Australia’s second-largest internet service provider has announced that it will take part in the Government’s trials of its mandatory filtering system.
Optus has announced that customers in Sydney and Newcastle will be asked to take part in the trials, which it says will last for six weeks.
Corporate affairs director Maha Krishnapillai told The Australian that the group wants to help the Government in providing online safety, and that the trials will begin 22 May.
“Our participation in the ISP filter pilot is further proof of our commitment to explore ways in which Optus can contribute to the protection of families, and their safe use of the internet,” Krishnapillai said.
“We are looking forward to working with Government on this initiative, and to better understand the implications of internet filtering. Optus believes the best way to accurately gauge the impact that this type of filtering may have on our network – including download speeds and customer experience – is to play a pro-active role in the trial.”
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said: “The participation of Optus will help ensure the Government obtains robust results from the pilot, which will inform the evidence-based development of our ISP filtering policy.”
Optus was not included in last year’s announcement of six ISPs that were chosen to take part in the trials, which included Primus Telecommunications, Highway 1, Netforce, OMNIconnect, TECH 2U and Webshield.
Conroy has said that negotiations are continuing with several other ISPs.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
