As the Senate hearings into the Federal Government's proposed Internet content regulations continue, the Australian Internet Society (ISOC-AU) has weighed into the argument, saying that the government regulations are not feasible.
The Senate Information Technologies committee continuing to hear evidence this week, with organisations such as Clairview Internet, the CSIRO, www.consult, AOL, NOIE and the Office of Film and Literature Classification giving evidence. As the committee begins to wind up its hearings, debate over the controversial legislation continues unabated in the IT industry.
Under the proposed amendments to the Broadcasting Services Act, ISPs would be made responsible for blocking offensive or illegal Internet content under the direction of the Australian Broadcasting Authority.
Since the proposals have been released, there has been an outcry from sections of the Internet industry with allegations that the scheme is unworkable and will retard the growth of Australia's online economy.
The legislation is being seen as a move to placate conservative Senator Brian Harradine who is a strong proponent of Internet censorship. Harradine currently holds the balance of power in the Senate and his vote is crucial for the Federal Liberal Party Government if it wishes to pass proposed GST taxation legislation.
Through the statement released by the ISOC-AU, its Vice-President, Greg Watson, has said that the legislation would place a major financial load on the Australian net industry.
"The blocking of material on the Internet is not technically feasible, and will introduce higher costs, lower reliability and loss of adult freedoms. The measures would criminalise access to information that is perfectly acceptable in our local public libraries and bookstores," Watson stated.
At the Senate committee last week the ISOC-AU gave evidence that the government's legislation was failing to take into account previous failed attempts to censor the Internet.
"Australia is wilfully ignoring the experience of other countries," Watson pointed out. "The Malaysian government has recently retreated from Internet censorship because of the damage it had caused to economic development. Blocking technologies can already be easily circumvented, and will only encourage the development of new technologies to thwart censorship. We are now entering an era of a censorship arms race."
