Internet filters rise from the grave
More than two years after corporate regulator ASIC accidentally blocked 250,000 web addresses using a poorly-understood provision of the Telecommunications Act, a House of Representatives inquiry has recommended that at some point someone should get around to writing some internal guidelines.
"The Coalition and Labor party have signed off on a committee report that recommends a basic level of technical literacy be applied within departments carrying out unregulated blocking of websites, in order to reduce the likelihood of further acts of massive incompetence," Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said today.
"An unregulated site blocking regime just got the nod from a committee that appears to have slept through much of the evidence that was put to it.
"It is the parliamentary equivalent of a vacant stare. The major parties have failed internet users, again.
"This limp response arrives at the same time as the Senate is about to debate Senator Brandis' proposal to allow foreign copyright-holders to also block sites from Australian users, using a different process entirely.
"I look forward to joining with the Labor Party in a spirited defence of Australian internet users1," Senator Ludlam concluded.
1This line is intended as satire.
The Committee Report is available here.