Google, Yahoo attack Government’s internet filtering plans

A number of internet and software giants including Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have spoken out against the Government’s plans to introduce a mandatory internet filter, questioning its technical viability and the list of sites set to be blocked.

It comes as communications minister Stephen Conroy is preparing the filtering legislation to be put forward in Parliament within months, with the program expected to be up and running within a year.

Yesterday the Government released many of the submissions put forward relating to the filter, with most calling for more transparency surrounding the blacklist of sites to be blocked under the plan.

The filter would block a list of sites maintained by the Australian Communications and Media Authority that have been “refused classification”. However, this plan has been criticised by industry groups and analysts after a copy of the list was leaked last year, and contained a number of innocent sites including the home page of a Queensland dentist.

The same groups have said the filter would be unviable as it would dramatically slow down internet speeds and impact regular users.

Google wrote in its submission that while it would be supportive of restricting access to child pornography, which has been cited as the main reason for the filter, it is concerned with more technical details.

“Another key concern is that the implementation of a mandatory filtering regime –
across all of Australia’s hundreds of ISPs, millions of internet users, and billions
of web pages accessed – is a massive undertaking which could negatively impact
user access speeds.”

“We have a number of other concerns, including that filtering may give a false sense of security to parents, it could damage Australia’s international reputation and it can be easily circumvented.”

Yahoo also said it is concerned how the filter would impact Australia’s reputation, saying that it had been provided with “several examples where knee jerk regulatory reactions to ‘controversial’ content have been entirely out of step with broader public opinion”.

“Yahoo are entirely supportive of any effort to make the internet a safer place for children, however mandatory filtering of all RC material could block content with a strong social, political and/or educational value.”

While software giant Microsoft did not raise any concerns regarding either the cost or technical merit of the filter, it said that it would encourage the transparency of a blacklist of sites for the benefit of internet users and site owners, “who may not otherwise be alerted to the inclusion of material on their sites on the RC content list”.

It also raised the prospect of a regular audit of the blacklist, saying that “such an audit could be conducted by senior members of the Classification Board with advice as to auditing procedures by a representative of the Federal Auditor-General’s office”.

“Such audits should be carried out annually or preferably every six months. The goal of the audit would be to confirm that material being supplied by the relevant overseas agencies is within the RC classification remit.”

Telstra also weighed into the debate, saying it also reports a regular review of the blacklist by an independent expert, and recommended a tabling of audits to Parliament as part of a transparency measure.

“Telstra supports the formation of an industry group to consider the administrative arrangements that the ACMA and/or the Classification Board have in place to manage the ISP filtering system in general (not just those applicable to the assessment of complaints/classification of applications).”

“However, we urge the government to take all steps necessary to limit the potential for the contents of the RC list to leak into the public domain…”