New Zealand ISPs voluntarily implement child abuse filter

New Zealand’s largest ISP, Telecom, is working on implementing a child abuse filter. The filter was developed two years ago by the NZ Department of Internal Affairs and has been made available to ISPs in March. ISPs are free to use it or not. A market share of 57% makes Telecom NZ’s largest ISP. Alan Gourdie, CEO of Telecom Retail, views implementation of the filter as a social responsibility.

Vodafone and TelstraClear have also indicated to closely cooperatie with the Department and to work on implementation. Only one of the larger ISPs has stated not to be willing to do so. That was Orcon, ironically a state-owned company.

Not everyone is as enthusiastic about applying a filter. Digital liberties watchdog Tech Liberty questions the efficacy of such a filter. Spokesperson Thomas Beagle: “This is just a government censorship scheme for the internet.”

Tech Liberty further fears mission creep. If a filter is in place, it can easily be extended to cover other things as well. This slippery slope threatens the freedom of internet users.

However, a claim of government censorship goes a bit too far, as providers are free to use the filter or not.

The problem of mission creep and the slippery slope do apply, however. Still, these are not decisive arguments to do nothing, instead. On the other hand, they do provide good arguments for careful and serious supervision on the filter’s application and to make sure that if expansion is being considered, it is made part of a public debate.

Source: National Business Review