Australia’s ‘Net Filter Plan Gets Worse – Country hints at blocking P2P protocols

23 Dec 2008

Australia’s already controversial 5.8 million Cyber-Safety filtering system became more controversial this week with the news that it may also include the filtering of P2P protocols. The plan, one of the most elaborate and expensive filtration efforts ever attempted, will include two blacklists — one which filters illegal material (no opt-out) and another that filters material deemed offensive by the Australian government (users can opt out). But a blog post by Broadband Minister Stephen Conroy indicates they’ll take aim at P2P traffic as well:

The Government understands that ISP-level filtering is not a ‘silver bullet’. We have always viewed ISP-level filtering as one part of a broader government initiative for protecting our children online. Technology is improving all the time. Technology that filters peer-to-peer and BitTorrent traffic does exist and it is anticipated that the effectiveness of this will be tested in the live pilot trial.

Outlets like Slashdot and Gizmodo were swift to slam the comments, some suggesting the government wanted to block P2P traffic entirely. It’s possible that Conroy was simply talking about the filtering of pirated P2P traffic, not that his effort would be any more successful. Conroy and company are spending millions on a game of whack-a-mole that, if history is any indication, simply won’t work.
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