Nothing unexpected here: The Australian Christian Lobby has called for bipartisan support of ISP filtering, saying that in the interests of children this issue should be placed above party politics and the impact on speed is a small price to pay. ACL says Australia is taking a huge step forward with filtering.
Here’s a snippet from their PR:
“This will not mean the ruin of the Internet or lead to absurd forms of censorship as some people with clearly vested interests are suggesting,” Mr Wallace said.
“Child pornography is both illegal and immensely destructive and it is entirely appropriate that access to it be blocked, along with other illegal material. The blocking of other degrading and damaging material will be optional, but offers an important safeguard for families worried about their children inadvertently coming across this material on the Net,” Mr Wallace said.
“Claims the Government will impose China-style curbing of free speech are ridiculous given Australia’s robust parliamentary democracy, something China does not have.
“Technology is improving all the time, meaning that the impact on Internet speeds is likely to be minimal, a small price to pay for protecting children and the community from too easy access to increasingly explicit material.”
Update: 2/12/08: Geordie Guy has analysed the ACL press release at his blog.
