Filtering the Internet

Doubtless there will be options to turn the filter on and off so that adults can use the Internet. This will inevitably lead to a competition to develop a hack to get around the censors. Teenagers will know how to get around the filter within a week or find computers without the blockers. Censorship doesn’t stop curiosity, it encourages it.

Blockers may help against the worst aspects of the Web but they are not a substitute for the kind of openness and values that help young people to deal with modern media. The current plethora of filtering programs not only offer to block pornography and the like: they enable you to spy on your children “remotely in real time”; check where they have been logged on; to whom they have communicated; and keep a record of their keystrokes when you’re not looking over their shoulders. Just what kinds of family values are we trying to protect?

The PM’s media release says that we will be able to block websites selected by the Australian Internet regulators. Who are these regulators? What criteria and guidelines will they use? Will their responsibilities be confined to pornography? Who will oversee our guardians? Federal Ministers like Kevin Andrews? Will the regulators decisions be subject to appeal? Will we even be able to find out who is censoring our websites and blogs without going through expensive freedom of information processes?

We must question the cost and effectiveness of this latest vote grabber, which has not been thought through properly. The Minister for Communications Helen Coonan has previously rejected a similar idea called "Clean Feed" from Labor. The government have accused the ALP of being an echo. Looks like a case of mine’s bigger than yours this time.

Children, especially teenagers, need to learn about the benefits and the dangers of social networking websites like Facebook and MySpace. Giving them the skills to protect themselves and their privacy is a much better solution than doing it all for them.

Just as light cigarette filters didn’t stop cancer, we cannot filter out all the evil aspects of modern society. Finding solutions to an increasingly confronting world will not be as easy as clicking a mouse.