It looks now like the Australian filtering plan, mentioned in this blog last February, will be mandatory for all Australians. In response to public outcry last February, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) said that the filters would be enabled by default but consumers could request unfiltered connectivity if they wished to opt-out of the program. Now it appears there is a core blacklist of "illegal" sites that will always be blocked for everyone.

Ars Technica points out that, "'Illegal' is a broad definition, leaving users wondering exactly what kinds of content will end up falling prey to the government's apparently mandatory filtering restrictions."