Peter

I can't understand why the government would attempt to implement something that is counter-intuitive. You want to increase the bandwidth to homes with your National Broadband Network, yet you want to decrease our speed to the internet by up to 80% with your Internet filter. I commend the department on trying to honour their election promises, however this is definitely not the way to go. We are already eons behind the world, and this will only make us more of a laughing stock then we already are. There is no doubt that parents need to take more responsibility for their children. It has come to a point where everyone but the parent receives blames for their children's wrong doings. I think the government needs to take a stranglehold of the situation and simply provide the service to parents (and others who want it), and leave other users be. I don't think there is anything wrong with a filter. Just don't force people on it. Perhaps the department could reform their policy so that it is mandatory for ISPs to place users on the filter - but users have the ability to opt out the filter entirely (instead of partially). You could also get those opt-out users to sign a form which indicates that in doing so, they are opening themselves up to the internet, and if they (or their children) come across something inappropriate (i.e. Child pornography), that it is their no one but their fault for leaving the filter. If the plan does go ahead as is, then it is nothing more than a waste of money. You will only hurt those who are innocent and simply create another channel for illegal material to be distributed. If you had any real technical people in your department (and if you listened to the community) you will know by now that the filter will be quite easy to circumvent through other technologies. I will be apart of the filter trial (with iinet) and will no doubt join Michael Malone in proving that this is a waste of time and money. Our hard earned dollars are better spent on catching these crooks, rather than crippling our country.