The Australian government is all set to pull the plug on inappropriate content with its Internet censorship program.

An excerpt from BBC:

The Australian government’s aim is to ensure that children only have access to family-friendly Web sites. Service providers will be expected to stop the flow of pornography and other X-rated or violent content.

The government is set to compile a list of unsuitable sites, although at this stage it is unclear what will be deemed unsuitable.

There’s speculation galore on the exact definition of inappropriate content. While you are able to opt-out of the program (users are opted-in by default), it does pave way to questioning.

This move is compared with the censorship laws in China, a veteran at implementing mass blackouts on the net.

Though the Australian government seems to be wrapping the program with reasons of public goodness (as most government programs are), it’s interesting to note that a similar filtering mechanism last year was hacked by a 16-year-old school boy.

More information:

Australia joins China in censoring the Internet (TechCrunch)

Oz government pushes mandatory net filters (Register)

Labor online strategy slammed (Australian IT)

Is government-sponsored censorship the right approach to curbing side-effects from the Web?