'Clean-Feed'?

The federal government's decision to implement internet censorship has been met with much controversy throughout the Australian public. The idea is to 'clean up' the internet in order to make cyberspace safer for children, by requiring Internet Service Providers to block all material that is deemed prohibited by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, such as pornography and other inappropriate websites (Travaglione 2009). Although the idea of making the internet a safer place for children sounds like a good idea, it is drawing criticism from the public who believe that this form of censorship is on par with the regimes of China and North Korea, because it may curtail the internet activity of adults on websites that contain information regarding other controversial and politically sensitive topics such as euthanasia and abortion (Fell 2008).

This 'clean-feed' is also a very costly project that will interfere with internet speed, slowing it down by up to 86%, and critics argue that it will not solve the problem that it has supposedly set out to do of eliminating child pornography. ISP providers will not be able to stop peer-to-peer networks, which is one of the main distributors of offensive material, and websites such as youtube and facebook that contain the most common form of child abuse will not be able to be filtered out, so it hardly seems like there is any point at all (Travaglione 2009).

Personally, I think that the millions of tax-payers dollars would be better spent educating children on internet safety, and also shutting down abusive material at it's source. I do not agree with a system that imposes on the freedom of adults to learn about topics such as abortion and euthanasia, especially when we live in a democratic country, where citizens are supposed to have the freedom to decide what affects their lives, and where citizen's rights to free speech are accused of being violated by such a system.

References

Fell, N 2008, Internet 'Clean Feed' met with stern opposition, viewed 7 September 2012, <http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2404848.htm>

Travaglione, K 2009, Internet Censorship in Australia - a 'clean feed'?, viewed 7 September 2012, <http://www.mannkal.org/downloads/scholars/internet-censorship-in-australia.pdf>