Censorship on the Internet

Along with all other Internet Service Providers in Australia, OnTheNet is in the unfortunate position of having to announce that the Australian Government has decided it will try to censor the Internet from January 1, 2000.

This is specified in the Broadcasting Service Amendment (Online Services) Act 1999.

To comply with this act, OnTheNet must comply with the Codes of Practice as specified by the Internet Industry Association. The full text of the Codes of Practice is available here.

The two main areas that will affect OnTheNet subscribers are:

• OnTheNet is obliged to "take reasonable steps" to verify that our subscribers are aged 18 or over, or for subscribers aged under 18, that that they have the consent of a "parent, teacher or other responsible adult".

• OnTheNet is obliged to "provide for use" an Approved Filter. One of the definitions of "provide for use" specifies that OnTheNet may give subscribers "notification containing... links to effect download activation and instructions for use" for Approved Filters.

  You may go to the list of Approved Filters here.

  Please note: these filters are not "approved" by OnTheNet. They are the filters listed in the Internet Industry Association Codes of Practice, specifically those in the section Schedule 1: Approved Filters

  Should you require help with any of these products, you will need to contact the software supplier.

OnTheNet's opinion is that responsible adults are capable of determining for themselves what they would and wouldn't like to see. Parental guidance and supervision is the appropriate way to protect younger children from undesirable content. Government intervention in this area is inappropriate, unnecessary, unworkable and unenforceable.

There are some links to other resources on these topics here