputable international organisations (to be blocked),” a spokesperson from Communications Minister Stephen Conroy’s office confirmed.
The voluntary web censorship plan, a watered down version of a broader plan proposed by the Federal government, is looking to to encourage Australian ISP’s to offer customers a block of all ‘refused classification’ material.
A mandatory web censorship scheme proposed by Labor last year during the general election was abandoned following lack of interest, according to The Telegraph.
However, many withing the industry, including System Administrators Guild of Australia, are disputing the scheme’s effectiveness, claiming the filters are easily bypassed by pedophile rings online, and argue the plan is a just a ‘quick fix’ solution to a much greater problem.
And there are also questions around the classification of illicit websites and what should and shouldn’t be included on the website “blacklist.”
