iinet Exits Internet Filter Trial

The federal government has been told to abandon a push for internet filters following the decision of a second service provider, iiNet, to withdraw from a planned trial.

Australia's third largest internet service provider, iiNet, advised the government on Monday it would withdraw from the trial sighting "corporate social responsibility" concerns.

The nation's biggest telco, Telstra, is also out, preferring to test its own technology, while Optus is in negotiations with the government over its participation.

Online advocacy group GetUp says it's time to pull the plug on the trial. "It's high time the federal government faces facts and dumps its plans to censor the web," national director Simon Sheikh said.

iiNet says it was only going to participate in the trial to demonstrate the filter plan was fundamentally flawed and a waste of taxpayers' money.

"It became increasingly clear that the trial was not simply about restricting child pornography or other such illegal material," managing director Michael Malone said.

Instead, it was about a much wider range of issues including what the government simply described as "unwanted material" without an explanation of what that included. Mr Malone said illegal material could still be distributed via peer-to-peer networks that wouldn't be picked up via a filter.

The government says it is taking an evidence-approach to policy. Without the trial, it was too difficult to determine exactly what unwanted material could be blocked by the filter, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said in a statement.

GetUp plans to launch a national television advertising campaign against the internet filter trial. The ad is expected to go to air from next month.

Original article in WA Business News: http://www.wabusinessnews.com.au/en-story/1/71309/iiNet-exits-internet-filter-trial