Hundreds of Australian websites will fade to black this week in protest against the Federal Government's proposed internet filter, which some claim will put Australia on a par with countries like China and Iran.

The Federal Government wants to pass laws to force internet service providers to block banned material hosted on overseas servers. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says he intends to introduce the legislation in the first half of 2010.

But organisers of the Great Australian Internet Blackout protest say the mandatory internet filter will not protect children from harmful content on the internet and will waste taxpayers' money.

Spokesman Jeff Waugh says the filter could put Australia in company with China.

"Filtering is a serious problem and it poses quite a threat to freedom for countries like China," he said.

"But it is quite scary [that Australia] would be joining countries like China and Iran that would be filtering the net."

The Greens say their website will fade to black today as part of the nationwide protest.

Upon visiting the site, a box containing information about the internet blackout appears and the background is dimmed, but the site returns to normal after just one mouse click.

Greens Senator Scott Ludlam says he believes more than 500 websites will take part.

"That's basically all the device is - the blackout isn't designed to take the website offline or to make it completely illegible," he said.

"But any time you visit that website that black screen is going to come up first and remind you what's going on.

"We'll support any community initiative that raises awareness about the issue and helps educate people about what's actually proposed."

He said he would not have been able to persuade his colleagues take The Greens fully offline.

"I think the Communications Minister would probably be quite chuffed if we took The Greens website offline for a week or a day," he said.

"It's not going to change the world... it's not a massive act of civil disobedience or anything, it's just a quirky little device."