The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs has launched in inquiry into age verification mechanisms for access to online gambling and pornography services.
The Coalition last night announced that it would have an opt-out Internet filter policy, but quickly backtracked, saying that users will have the option to opt-in to use the filter.
The Federal Government’s mandatory internet service provider (ISP) level filter is still on the agenda, according to the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.
The Greens' success over the weekend in cementing their hold on the balance of power in the Senate has sounded the death knell for the government’s controversial ISP-level internet content filter.
The Australian Greens has released its own cyber-safety policy to rival that of the two major parties, with the central planks being an obligation for ISPs to offer PC- or modem-based filtering technology to customers, stronger cybercrime law enforcement and better research and education in the field.
Internet filtering software that China plans to distribute nationwide blocks content related to a spiritual movement banned in China, despite government claims that the software targets only porn.