The cyber-safety debate has no easy answers but blocking access, Ari Sharp writes, comes down to whether to patrol - or control.
It was hardly the finding the government wanted to hear. When the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, commissioned technology company Enex TestLab to test his proposed internet filter, he was hoping it would provide support for the policy close to his heart. When the report came back in October, it backed the government's claim that a filter applied by internet service providers could accurately block access to prohibited sites.
However, it delivered a finding that fundamentally appeared to undermine the plan: ''A technically competent user could, if they wished, circumvent the filtering technology.''
Far from using the finding as a reason to quietly abandon the filter on websites rated ''refused classification'' (RC) under Australia's censorship rules, the conclusion only strengthened the minister's resolve to push ahead.
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