Labor plans to censor the internet.

03.26.06 Posted in Hints and Tips by Mathew

In what can only be described as a communist style censorship plan, the ALP has announced that if elected it would force all internet service providers to block ‘prohibited’ content.

I suspect the Labor party hasn’t bothered to do any research into this type of policy, because if it had, it would realise the following;

Censoring the internet is next to impossible to implement. China has teams of thousands working 24/7 to block content its government doesn’t like, and yet the dissidents in that country usually find a way to be heard, and to hear others.

Censoring the internet is expensive. Brad Gould, of Internode, explained that to have a reasonable shot at censorship that works, would add $10 a month to the cost of providing a broadband service. That could mean as much as a 30% price hike.

Censoring the internet is not needed, or wanted. Most people want to use the internet as they see fit. Parents who want to let their kids use the internet unsupervised can either run the risk, or purchase content filtering software.

Censoring the internet for the purposes of protecting children will generate a false sense of security. Parents will feel that the government has done their job for them, and drop their own vigilance. The fact that the filtering is impossible in the first place will then mean their kids will be able to access content their parents wouldn’t like.

In short, censorship is a bad thing, and in this case, impossible to implement.