Aussie ISPs approved for kiddie Net content filters - News - Security

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Aussie ISPs approved for kiddie Net content filters

By ZDNet Australia Staff, 0
March 26, 2002
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/soa/Aussie-ISPs-approved-for-kiddie-Net-content-filters/0,130061744,120264261,00.htm

In what is claimed to be a world first, Australian Internet Service Providers that help to protect children from the dark side of the Net through the provision of filters will be decorated with a seal of approval, in a move to better expose code-compliant ISPs.

Under the IIA's Code of Practice, which is voluntary, ISPs are required to provide their users with the option of obtaining a content filter. In conjunction with this process, code-compliant ISPs will now be adorned with a -Ladybird Seal" following the launch of the IIA's nationwide Family Friendly ISP scheme today.

"The IIA Family Friendly ISP program is here to help the public better identify code-compliant ISPs, that is, ISPs who have agreed to assist those families with information and tools to help make the Internet experience a little safer for their children," the IIA said in a statement.

"Australian families who are concerned about online content are encouraged to use an ISP who displays this trustmark on their Web sites."

The IIA - Australia's national body for the Internet - stressed that filters are not intended to replace adult supervision entirely and that they -form part of the overall scheme" of Internet control.

The industry group said it would -take steps" against non-compliant ISPs that bears the seal, in breach of its undertaking to comply, which could include the termination of the licence agreement that allows it to use the seal.

In related news, the CSIRO has released today a report that ranks 14 Internet filters in terms of ease of use and effectiveness.