Australia continues to pursue a plan to censor the internet. It is almost guaranteed to fail, for practical and ethical reasons.
I was interviewed recently by the Knight Pulse project in the US about my thoughts. It’s worth reading the whole article, but my comment was:
The Australian government’s plans to filter the Internet is doomed to failure for key reasons. Technically, previous tests have shown the inability of the proposed system to adequately determine “illegal” material and sites that look and feel “illegal.” A growing number of politicians, human rights groups and leading ISPs are lining up against the plan, citing practical and ethical questions. Perhaps most importantly, however, is the precedent that is being set. Child pornography and violent websites today, but sites that “promote” terrorism tomorrow? We should always be suspicious of governments that want to tell its citizens what it can and cannot view and hear. The Australian government seemingly wants to lead the Western world in its Internet censorship plans.