Introduction Australia maintains some of the most restrictive Internet policies of any Western nation, while its neighbor, New Zealand, is less rigorous in its Internet regulation. Without any explicit protection of free speech in the constitution,1 the Australian...

Ban.This.URL, a blog documenting and examining online censorship in Australia, reports that Australia's The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) has released a paper detailing the technical specifications of Australia's proposed Internet filtering plan. In the paper...

With all of the news lately regarding Australia's Internet filtering scheme, one might think Australia were the first or only country to ever filter the Internet. Since the filter was announced in 2007, it has been widely criticized. First, Australia announced...

Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's recent announcement that Australia's upcoming filtering scheme would not allow Internet users to opt-out was met with great opposition from the Australian public, as well as some from ISPs. The scheme has also received criticism from...

According to news reports, Australian ISPs have been ordered to keep quiet about the country's filtering scheme. Following a complaint from the employee of one ISP, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy allegedly had an "intimidating e-mail" sent to keep the ISP...

Under Australia's new Internet filtering scheme, citizens will be unable to opt out of inclusion. Instead, they will be able to choose between two blacklists; one blocks content inappropriate for children, the other blocks illegal material. Shortly after the plan...

The Australian Telecommunications Minister Stephen Conroy announced on December 31 2007 that mandatory filtering of the Internet would be instituted there. This announcement follows the Rudd government’s plan to provide a “clean feed internet service for all homes” that...

The New Zealand Internal Affairs department is investigating the efficacy of CleanFeed, a filtering system used by UK ISPs to block access to illegal pornography, such as that containing children or actual violence. Industry groups hope to create a program which...

Australia's government has rejected a call to implement Internet filtering to target child pornography. The government cited concerns about cost and the effect of filtering mandates on small ISPs, deciding instead to emphasize education. The problem with filtering is that...