Internet filtering meetings: Senior public servants keen on speed
- 21 August, 2009 07:59
- Comments 15
Senior public servants have focused on speed in technical discussions with industry representatives on the Federal Government’s controversial ISP-level Internet filtering scheme.
Up to eight senior bureaucrats from the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy recently met with a team from security vendor, Marshal8e6, in Canberra.
“They specifically requested we come on that date and time to Canberra and I had to fly in from Melbourne for what was originally a one-hour meeting but it went for two hours,” Marshal8e6 national sales manager, Serdar Yelutas, said.
“The technical scalability was a key question. Speed was a very important feature that they wanted answers on.”
Six of the nine companies currently participating in the ISP filtering trials are using a Marshal8e6 solution. In late July, ARN reported more than half the ISPs were reporting minimal speed disruptions or technology problems.
“They are under the impression that Senator Conroy will eventually release those results, but they’re not sure. The decision lies with Senator Conroy,” he said.
“They just said, ‘look, we don’t know whether it’s going to be mandatory or not’…I think they really weren’t sure.”
Experts in statistics recently labelled the ISP-level Internet filtering trial as unscientific and not representative due to the voluntary nature of the trials and the inadequate sample size of both users and companies participating.
But Enex Testlab, the company brought on by the Federal Government to run the filtering trial, hit back earlier this month. While it could not confirm or deny any questions about the trial due to a confidentiality agreement, Enex principal, Matt Tett, said the firm was neutral and scientific.
“Enex TestLab, as always, remains independent, neutral and approaches all projects with an un-biased scientific approach ensuring that all our methodologies are subjectively constructed to ensure accuracy in the data collected and therefore the results produced, we apply peer-review and confidence factors to our analysis,” he said.
The trial may not be vital to whether or not the filter goes ahead with some experts are arguing that the technology being suggested has been proven to work with minimal speed disruptions.
The proposed mandatory ISP-level filter would block a set list of websites specified by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), which would not be open to public scrutiny.
The Minister for the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE), Senator Stephen Conroy, has previously stated the current trial’s success or failure will help form much of the government’s stance on mandatory nation-wide ISP-level Internet filtering.
“We'll be guided by that trial. We've always said, consistently, we'll be guided by the trial,” the Minister said on the ABC’s Q&A program.
(See some of the best posts on the filtering trial here. And some of the worst here.)
Nominations for the 2012 ARN IT Industry Awards open on Tuesday, June 12.
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Comments
Rant, Rot & Ruin
Words.
Senator Conroy has been proven a liar over and over again. His word means nothing.
Enex Testlab signed a confidentiality agreement that renders them immune to peer review. Their word means nothing.
Serdar Yelutas represents a company that stands to gain a tremendous windfall if its product is forced onto 8 million internet subscribers. His word means nothing.
The Australian public has consistently decided against filtering. ACMA's own studies have found that most parents don't feel it nessecary to filter their connections, be it via PC level or ISP level. Most ISPs that offer pre-filtered feeds have long gone bust, and the only survivor - WebShield - is one of the slowest and most expensive ISPs in the country.
So why is it that so many people voting with their wallets are being IGNORED in favour of liars, colluders and gold-diggers??
Symon
(No subject)
“They specifically requested we come on that date and time to Canberra and I had to fly in from Melbourne for what was originally a one-hour meeting but it went for two hours,”
Oh, Diddums....
Pete
Control vs Freedom
How about the government stops trying to CONTROL information and starts educating the public on the 'dangers' of the Internet instead?
Sadly thats not an option. Didnt Controy once say "We have to bring the Internet 'in line with other media'. What a disaster.
Governments are scared of the Internet, as the Internet allows open communication between citizens on a mass scale. They would rather have us back in front of our TVS soaking up prime time current affair shows and reality tv.
Anonymous
more for words
..and don't forget the MD for Webshield is in a major conflict of interest in that his ISP is in the trail WHILE he sits on the filtering committee ...would not surprise me if Webshields own filtering system is apart of the trail - more conflict of interest.
The trail is a complete facade as the Minster has not set a measurable targets for a pass or fail and therefore can bend any results into what he wishes and given the final report is been drafted by his OWN department will have no creditability..
Anonymous
When will they realise
That the technology used to secure their banking transactions, etc is the same technology that will be used to bypass any filtering/censorship they try to implement.
Morons.
Jack Tar
'in line'
Bringing the internet in line with other media.
I hear this time and again but which media exactly was he referring to? As far as I can see, none of our media is 'in line' with each other when given proper consideration nation-wide.
Differing levels of passibility for what is legal or not, what is RC unwanted/illegal/fine differ between the states.
Exacly wth media is being referenced in his quote?
CW
Enex scientific and neutral
Unfortunately for Enex they are entwined with the government's political machinations.
The only advice I can offer Enex is to remind them of the words of Benjamin Franklin: <cite><strong>He that lieth down with Dogs, shall rise up with Fleas.</strong></cite>
Oh, that and the URL for wikileaks if they really want to clear their good name: http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Wikileaks:Submissions
Anonymous
*cries*
Let's ask the filter vendor whether his product works or not! Great idea /sarcasm.
Wasn't the filtering trial meant to test this sort of thing? Oh wait, one ISP only had 15 users trialing it. This is a absolute waste of taxpayers money and a massive show of incompetence by Conroy. Now we can add this massive failure to the huge list of lies/distortions/ignorance/stupidity that comes out of Conroy's mouth everytime he speaks.
Sack this fool already.
Cowcakes
The trial works becuase I said
Stephen Conroy is either a retarded denialist idiot or a power mad megalomaniac.
Oooops sorry . I forgot the two are not mutually exclusive.
Anonymous
Re: Words
You really are a sad and sorry person... Is the best you can do? This is it?
I think you want to get out into the world and get a life...
Anonymous
I help manage the IT services for a 600 desk workplace with a Marshal8e6 system. We tried a whole bunch of systems before picking it too, most of the others were shocking.
I'm personally against ISP filtering, it smells a bit too communist to me tbh! We don't need it and most Australians don't want it, so I think it's stupid.
But if they bring one in, I hope it is this one because a lot of the other systems created major spikes in latency and occasionally caused periodic system freezes! Can you imagine if they rolled out something that had issues at our company's level to all Australians? It would be an absolute disaster.
Rant, Rot & Ruin
Re: Re: Words
"You really are a sad and sorry person..."
I'm sad that our government is so hell-bent on selling out its people to fundamentalist religious minority lobby groups and copyright cartels; and I'm sorry you can't seem to see any reason to give a damn. Unless, of course, you're a schill for one of the interested parties (like that astroturfer from Netsweeper that was plaguing message boards all over the place a few months back) in which case your motivations are obvious.
"Is the best you can do? This is it?"
I don't see you coming up with any counter-arguments.
"I think you want to get out into the world and get a life..."
*clap* ... *clap*
markhar
Internet Filtering Trials Misguided
We do NOT want the power to filter the internet in ANY way to be in the hands of the government.
All states, even benevolent democratic ones, exhibit a tendency to restrict the flow of information and control what voters see
If there are concerns about content these are best addressed at the point of viewing - i.e. the user. Users can choose not to browse certain media and for parents concerned about "inappropriate" content being viewed by their children - they can elect to filter.
No Net Nannies from this government please
SirCabbage
When it comes.... people will complain
Right now most people don't relise what is happening, but when it does I see riots, or at least a LOT of complaints
Anonymous
QFT
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