Is ISP Content Filtering just political point-scoring? Surely they can’t be serious!?

For those of you fortunate enough to be spared the current onslaught of political rhetoric in the lead-up to the Federal Election in Australia, you might be unaware of topical, technological hot potatoes like the state of broadband (aka “fraudband”), Telstra’s Next G vs CDMA and the sale of the incumbent telco.

Another issue with which political parties seem content to bamboozle us is child safety online; that is, how to protect children from inappropriate content, unmoderated chatrooms, messaging systems and predatory behaviour.

Minister for Communications, Technology and The Arts, Senator the Honorable Helen Coonan has recently launched a Government initiative called NetAlert, which “is part of the Australian Government’s ongoing commitment to providing a safe online environment for all families, especially children.” (Source: NetAlert website.)

Call me cynical but apart from the usual observations about wasting taxpayers’ money, and the fact that the launch coincides with a Federal Election only a few months away, content filters on home PCs are only really useful up to a certain age. Depending on the child, beyond 10 or 12 years old, these types of systems are easily bypassed as Adam Turner discovered when he recently put a NetAlert package through the hoops.

It’s also a case of too little, too late for the Australian Government especially since good content filters like Net Nanny have been around for years. Why would this issue have suddenly become a “priority commitment” for the Australian Government? Oh yes, now I remember….

Despite this shallow effort made by the Office of the Minister for Communications, Etc., Senator, The Honorable Etc., it was a comment made by the Family First party’s Steve Fielding that left me completely gob-smacked this week.

According to AustralianIT, Mr Fielding has become “downright angry” about what he perceives is the Government’s abandonment of an ISP-filter trial, and has sought technical advice on “how a ban on internet pornography could work” with ISP filtering.

Huh?

Is this just argument for the sake of argument? To quote the man in Monty Python’s infamous argument sketch, which does seem somehow apprioriate, What a Stupid Concept.

Mr Fielding, there is no future in ISP content filtering.  While such systems may filter-out particular words, internet addresses, email messages and services, it would have little or no effect on the transfer of images, audio, movie files and instant messaging.

Unfortunately what it would do is add to ISPs’ overheads, ultimately pushing prices up for consumers.  It would also have a direct impact on internet speed, usability and complexity.  False negatives would undoubtedly degrade browsing experience (if I tried to buy a pen, for example, from the popular online store PenIsland), and helpdesks would be inundated with perceived problems from confused subscribers.

In a Media Release on the 20th of August, Mr Fielding said, “Family First still wants mandatory filtering at the ISP level, which adults can opt out of if they want, so that all children have some protection against Internet pornography and violence regardless of whether their parents know about the free filters.”

Get a grip, Mr Fielding.  Everyone in IT is silently hoping that the Government’s trial of ISP-filtering is all but dead-and-buried.  Please don’t make nonsensical suggestions for the sake of a petty political point-scoring exercise.

Dr Ron.

Other References

• “Pressure builds for censorship” by James Riley, AustralianIT, 28/03/2007
• “Coonan denies cancelling filtering” by staff writers, itNews, 26/07/2007

Andrew McColm features in this week’s Green Guide

World-class high-speed broadband is the key to Australia’s future, community radio host Andrew McColm tells Adam Turner.

Read the article.

Do you know what your kids are saying online?

 

I’ve been using the Internet now for – oh, at least ten years now, a normal progression from bulletin boards.  This love for all things Internet developed primarily because of our host Andrew McColm’s patient handholding during my initial foray into this strange new world.  “Yes, Lid, Telix will let you talk to the BBS…No Lid, Gopher is not some weird mystical creature…..Yes Lid, Unix and DOS commands are different.…”

So, you would think I should be not just okay, but pretty good with acronyms by now.  Um… NO!  What a surprise [read shock] when I came across this translator last week, did the acronym quiz – and scored three out of ten!

No.Slang. com translates acronyms and slang.  It began in 2005 when Ryan Jones, a software engineer in Michigan realized he could barely understand what kids were saying online, and realized he should.

So if you have kids, and are dazed and confused when you see them chatting online – check it out.  At least then, when you see your kid write POS or CD9 – you will know exactly what they mean.  Oh, no.slang will also explain how 133t works 🙂

How safe are our kids online, and what of cyber bullies?

If there’s one thing that that will always be a part of school life, it’s the school bully. We’ve all come across them in our time, and I’m sure you can still put a name to at least one from primary or secondary school. Tonight on Tech Talk Radio, we’re going to take a look at the impact of technology in the lives of our kids. The internet, mobile phones, SMS, Instant messaging and social networking sites such as myspace are now well and truly part of their world. This surely raises serious questions for parents, teachers, students, law enforcement and law makers alike. The most insidious of all scenarios is that bully has now become faceless, timeless, and more traumatic for the victim than ever before. Are parents aware of the pranks that their children are subject to or are perpetrating on others? Are they aware of the consequences of their children’s behavior in the online world?

Joining the panel is senior constable Susan McLean from Victoria Police. Susan is based in Doncaster and is the youth resources officer for the Melbourne municipality of Manningham, Manningham comprises 8 or so suburbs to the east of the city and what would be consider to be a fairly affluent community.

To listen live and email our guest, Senior Constable Susan McLean, visit our website techtalkradio.com.au
8pm Monday Nights (GMT+11)