Stephen Conroy will today release an implementation study into the National Broadband Network. "Some sections of the community have expressed concern about whether the range of material included in the RC category ... correctly reflects current community standards," Senator Conroy said. "As the government's mandatory ISP filtering policy is underpinned by the strength of our classification system, the legal obligation to commence mandatory ISP filtering will not be imposed until the review is completed." In the meantime, major ISPs - including Optus, Telstra and iPrimus - have pledged to block child-abuse websites voluntarily. This narrower, voluntary approach has long been advocated by internet experts and brings Australia into line with other countries such as Britain. "It will be just child porn, and that will be consistent with best practice in Scandinavia and Europe," Peter Coroneos, chief executive of the Internet Industry Association, said.

But the government does not seem to be backing out of the deeply unpopular mandatory filtering policy altogether, as it has today announced a suite of transparency and accountability measures to address concerns about the scheme. These include: an annual review of content on the blacklist by an "independent expert".

clear avenues of appeal for people whose sites are blocked.

content will be added to the blacklist by the Classification Board, instead of the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

affected parties will have the ability to have decisions reviewed by the Classification Review Board.

people will know when they surf to a blocked page as a notification will appear. "The public needs to have confidence that the URLs on the list, and the process by which they get there, is independent, rigorous, free from interference or influence and enables content and site owners access to appropriate review mechanisms," Senator Conroy said. One of Senator Conroy's strongest political critics, Greens communications spokesman Scott Ludlam, took the move by the government as a sign the critics were winning their battle to have the policy modified.

"A review of the RC is helping; that's a good idea. I think the fact that ISPs are putting their own initiatives forward voluntarily is also helpful," Senator Ludlam said. "[But] if we're still pursuing mandatory ISP-level filtering then obviously we're not there yet. All we've got today is a useful acknowledgment of some of the flaws in the system and I'm hoping that they take this period to reflect on the overall objectives of the scheme." He said even if the policy was narrowed to encompass just child-abuse material, major issues remained, such as that the filters are easy to bypass and will not block even a fraction of the nasty material available on the web. There was nothing stopping future governments from expanding the blacklist to cover other types of content. "I don't interpret [the move] as killing it but I do interpret it as trying to neutralise the issue in the short term as far as the election is concerned," said Colin Jacobs, spokesman for the online users' lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia. "They're tinkering around the edges with the classification scheme without having a rethink around how you apply a system that was designed for books and movies to the internet."

The Safer Internet Group, which includes state schools, libraries, Google, iiNet, Inspire Foundation, Internet Industry Association, Yahoo and the System Administrators Guild of Australia today welcomed the new approach the government was taking on cyber safety. Google, which has been at war with Senator Conroy over the policy, said it was "heartened" to see the government had taken into account "the genuine concerns expressed by many" on the RC category. "While we're yet to see full details, a voluntary proposal by ISPs, limited to child abuse material, is consistent with the approach taken in many of Australia's peer countries worldwide," Google Australia managing director Karim Temsamani said. "Our primary concern has always been that the scope of the proposed filter is far too broad. It goes way beyond child sexual abuse material and would block access to important online information for all Australians." Simon Sheikh, chief executive of the online activist group GetUp!, said the delay on the mandatory filters was proof that the government had heard the voices of the hundreds of thousands of Australians prepared to vote on this issue.

Loading "But a delay is not enough - the Government needs to announce that they will either scrap, or change the policy to an opt-in model, so that Australians themselves can judge how best to protect their children online," he said. "When it comes to protecting our children online we need investment in education, home-based filters and the federal police. These investments will better equip parents to protect their children at home, and better equip police to combat the issues at their source."