Protecting Australian Internet users

Last week the Australian government announced a package of measures designed to protect Australians from Internet pornography. (See the articles in Australian IT and ABC News Australia.) The entire package of legislation is estimated to cost about $189 million (Australian) and will include funds for Internet blocking software for Australian families, closing down terror sites, and reducing the variety of pornography viewable by Australian Internet users. The element that seems to hold the most promise for being effective, however, is $40 million to support efforts to track and identify online predators on social networking sites and in chat rooms. Most of that money would go to the Australian Federal Police for various online investigative measures.