2008/12/10 Emil Mikulic <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:emikulic@dmr.ath.cx">emikulic@dmr.ath.cx</a>></span><br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="Ih2E3d">> It could be argued that the government is trying to get ISPs to clean<br>
> up their own act by providing content filtering services as some<br>
> members of the community could legitimately expect. Furthermore it<br>
> could be argued that the ISPs have been dragging their heels on this<br>
> issue, forcing the government to consider alternative means of meeting<br>
> expectations of the Australian community, rather than through self<br>
> regulation. What should our response be to this type of argument?<br>
<br>
</div>That if there were demand for such a service, the free market would<br>
provide more of it. Not provide it, provide more of it. Because there<br>
are already ISPs that sell ISP-level filtering:<br>
<br>
- <a href="http://www.webshield.net.au/" target="_blank">http://www.webshield.net.au/</a><br>
- <a href="http://www.itxtreme.com.au/" target="_blank">http://www.itxtreme.com.au/</a><br>
<br>
AFAIK Netspace provides filtered feeds to schools.<br>
Does anyone know of any others?<br></blockquote></div> <br>Having a look at <a href="http://itxtreme.com.au">itxtreme.com.au</a> reveals they are a dial-up only provider, I'd exclude them from the list since we're supposedly in the age of broadband. Leaving only <a href="http://webshield.net.au">webshield.net.au</a>, which look pretty good if you actually want content filtering. Data plans are shaped (no excess usage fees), and they're a not for profit - hence the prices don't look too horrid considering the service they offer. $52.95 per month gets 12 gig per month, 256K downstream 64K upstream, shaped to 64K downstream. All sorts of filtering options (eg: time based filtering for individual sites and services) and supposedly the support is good too. Lots of other plans available too, including dial-up and high speed. Going to a 8000K/384K costs $87.95 and gets you 10 gigabytes per month. They even support fast-churn.<br>
<br>From the IAA website comes the following list:<br><h3>
IIA 'Family Friendly' ISPs </h3>
<p>
<a href="http://www.austar.com.au/">
AUSTAR broadband</a> <br>
<a href="http://www.gday.net.au/">Gday.net</a> <br>
<a href="http://www.iinet.net.au/">iiNet</a> <br>
<a href="http://www.optus.com.au/home/index.html">Optus</a> <br>
<a href="http://www.qldits.com/">
Queensland IT Services</a> <br>
<a href="http://www.soulaustralia.com.au/">Soul Communications</a><br>
<a href="http://www.bigpond.com/homepage/">Telstra BigPond </a> <br>
<a href="http://uqconnect.net/">
UQConnect </a> <br>
<a href="http://www.virginbroadband.com.au/">
Virgin Broadband </a> <br>
<a href="http://www.webcentral.com.au/">
WebCentral </a> <br>
<a href="http://www.webshield.net.au/">
Webshield</a> <br>
<a href="http://www.westnet.com.au/">
Westnet </a> <br>
<a href="http://wideband.net.au/">
Wideband Networks</a></p><p><br></p><p>Regards,</p><p>Tyson.<br></p>