Comments on: Australia to give away porn-filtering software

Country's IT minister says $86 million allocated for free online downloads of a Web application, yet to be chosen.

[ALPICH]

Which platformsh

It says that every Australian family will be able to have software on
their home computer. What if I own a Apple computer or have a
Linux machine at home. Or is this more of a well most of
Australians will be able to have free protection on their computer. I
would rather they give me a voucher for software to be claimed at
any software store. That way only those that choose to have it will
cost the government. Anyways, I hope they include Mac Software
because I have three Kids that will soon be using the Net.

[ALPICH]

Which platforms?

It says that every Australian family will be able to have software on
their home computer. What if I own a Apple computer or have a
Linux machine at home. Or is this more of a well most of
Australians will be able to have free protection on their computer. I
would rather they give me a voucher for software to be claimed at
any software store. That way only those that choose to have it will
cost the government. Anyways, I hope they include Mac Software
because I have three Kids that will soon be using the Net.

[gefitz]

Again with the filters...

So now national governments are getting into the promotion of filtering software. Does NO-ONE tell ANYONE that filters DO NOT WORK? SO Frustrating!

If you don't know what an anonymous web proxy is, ask your 12 yr-old kid. They might tell you.

[MrNougat]

Filter or block?

Ohhh this will *block* porn. Because I was thinking if it could filter it, maybe it would filter it *in,* thereby saving me all the hassle of having to *look* for porn.

[ml_ess]

Take e-mail into account

Offering porn-filtering software to families might not be a bad idea. After all, children are very impressionable members of society and need to be guided while they're developing.

Hopefully Australian officials will choose a software that will not only target web surfing, but also e-mail. Pornography makes up a large part of spam mail that floods inboxes daily, so this issue is definetly something that should be addressed.
http://www.iwantmyess.com/?p=55

Tbough we probably have to wait until the program is implemented to discuss its effectiveness, Australia seems to be making a step in the right direction.

[marileev]

more than surfing

ml_ess makes a good point about email security, being safe on the web is more than surfing and blocking content. There are other ways Australian citizens can be at risk.

[ElijahBaley]

Free software alternatives

Instead of wasting millions of dollars of taxpayers' money by buying single use licenses of propietary programs (wich, as another commentary says, will probably only work on ms windows) the australian govenrment should use free software. With much less than $86 million any existing piece of filtering software can be adapted to suit the project needs, or even a new application can be developed from scratch. That investment would be much more redituable, because the goverment would have infinite copies of the software to give away, plus all the other benefits of free software.