Primus Telecom announced today that it is in full support of the Federal Government’s policy to block online child pornography and welcomed the opportunity to work with the Government to further develop and implement its policy.
Senator Conroy announced new Government legislation to help protect Australian families online, with new cyber-safety measures designed to filter undesirable content. As anticipated, Senator Conroy also announced the introduction of mandatory ISP-level filtering of Refused Classification (RC) rated content from overseas, after a pilot trial involving Primus Telecom and another eight Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
“Primus Telecom believes that the introduction of an ISP filtering regime into Australia requires a balance between protecting Australians’ rights of free expression and access to information with the need to improve online safety and the need to take action against the providers of objectionable content,” said Ravi Bhatia.
Leading up to the Government’s announcement this afternoon Primus Telecom had worked constructively with other leading ISPs in informing the Government on a set of principles that should underlie its policy on filtering, and at this afternoon’s press conference the Government announced it will undertake further consultation on some of the measures.
Primus Telecom believes the scope and operation of an ISP filtering regime for on-line safety needs to be governed by a set of clear and focused policy principles, use efficient and effective processes in determining and removing prohibitions on content, and operate in a transparent and accountable manner. Primus Telecom welcomed the chance to expand on these matters in further consultation with the Government.
At the press conference in Melbourne today Senator Conroy also released the Enex Test Laboratory report into the pilot trial of Internet Service Provider (ISP)-level filtering. The press conference was attended by Primus Telecom’s CEO Ravi Bhatia, who felt it was important for the ISP to be involved in the trials and also in regular consultation with the Government so the company could help the Government form its Cyber-Safety policy.
“The internet filtering trials Primus and its customers voluntarily took part in demonstrated that blocking of a designated URL list can be done with negligible impact on network performance and with 100 per cent accuracy,” said Ravi Bhatia.
About Primus www.primus.com.au
Primus Telecom is one of Australia’s largest telecommunications carriers offering a comprehensive range of high speed broadband, data, Internet, web hosting and voice products, servicing both business and residential sectors. The Primus network provides nationwide coverage through its own backbone network with facilities in 66 cities and 286 DSLAM exchanges across Australia. The network enables the Company to provide nationwide long distance services and local call Internet access. Primus operates its own fibre network in the five major capital cities, delivering a range of business direct-connect services including ISDN, frame relay, ATM, telephone line and broadband DSL, as well as telephone line and broadband DSL services direct to residential customers.