Australian government implements mandatory Internet filters to protect children online

Australia is in the process of implementing new restrictions to help protect children from exposure to Web sites containing pornography and violence, a path also taken by several European countries including the UK.

Civil libertarians are protesting that the freedom of the Internet is at stake, but the Australian Telecommunications Minister, Stephen Conroy, calls their objections nonsense. He stated that “If people equate freedom of speech with watching child pornography, then the Rudd-Labor Government is going to disagree.” He also added that anyone who wants uncensored Internet access can opt out of the service. Read this article.

Things to think about when reading this article

The current method of returning unfiltered Internet content in search results does not protect or respect consumers’ right to choose the type of content they view. Though standard search engines provide various filtering options, much of the content you see does not honor your personal preferences, values, or sensibilities. In fact, it never asks what your choices would be.

The result is that most consumers feel offended by some of the content they are exposed to and an even greater number are offended—and angered—by the content their children are exposed to. This is truly unfortunate because it’s possible to customize access to the Internet for each person—to “have it your way.”

Right now, the setup puts the burden on you to install filters or otherwise figure out how to opt out of viewing objectionable material from the Internet. As a result, I strongly endorse the principle that the Internet should be filtered by default to provide generally acceptable content—comparable to what we do with G ratings for the movies. We must also make sure that every consumer who wants to can choose (or opt in for) expanded content just as we do for the movies.

The temptation to play morality police online must be solidly rejected. Though I find a great deal of adult content on the Internet offensive, my values aren’t relevant to anyone else, just as your values aren’t relevant to me. So I wholeheartedly defend your right to define your values and opt into the content you want as long as the content is legal. ( I’m committed to helping stop the spread of illegal content like images that exploit children.) I know that any infringement on your right to choose ultimately infringes on my right to choose. This includes the guarantee that adult consumers can easily and anonymously choose to alter the default settings if they wish to be exposed (forgive the bad pun) to more sexualized, mature, or even violent, content.

I believe in freedom of content choice, but Internet companies are not providing it—unless your choice is to be bombarded by an unfiltered experience. Australia’s new law is good for all consumers because it serves as a model for how we can all choose the content experience we want.