Mandatory Internet Censorship in Australia?

Introduction

The proposed amendments to the Broadcasting Services Act ("the Act"), which are expected to be introduced into Parliament in the Autumn 2010 session (February – March), will make it mandatory for all Internet Service Providers ("ISPs") to block Refused Classification ("RC") material hosted on overseas servers. A recent Sydney Morning Herald poll of over 20,000 participants resulted in 96 per cent indicating they were opposed to the introduction of a mandatory filter.

Current Regime

Currently in Australia, the following categories of online content are prohibited content under the Act:

1. content which is classified RC;
2. content which is classified X 18+;
3. content which is classified R 18+ and not subject to a restricted access system that prevents access by children;