Aussie Families Get Online Porn Filters

In a bid to stop children from accessing porn online, the Australian government is offering free software to around 2.5 million families in the country. The software will allow parents to customize Internet settings on their PCs, blocking access to certain websites and chatrooms, banning certain words and phrases from being entered into search engines and even blocking credit card transactions online. Moreover, the amount of time children spend online can also be restricted. The offer is a part of the Australian government’s plan to enhance public awareness for its ‘Family Values’ campaign, including television and web advertising, all of which will cost $117 million. The scheme will fire up by the end of the year and the free software will be available shortly, to families and public libraries in the country. So now the filtering software companies are happy, the Internet Industry Association is happy and the parents are happy, but is this really a foolproof system? To be fair to the Aussie government, it’s a positive step towards protecting the kids from exposure to porn sites. Afterall, it is shelling out something to the tune of $68.69 million on software filters for the Australian families but then knowing kids these days, they’re bound to find a way around it. On the other hand, can technology really replace good old trust?