Well, since the OP hasn't been back I thought I'd better do a little research.
Interview with the office of Senator Conroy
here. From last October.
The announcement on 31st December2008
here.
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.
Note: amusing missing comma makes it appear that filtering will not be mandatory to houses and schools that already have pornography!
Alllegedly, the sites that will be affected by Australian ISP filters are those already filtered out, voluntarily, by
some ISPs in other countries (such as the UK, Sweden, Norway and Canada) because they contain
… child pornography, cruelty or real violence, and sexual violence.
Of course, that list could cover news articles too and in any case none of those countries has made filtering mandatory yet. And what of typos that end up filtering out innocent sites (because someone typed in a 3 instead of a 4, for instance.
Anyway, the DPP has said it would be pointless, as it wouldn't work and Senator Conroy now seems to be agreeing with him. Article from 5th August
here.
In further written comments made to this website today, Cowdery questioned whether an internet filtering scheme would help him catch and prosecute more criminals such as child porn traders. He said compromises to freedom of expression would also need to be considered.
People looking to view banned material on the web would probably be able to bypass the filters, while those peddling material such as child porn would most likely change their tactics to avoid detection by the filters.
From my reading, it seems that 'religious' sites (like this one!) would only be on the banned list accidentally. I think that this is going to die a quiet death in a pile of other dusty folders with unworkable ideas.
