Sidney Morning Herald HT: Techdirt
THE Rudd Government has branded as a failure the $85 million software filter scheme to protect young Australians from online pornography and will review its future.
Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is assessing the NetAlert program, which will come under scrutiny at the Senate estimates hearings tomorrow.
The filter scheme was a central feature of the Howard Government’s $189 million NetAlert program launched last August to address the perceived threat of online sexual predators and unsavoury content to young internet users. A multimillion dollar advertising blitz followed, including a booklet delivered to every household across the nation.
It was expected 2.5 million households would take up the free porn-blocking filters within 12 months but only 144,088 filter products have been downloaded or ordered on CD-ROM since August last year.
The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has estimated about 29,000 of these accessed filter products were still being used – less than 2 per cent of the set target.
“The program has clearly failed, despite over $15 million being spent in advertising to support it,” Mr Conroy said.
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