Internet black-list revelations raise further questions about Labor’s mandatory filtering

Senator the Hon Nick Minchin
Shadow Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (to 8 December 2009)
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate

Revelations that anti-abortion material was added to the ACMA black-list of prohibited and potential prohibited Internet content after a single complaint from the public raises serious further questions about how Labor’s compulsory ISP-level filtering regime may be imposed, Shadow Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Senator Nick Minchin said.

The current ACMA black-list is compiled through a public complaints process and will form the basis of live ISP-level filtering trials that the Rudd Government plans to conduct.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has a stated ambition to increase the size of the ACMA black-list under his mandatory filtering proposal, but it remains unclear what methods the Government will use to increase it beyond its current size of about 1100.

To highlight a glaring loophole in the way the current list is managed a member of the public lodged a complaint with ACMA about graphic content on an anti-abortion web site.

ACMA determined that this content was hosted outside Australia and was prohibited or potentially prohibited and was therefore added to the black list, which is provided to the manufacturers of approved content filters which are available to Australians on an optional basis.

In its emailed response to the complainant ACMA highlighted the web link in question and this information was then widely circulated online. While there are no legal restrictions on complainants circulating this information, the black-list is considered strictly confidential and is exempt from Freedom of Information laws.

“This episode not only raises serious questions about how secure the content of the black-list is, despite ACMA’s efforts to protect it, but also highlights the potential for content to be added to the list that is neither illegal or sexually explicit in nature,” Senator Minchin said.

Experts advise that even if a centralised filtering system is introduced, those with technical know-how could bypass the filter to access prohibited content in the event that the black-list is leaked.

“Under a mandatory filtering regime some 700 ISPs across the country will presumably have access to the black-list, increasing the risk of it being leaked. I would also urge those who believe the broad concept of mandatory filtering has some merit to consider the way the black-list is currently assembled and how content whether it be anti-abortion material or anything else could be potentially added to it under the discretion of the Rudd Government,” Senator Minchin said.

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