Oz to filter Web content nationwide

The Australian government is about to implement a nationwide Internet filtering program. New laws go into affect January 20 "imposing tougher rules for companies that sell entertainment-related content on subscription internet sites and mobile phones," the Herald Sun reports. The Australian Communications and Media Authority says adults won't be affected by the restrictions, which will require Internet service providers to access "free of pornography and other inappropriate material to houses and schools," content providers to check that young people of the correct age are accessing content designated for that age, and chatrooms to get "professionally assessed to determine whether [their] 'likely content' should be restricted," the Herald Sun and Agence France Presse report. Here's an opposing view from a US-based tech policy blog. Meanwhile, the porn filter the Australian government is pinning its nationwide filtering program to has been found by British researchers to be faulty, Australian IT reports. Cambridge University's Computer Laboratory, "said the innovative blocking system CleanFeed, devised by British Internet service provider BT, could be circumvented in a number of ways." Later this week, Australian IT published an editorial saying the government's anti-porn plan needs revamping.