Steve

Sure the internet filter might be popular with the public. Even those opposed to the filter agree with *some* of the goals of those who plan to set it up. However those with technical knowledge also know how easy it will be to circumvent and how useless it will be for some of its stated goals. We who WORK using the internet and who get hundreds of pages per day for business use (without once visiting a porn site, go looking for pictures of little girls, or enquire how to make bombs) fear that a couple of percent of false hits will mean that vastly more useful, legal, helpful, and/or innocent sites will be blocked than dubious ones. I, for one, will be circumventing it just so that I am not hindered at work. I do not want to pay that extra tax on my internet usage, but hey. I suspect that I will not be alone. One solution that *will* work is TOR. If you don't know what that is then go google it. It is very simple to set up, very difficult to block, and designed for this exact purpose. It is also strongly rumoured to be used currently by those who don't want law enforcement tracking what they do on the internet. TOR relies on encryption but also on hiding dubious traffic in a sea of innocent traffic, As more and more people use TOR (and almost exclusively for innocent reasons) it becomes harder and harder to track "illegal" traffic through it, making it easier for those who use it to actually visit places on the internet that would probably sicken the average person. I would prefer not to help them, but the Internet filter will have the effect of making their access safer. As I said previously, I will try to use another method, but how many people will be prepared to pay for a service that is not completely anonymous when they can use an anonymous network (TOR) for free? And at what real cost will this be?