You might recall that Australia is currently attempting to stiff its plurality with the notion of a nationalized internet content filter. You might also recall that it’s being universally panned by the country’s ISPs with various levels of vehemence. Given that, it would then come as no surprise that the “worst Communications Minister … in the 15 years since the [internet] industry has existed” hit the streets to control the damage from a leaked report stating that the filter would suck a whole bunch.
The report, assembled by an independent body for the previous administration, came to the conclusion that the system was fundamentally flawed. The veracity of the report is confirmed by what everyone else knows about filters: oh hey, they aren’t terribly effective and they slow the internets down.
The report was previously under Conroy’s lock and key, but some whippersnapper went and leaked it. Indeed, word is that the Minister had no plans to speak of the report until his hand was forced. In the plan’s defense, he said that nobody could definitively predict failure until it was actually tested. The report “involved no empirical testing of filtering technology,” he said.
Much to the chagrin of taxpayers in the land of Oz, Conroy will shortly begin trials to see if the content filter even works as intended. In the mean time, a program is under way to determine if the blue sky is really blue. There’s no way to know if it’s really blue without a trial.
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