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What is Optus announcing?
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- Optus has applied and been accepted as a participant - in a limited capacity - in the Governments’ ISP filtering Live Pilot. We will be commencing the trial towards the end of May 2009.
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Why have you decided to participate?
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- Optus is participating in order to accurately gauge the impact this type of technology will have on our customers and our network.
- Optus is limiting its participation to filtering ONLY the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) blacklist (which currently contains approximately 1100 URLs as at 19 March 2009). See the ACMA website for further information.
- Optus would rather work with Government to legitimately understand the implications of this type of filtering process, than have it mandated.
- Optus has always been a strong advocate of personal responsibility and is a participant in the IIA’s Family Friendly ISP program. As such we have always encouraged customers to be security conscious.
- As a Family Friendly ISP, Optus has for many years informed customers of how they can obtain a content filter which they can download onto their home computer, if they wish to do so. Optus also offers its customers an all-in-one security suite, which includes a parental control / content filtering option.
- In addition, Optus has a dedicated security area on its website to educate customers about online safety matters. See: www.optuszoo.com.au/onlinesafety.
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What is involved in participating in the trial for Optus?
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- Under current legislation, Optus and other Australian ISPs and Content Hosts are required to remove any illegal content they are hosting when notified of its existence by ACMA.
- If ACMA becomes aware of illegal content that is hosted overseas, they add the URL to their blacklist, and this blacklist is provided to content filter providers, so that access to the content can be blocked for people using filter software on their home / office computers.
- In the trial, Optus (and other participating ISPs) will be using this same ACMA blacklist but blocking access to this content at the network level.
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What is the time period for the trial?
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- The trial will be six weeks in duration, and will commence towards the end of May 2009.
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Why is the government doing this?
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- In May 2008 the Australian Government committed $125.8 million over four years to support a comprehensive range of cyber-safety measures, including law enforcement, education and an informed and considered approach to ISP level filtering.
- The trial is a part of this commitment.
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Are all Australian ISP's participating?
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- We can only confirm our own involvement.
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How many customers will be participating in the trial?
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- Optus has decided to target a specific geographic area to use as a test area for the trial.
- A subset of our customer base within this area will be used as a test point.
- Of the customers who do not opt-out, some will have the filter applied and others will be used as a control group without any filtering. Customers will not be advised which of these two groups they fall in.
- We will not be releasing details of how many customers are involved in the trial.
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Where will they be located?
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- The location is within the greater Sydney / Newcastle area.
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Will customers have the option to decide whether or not they are participating?
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- Yes. Optus will contact all customers in the chosen geographic area, and give them the option to opt-out of the trial.
- Optus will notify customers approximately 30 days prior to the trial launching.
- Customers in the trial area will be able to opt-out prior to the trial commencing, or at any time during the 6 week trial period.
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How will customers know if they are participating?
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- They will be contacted by Optus via email to their primary Optus email address closer to the trial date.
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Will all Optus broadband products be the subject of this trial?
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- No. Optus will only be applying the trial parameters to DSL Direct customers.
- Cable, resale DSL, dial-up and Optus Wireless Broadband products will not be a part of the trial.
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Will all Optus DSL Direct customers in the selected geographic area be included in the trial?
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- No. Optus will only be applying the trial parameters to residential DSL Direct customers in the selected area. Business customers and customers of Optus resellers will not be included in the trial.
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What about my privacy – will Optus to be able to view everything I’m viewing during the trial?
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- The filter does not identify individual customers nor does it generate reports on what websites customers are visiting.
- It simply blocks or allows access to websites based on whether the URL is on the ACMA blacklist.
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So, Optus supports internet filtering? Are you pro-censorship?
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- Willingness to participate in the trial does not necessarily indicate support of mandatory filtering
- It’s a trial - and designed to test the effectiveness and impact of such filters on a network environment.
- Optus wants its customers to have a safe experience on the internet and considers cyber-safety an important issue for all internet users.
- Optus would rather be a ‘part of the conversation’ than not be involved if the Govt decided to mandate filtering
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What content 'exactly' will be filtered?
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- Filtering will be based on the ACMA blacklist – a URL list of prohibited content which is kept by ACMA, and includes only content that is prohibited under Australian Law.
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What is on the list?
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- As the content is prohibited, the URLs are kept confidential.
- ACMA indicates the list contains approximately 1100 sites (as at 19 March 2009).
- For more information, go to the ACMA website.
- ACMA publishes statistics on the complaints it investigates. See ACMA Online Complaint Statistics.
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What about other content like adult content and things the government might like to stop people viewing but that is not classified as prohibited content?
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- Optus will NOT be filtering this type of content.
- Client-side filters are readily available for people to download onto their home / business computers if they wish to filter out such content. Eg Optus Security Suite.
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What should I do if I think a legitimate website is on the blacklist?
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