You haven't given any reason why any of these problems should be a matter of public policy.

Just as there are Australian Design Rules(ADR) for cars, there should be an ADR standard(s) for Computers, mobile devices and Internet connections and Browsers. Once such Standards are in place endorsement could then be given to complying products. The users still has the ultimate decision making authority however I think most users would select compliant products. Providers would gain a commercial advantage so everyone is better of. I also believe the proposed Internet filters are to be avoided at all costs. As these proposals are a Trojan (pun intended) horse for a communist Chinese style of internet and thought control

As said before,

Only a small vocal minority want this net filtering. A gov subsidised net nanny software for voluntary upload should be sufficient for their needs.

For the rest of us we can continue to enjoy fast unfettered internet subject to our own judgement not some one else's.

These net nazi's need to look after their own backyards first.

The article author says:

" ..... the Commonwealth needs to expand its actions considerably. First, given the rapid spread of modern threats via the internet, the government has to identify that all computers online need to have access to prompt updates for operating systems and key software (such as browsers)."

Can this access to prompt updates for operating systems and browsers not be had already, and at no cost to the user beyond that of the bandwidth used to download them? That certainly seems to be the case with the Ubuntu Linux distribution that I use.

Recently, whilst surfing the net, I landed on a site that displayed a warning that many viruses had been detected on my computer, the only cure for which was, of course, to purchase a particular anti-virus package. When I tried to close the screen, my computer would not respond. Was I worried?

I just larfed. I was running Linux. Linux does not get viruses. So I just did an improper shutdown. You know, pulled the plug. The screen went black. The nasty website that had purported to have seized control of my computer and told me I had many, many viruses on it, had gone away.

Then I re-booted my computer, the journaling file system checked itself for errors and side-effects of an improper shutdown, and I logged into my user account and was away again. I clicked my browser icon. The browser (Firefox) came up, and told me that my last session had ended unexpectedly, and would I like the session restored. I clicked 'restore session', and everything within a few seconds was just as it had been before, except for the nasty website that wanted to lie to me about viruses being on my computer.

Surely one of the simplest initiatives for the Commonwealth government is to mandate Linux compatibility be a feature of all computer hardware offered for sale in Australia. This would be analogous to Australian design rules having to be complied with by the automotive industry.

Linux and open source software: greater security for all, and its free!

There is a key assumption in all of this that unfortunately the writer takes for granted.

>>In developing a reasonable response, therefore, the Commonwealth needs to expand its actions considerably<<

There is no evidence whatsoever that the government understands the problem, let alone that it has an inkling as to what constitutes an answer. This exhortation is therefore akin to saying "we don't know what we are doing, so the answer must be to do more of it".

Wing Ah Ling skewered the real issue in his response:

>>You haven't given any reason why any of these problems should be a matter of public policy.<<

If the matter is of concern to households, as indeed it should be, there is absolutely nothing in the world to prevent those households from tracking down a solution. They have, by definition, access to the Internet, and therefore to the seething mass of possible responses.

All they need to do is to act as responsible adults, and pick the one that works best for them.

If we are content to leave it to the nanny state to work out a solution, it is absolutely guaranteed that they will find one that enables them to exert greater control over the citizenry in exchange for a few basic freedoms, and to build a few mega-departments to police the whole thing at massive cost to the public purse.

Conroy's clowns' true colours have been exposed.

The thought police have decided to include sites such as on line gambling, euthenasia sites and legal porn amongst c*ck ups such as the Queensland dentist etc.

What can KRudd be thinking?

Has his gov already slipped into the authoritarian mode typical of establishments long in power?

This will do for Aus's reputation for freedom of speech What Gitmo did for America's reputation for human rights.

This moron should be stopped at all costs.

Reading SMH it looks like we will join those enlightened societies- Burma,China, Cuba,Iran,Eqypt,Syria,Uzbekistan just to name a few. What a laughing stock we will become. The filter is also dangerous in that this will be a sginificant breakaway of government from the people and will start a process of erosion of trust in the governement of Australia. To a certain extent this began under John Howard , Kevin Rudd is another little Johhny Howard in this respect. I have already started taking measures to circumvent. If you use Firefox get an extension called FoxyProxy . You can also go to service such as http://emailthru.com/ type in the URL . Google proxy servers and you will find a stack. The Censorship war has begun!