Paul Naphtali

Censorship (filtering's other name) of any kind is a hotly debated topic in any democracy at the best of times. In the digital world, which is by definition an open arena built around the core principles of free information sharing, the lines of free speech and illegal activity are very blurry indeed. A government must tread extremely carefully in this area and avoid making judgements based upon good taste or ethical judgements. Even legal judgements are fraught with danger (see for example for the efforts in the UK to filter child pornography: ). This example from Britain also shows just how emotive - and international - the subject of web censorship can be (the article linked about is from the Washington Post about a UK issue). I'm an Australian working in Silicon Valley. One day I would hope to return to Australia and continue working in high tech. In order for me to do that, Australia must have the infrastructure - both technology and business - to attract the innovators. I am concerned that censoring the net could be seen as a significant step backwards and significantly impact the Australian brand globally, hampering efforts to attract talent Down Under. The dot com world is fairly small, tends to embrace access, progress and openness almost above all else. I recently mentioned the filtering concept to a colleague who responded: "In Australia? In China i would expect it, but Australia?!" I would urge the Australian Government to consider this before moving ahead with any filtering policy.