On 18 November 2008 iTnews reported that:
The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has formed a new e-security task force to look into the Federal government's controversial ISP filtering scheme.
The task force, which meets on November 26, will be expected to take 'a leadership role, provide expert technical advice, and review e-security and ISP filtering proposals' with a view to assisting the ACS to develop its own policy positions.
These issues are of critical importance to the safety and security of Australian ICT infrastructure, on-line business models and internet users, according to Kumar Parakala, chairman of ACS.
The task force will be lead by Vijay Varadharajan, Professor and Microsoft chair in innovation in computing at Macquarie University and director of information and networked system security research.
"We are aware of ISP level filtering testing conducted by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), and the recent calls for tenders in the live pilot testing of ISP content filtering. We acknowledge that there have been strong industry views on these proposals ," said Varadharajan.
"At this stage the task force will develop sound technical advice on the feasibility and governance of the various ISP filtering options being investigated."
The ACS was more welcoming of the Federal government's general action 'on e-security issues', particularly with the NBN RFP process coming to a head.
"Online business activities have potential for huge productivity gains for the community and business with the introduction the new National Broadband Network," said Parakala.
"Appropriate e-security frameworks and policies are necessary if we are to fully harness this potential."
One has to ask what and how big is this society, which to date appears to have an ambiguous position on mandatory national ISP-level filtering.
It called on government to resist calls to censor online content in 1997, welcomed Internet content management by federal government in 1999, was very happy about the NSW backdown on planned Internet censorship in 2002, couldn't decide if government or parents should police the Net in 2003, has been in favour of e-security and real time monitoring since 2006 and supported the introduction of government distribution of the free filtering software, Net Nanny, in 2007.
Then in May this year the society came out in favour of Conroy's internet censorship plan:
Australian Computer Society president Kumar Parakala responded to the plan by saying that the ACS welcomes Senator Conroy's targeted plan to create a safer online environment for Australian children.
"I think it is an excellent initiative and as the use of cyber-technology increases among young children, something like this is a necessity," he told ZDNet.com.au.
Parakala said he doesn't expect ISP filtering to create a major overhead on broadband capacity.
2 comments:
The ACS has consistently taken the position that adult Australians should be able to see, hear and say what they want; that filtering systems are an adjunct that parents may choose to use but that the Government should not create the impression that the Internet is safe enough for children to use without parental supervision; that whilst text-based filtering might detect certain forms of content, there is no established mechanism for detecting pictorial matter regarded as unsuitable for children; that it is for parents to bring up their children with values that enable them to deal with unsuitable content in a mature way; and, finally, that child pornography is unacceptable in any context.
Thankyou for that reassurance, Phillip.
I noticed that the ACS ennunciated a consistent position when you were the pricipal spokesperson; I just wish that the current president in his turn demonstrated such a clear stance.
North Coast Voices is rather worried about where the Minister is leading the country in relation to accessing the Internet.
His proposal (as broadly outlined) appears to be expensive and hostile to all Internet users, be they business or private.
BTW Thanks for reading us!
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