Australia and the United States appear to be on a collision course on the issue of internet censorship.

In a wide-ranging speech last night, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accused countries that filter search engines of contravening the UN's Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

Taken literally, that is what the Australian Government has planned with the internet filtering regime it promised last month to introduce.

Critics of the filtering plan say the Federal Government should heed Ms Clinton's words and scrap the filter.

"Countries that restrict free access to information or violate the basic rights of internet users risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next century," Senator Clinton said in the speech.

And she urged global condemnation of countries which build electronic barriers to parts of the internet or filter search engines.

She singled out Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. China was clearly in her sights as well; internet giant Google has threatened to quit China over concerns about censorship and cyber attacks.

Censorship 'club'

The vice chairman of Electronic Frontiers Australia, Colin Jacobs, opposes the Federal Government's internet censorship plan.

"China is not alone in censoring the internet - and that's a club that Australia is unfortunately set to join if the Rudd Government get their way this year," he said.

"[Ms Clinton] did say that censorship should not be in any way accepted by any company from anywhere and that governments should not prevent people from connecting to the internet or to websites or to each other. And that's exactly what the Rudd Government has in mind."

The Government's plan involves asking internet service providers to block content that the National Classification Board decides should be "Refused Classification".

Such content includes child sex abuse content, bestiality and instructions in crime and drug use.

In a statement, the responsible Australian Government minister, Stephen Conroy, welcomed Ms Clinton's speech.

He says the Government also agrees with her observations that all societies recognise that "freedom of expression has its limits".

But Mr Jacobs says Senator Conroy is taking Senator Clinton's words out of context.

"She goes on to say that we acknowledge that there are limits to free speech but the internet is so important that we can't jeopardise the advantages by introducing censorship," he said.

"So the Government has sort of twisted the words to throw their own policy in a better light."

'Badgering China'

Mr Jacobs is hoping the US will push a free-internet agenda in bilateral meetings with Australia.

But that is unlikely, according to Michael McKinley, a senior lecturer in international relations and strategy at the Australian National University.

"I don't think Hillary Clinton's comments were aimed at Australia," he said.

"They were really aimed at harassing and badgering China for obvious reasons and for some quite good reasons."

Dr McKinley does not think it will challenge Ms Clinton's authority if she is waving a stick at China over internet freedom yet letting Australia plough its own course.

"If we expect consistency from United States Cabinet members, particularly a Secretary of State, I think we've sorely misplaced our expectations, because this is a measure aimed primarily at China at this point in time," he said.

Dr McKinley also argues the issue will not be contentious between the two countries, because he does not believe the proposed internet filter in Australia will actually work.

That is a view shared by the President of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, Susan Harris-Rimmer.

"That depicts the fine regulation because it keeps being able to be hacked into [and able to] overcome all kinds of government control," she said.

"So it's the beauty and the danger of the net that governments are trying to deal with and they're not doing a very good job of it yet."

Dr Harris-Rimmer says the broader question that must be settled is which infringements on the rights of people to access information on the internet are legitimate in the interest of public safety, and which are not.

China condemns US

But China has come out condemning any criticism of Beijing's controls on the internet, saying Washington's push against online censorship could harm relations between the two big powers.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said the US criticisms could hurt ties between the two nations, which are both among the world's biggest economies.

"The US has criticised China's policies to administer the internet and insinuated that China restricts internet freedom," Mr Ma said.

"This runs contrary to the facts and is harmful to China-US relations.

"We urge the United States to respect the facts and cease using so-called internet freedom to make groundless accusations against China."

But the Chinese spokesman also indicated that his government did not want to see the dispute overwhelm cooperation with the Obama administration, which has sought Beijing's backing on economic policy and diplomatic stand-offs, such as Iran and North Korea.

- ABC/Reuters