THE Obama administration has questioned the Rudd government's plan to introduce an internet filter, saying it runs contrary to the US's foreign policy of encouraging an open internet to spread economic growth and global security.
Officials from the State Department have raised the issue with Australian counterparts as the US mounts a diplomatic assault on internet censorship by governments worldwide.
The news is a blow to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, who is defending the plan for internet companies to mandatorily block illegal and abhorrent websites -- for instance, child pornography -- but faces growing opposition.
While considered a noble idea, any filter is considered by many -- even within the Labor caucus -- to be unworkable and a misdirection of resources away from enforcement and policing.
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