Today Save the Children and other several organizations such as Civil Liberties Australia, the National Children`s and Youth Law Centre released a join statement opposing the proposed mandatory internet service provider (ISP) filter. The statement says the filter will not be effective in protecting children from online dangers. Besides, the organisations want the funds that would be spent implementing the scheme to be funnelled to child protection authorities and police to help prevent child abuse.
Save the Children's child rights spokeswoman Annie Pettit says the filter will not be able to block the distribution of child pornography through other means such as email distribution lists, chat rooms and file sharing networks and believes that the Government should instead focus on educating children and parents about safe internet usage.
Lobby group GetUp!, which has already been campaigning against the filter, supported the statement by airing ads on television and urging the public to say no to the filter.
The filter, that aims to block all material which has been refused classification such as violent or pornographic sites, is due to report this month on the outcomes of the trial. However, the Federal Government has already faced fierce criticism that it will strangle free speech on the internet, is open to potential government abuse and will ban sites that should not be coming under scrutiny.
In March an alleged list of sites already banned by the Australian Communications and Media Authority revealed that harmless sites had also been marked as unacceptable.
In May last year the Government said it would spend $125.8 million over four years on several measures to strengthen cyber safety, including the filter.
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