The Government’s plans for an internet filtering scheme have once again come under fire with the opposition attacking communications minister Stephen Conroy for failing to deliver a report on the results of the scheme.
But the Government has hit back, with Conroy attacking Opposition communications spokesman Nick Minchin for not supporting a filter that would block child pornography.
The exchange began when Minchin released a statement attacking the Government for delaying the release of the results of its filtering trial, which were expected in the last few weeks, blaming the delays on embarrassing results.
“Almost two years after coming to office with a plan to censor the internet, Senator Conroy has not even managed to release results for long overdue filtering trials, let alone come close to actually implementing this highly controversial policy,” he said.
“It is time for Senator Conroy to end this farce and produce his long overdue trial results for independent assessment. It is looking increasingly like the Minister knows his mandatory internet censorship plan is simply unworkable, but is too embarrassed to admit it.”
The trials, which involved internet service providers including Optus, Primus Communications, Tech 2U, Webshield, OMNIconnect, Netforce, Unwired and Highway 1, were due to be completed earlier this year.
Conroy said during the first week of July the results would be staggered over an eight week period, but no results have yet been released. Additionally, no date exists for any announcement.
“Previous trials of filtering technology have exposed serious problems with both the over-blocking and under-blocking of content, and concerns also remain about the adverse impact a national filtering regime could have on internet speeds,” Minchin said.
However, Conroy’s office released a statement in which it attacked the Opposition for not supporting the trial, or the scheme itself.
“Nick Minchin and the Liberal party should explain why they don’t support using the latest technology to restrict access to child abuse content and other Refused Classification material,” it said.
The filtering scheme has come under fire from the Opposition, tech groups and even children’s welfare groups, with many criticising the scale of the trials as too small.
Some tech industry groups have suggested that because only eight small ISPs are involved, the results of the trial will not be reliable for the introduction of a nation-wide filtering scheme.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
