Walking a tightrope

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/31/2129471.htm

Conroy announces mandatory internet filters to protect children

Telecommunications Minister Stephen Conroy says new measures are being put in place to provide greater protection to children from online pornography and violent websites.

Senator Conroy says it will be mandatory for all internet service providers to provide clean feeds, or ISP filtering, to houses and schools that are free of pornography and inappropriate material.

Online civil libertarians have warned the freedom of the internet is at stake, but Senator Conroy says that is nonsense.

He says the scheme will better protect children from pornography and violent websites.

"Labor makes no apologies to those that argue that any regulation of the internet is like going down the Chinese road," he said.

"If people equate freedom of speech with watching child pornography, then the Rudd-Labor Government is going to disagree."

Senator Conroy says anyone wanting uncensored access to the internet will have to opt out of the service.

He says the Government will work with the industry to ensure the filters do not affect the speed of the internet.

"There are people who are going to make all sorts of statements about the impact on the [internet] speed," he said.

"The internet hasn't ground to a halt in the UK, it hasn't ground to a halt in Scandinavian countries and it's not grinding the internet to a halt in Europe.

"But that is why we are engaged constructively with the sector, engaging in trials to find a way to implement this in the best possible way and to work with the sector."

This seems innocuous enough- the government forcing independent corporations to protect the youth. But this is not the government's role, and it is not the role of corporations. The responsibility lies in the hands of parents to 1) monitor their children's activities, and 2) discuss with their children the ramifications of engaging in the partaking of this content.

Other problems with this new law are that it is opt-out, so that you have this filter active unless you explicitely state you do not want it, which of course singles you out, and makes people wonder what you're doing online. While I can safely say that the majority of people would not mind filtering of child pornography, it takes the government nearly no effort to start filtering other websites- websites that may offer views that are not in accord with the views of the Australian government.

Australians should be careful with this legislation. I always get reminded of the 'lobster analogy' when things like this occur. If you're going to cook lobster, you don't throw it into a pot of boiling water- they notice and try to escape. To properly cook a lobster, you put it into water of a comfortable temperature, and slowly turn up the heat, so that by the time the lobster notices, it's already too late.