Senator Stephen Conroy has been labeled the worst Communications Minister that Australia has had since the internet was invented by iiNet’s Managing Director Michael Malone. As well, Greens senator Scott Ludlam accused Conroy of misleading the public by claiming the plan was similar to that in Sweden, Canada and neighbour New Zealand.
Even though the response has been negative, the Government is still pressing ahead with its promise of protecting people from obsene and unwanted content, with it calling for expressions of interest from ISPs to participate in live trials of the filter – which are set to commence at Christmas Eve, or December 24, this year.
While both Optus and Telstra have said that they will be reviewing the trials, iiNet will be involved – with a twist. Talking to The Age, Malone has said that iiNet was only participating to show the public that the filter is stupid.
“Every time a kid manages to get through this filter, we’ll be publicising it and every time it blocks legitimate content, we’ll be publicising it,” Malone said. “This is the worst Communications Minister we’ve had in the 15 years since the [internet] industry has existed.”
[...] News. iiNet has decided to opt-in to the trials, before calling Senator Stephen Conroy as the worst Communications Minister we had since the birth of the Internet. While iiNet decided to go for the trials, it has also said [...]