Australia to get mandatory internet filter

I didn't know what was going on in the land down under regarding the topic at all but seriously .. what is their government thinking ? Really ? They should be frickin ashamed of themselves. Computerworld is reporting that Australians will be unable to opt-out of the government's pending Internet content filtering scheme, and will instead be placed on a watered-down blacklist, experts say.

Now this is how it works, a government implements this program under the idea "hey we filter out the bad like child-porn etc". Which obviously is a good thing. The next step however is simple, with such a filter the fundaments of something very big has been made. The next step will be to block your downloads, the things you want to see, yet your government doesn't ... this is a CENSOR. Is the Australian government lowering itself to the level of Cuba, North Korea and China ?? I might be a liberal Dutch guy but let me tell you, I'm seriously disappointed to see something like this being shuffed up the Aussie tooshes.

Something you guys need to remember for the next election.

Under the government's $125.8 million Plan for Cyber-Safety, users can switch between two blacklists which block content inappropriate for children, and a separate list which blocks illegal material. Pundits say consumers have been lulled into believing the opt-out proviso would remove content filtering altogether. The government will iron-out policy and implementation of the Internet content filtering software following an upcoming trial of the technology, according to the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.

A spokesman for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the filters will be mandatory for all Australians.