Australia Plans To Block 10,000 Websites

November 14, 2008 9:22 a.m. EST

Canberra, Australia (AHN) - After stock markets and world economies crashed recently, its now the turn of unwanted websites to fall down. A day after computer security experts identified and cut off from the World Wide Web a San Jose IT firm responsible for 75 percent of spam emails in the world, Australia announced on Friday plans to block 10,000 portals with unwanted content.

The block of the websites is part of the federal government's plan to put in place a filter technology beginning just before Christmas and will last for six weeks. So far the Australian government has initially identified 1,300 webpages it plans to block under a clean feeds scheme.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said most of the sites are known child pornography portals containing lewd images and videos. For the project to have a wider impact, Conroy called on Australian ISP provider to participate in the test run. But only one ISP has come forward.

Aside from blocking porno sites, Family First Sen. Steve Fielding proposed that it also jam overseas online casino sites, which are not permitted in Australia.

Conroy said, quoted by the U.K. Telegraph, "The live pilot will provide valuable real-world evidence of the potential impact on internet speeds and costs to industry and will help ensure we implement a filtering solution that is efficient, effective and easy for Australian families to use."

A previous trial of the scheme showed it has the potential of slowing down internet access by up to 87 percent. Civil liberty groups and the Internet service industry have expressed their opposition to the proposed filter.