The US Federal Communication Commision (FCC) recently cancelled a meeting which could have resulted in free wireless broadband being made available, reports CNET. Strangely enough, the home of the PATRIOT Act was considering an opt-out pornography and ‘material deemed not fit for children’ filter for this free service.
The FCC was due to vote on the proposal on December 18 which would have resulted in the sale of 25Mhz of wireless spectrum. In exchange, licensees would be required to provide free Internet for those who either can’t afford, or don’t wish to pay for, a high speed Internet service.
The executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center found the filtering proposal “troubling”. “A government-mandated filter at the network level means the government can block anything it finds objectionable.”
So the US is considering filtering, but only for free Internet accessible by anyone from anywhere. The system would also allow adults to opt-out of the filter. And yet the Australian government want to filter all Internet connections? Sorry, is it opposite day?
Australians would have no way to opt-out of the filter, so would be forced to pay hard earned cash on a second rate service. I hate to say it but I think the US had the right idea — at least on the opt-out filtering.