Search giants Google and Yahoo have joined the Australian Library and Information Association and Inspire Foundation to create a coalition of online interests to lobby against Rudd Government plans to filter the internet.





Called the Safer Internet Group, the coalition is urging Government to adjust its internet filter plans, saying the scheme's present design is ineffective and puts at risk the benefits of a free flow of information.



Coalition members also argue the scope of the content to be filtered is too broad. Filtering all Refused Classification content - which the legislation is intended to do - could block content that has strong social or educational value.



"The Australian Library and Information Association has a responsibility to the Australian community to protect the free flow of information for all," ALIA executive director Sue Hutley said with the release of the coalitions Core Principles for Effective Action for a Safer Internet paper.



The group says peer-reviewed research on the issue found the most effective way to protect kids on the internet was through a combination of education and policing, coupled with technical measures that rely on ISPs, police and governments working together.



On technical measures the coalition says if governments can achieve the broad aims of these child safety policies through cooperation and partnerships with the industry, and by focusing on a clearly defined and narrow band of child sexual abuse material.



"As a large proportion of child sexual abuse content is not found on public websites, but in chat-rooms or peer-to-peer networks, we know the proposed filtering regime will not effectively protect children from this objectionable material," the Safer Internet Group coalition statement says.



"In fact, the policy may give parents a 'false sense of security' encouraging them to reduce their supervision."



The coalition also voices concern about the technical requirements of filtering and it broader impact on high volume parts of the internet.



Specifically it points to the Enex TestLabs report on the filtering trials carried out by Government, which said "in situations where there is a potential for very high traffic sites, such as YouTube, to have pages on the filtering list, this could result in significantly higher traffic rates passing through the filter, even though the specific pages being accessed are not those on the blacklist."



"This could cause additional load on the filtering infrastructure and subsequent performance bottlenecks."

Active Vs. Passive DWDM Solutions An active approach to your growing optical transport network & connectivity needs.



Building dark fibre network infrastructure using WDM technology used to be considered a complex challenge that only carriers have the means to implement.



This has led many enterprises to build passive networks, which are inferior in quality and ultimately limit their future growth.



Why are passive solutions considered inferior? And what makes active solutions great?



Read more about these two solutions, and how PacketLight fits into all this.

CLICK HERE!