http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22989008-661,00.html
AUSTRALIANS will be forced to contact their internet service provider to avoid having their access to the web restricted.
The restrictions are planned by the Federal Government to give greater protection to children from online pornography and violent websites.
Under the plan, all internet service providers will be required to provide a "clean" feed to households and schools, free of pornography and other inappropriate material.
Any internet users who want to "opt out" of the clean feed will have to contact their ISP.
Online civil libertarians yesterday warned the freedom of the internet was at stake, while internet providers are concerned the new measures could slow the internet in Australia down to a crawl.
But Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said everything possible had to be done to shield children from violent and pornographic online material.
"We have always argued more needs to be done to protect children," he said.
Senator Conroy said the clean feed, also known as mandatory ISP filtering, would prevent users accessing prohibited content.
"We will work with the industry to get the best policy. (But) Labor is committed to introducing mandatory ISP filtering."
Senator Conroy said the Australian Communications and Media Authority would prepare a blacklist of unsuitable sites.
The adoption of mandatory ISP filtering comes on top of the former government's offer of free internet filtering software for home computers.
Chair of the internet user group Electronic Frontiers Australia, Dale Clapperton, said mandatory ISP filtering eroded internet freedom and would not improve online safety for children.
"China, Burma and Saudi Arabia and those type of oppressive countries are the only ones that have seriously looked at doing something like this," he said.
"In Australia, which is supposedly a Liberal democracy, the government is saying that the internet is so full of this material that it must protect us from it by trying to block it."
Mr Clapperton feared that parents would be lulled into a false sense of security.
"Parents should not allow their children to use the internet unsupervised," he said.
"Stuff that should be blocked will inevitably get through."
Family First Senator Steve Fielding, who has campaigned for ISP filtering, said he would be watching the Government like a hawk on the issue.
"Australian families want more (internet protection) and deserve more than they are currently getting, and this is a real test for the Rudd Government," he said.
A report by the Australia Institute in 2003 showed 84 per cent of boys and 60 per cent of girls using the internet had experienced unwanted exposure to sexual material.
.................
"Hey Cablevision....
"Yeah yeah this is Account # 5837837682
"yeah, you see my account?
"yeah ok, i want you to....
"TURN ON THE PORN NOW!!!!!!!!!!!"