Senator Conroy says it will be mandatory for all internet service providers to provide clean feeds, or ISP filtering, to houses and schools that are free of pornography and inappropriate material.
Online civil libertarians have warned the freedom of the internet is at stake, but Senator Conroy says that is nonsense.
He says the scheme will better protect children from pornography and violent websites.
“Labor makes no apologies to those that argue that any regulation of the internet is like going down the Chinese road,” he said.
“If people equate freedom of speech with watching child pornography, then the Rudd-Labor Government is going to disagree.”
And the nanny state plods inexorably onward.
I think the proposal is reasonable, people who want freedom to watch pornography and violence can opt out, while those who want to restrict access to such websites from children will be protected under the proposed system. I don’t see how the “freedom” of the internet is curtailed or that it leads to a nanny state.
Jeffersonian, there can never be total freedom. Sooner or later one person’s freedom to do what they want interferes with anothers freedom to not have that imposed upon them. This is entirely reasonable and I applaud their actions to protect children. You sound like a person who does not have children. As a grandparent of three adorable, innocent little girls I welcome this move.