3 News reports:
It has been revealed top Hollywood studios asked for access to a controversial government-run internet filter – so they could stop Kiwis accessing pirate and torrent websites.
RadioLIVE reported the Motion Pictures Distributors Association wanted access to the Internal Affairs child pornography filter, so they could block access to copyrighted material.
But they were knocked back by the Government and Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne says that it is partly because internet service providers refused.
“They were not prepared to agree to that extension and in any case it would have shifted the mandate somewhat fromDIA’s primary focus on preventing sexual abuse of young children.”
The child pornography filter is a voluntary one.
It is good to see the Government knocked the request back. If I want a filtered Internet, I’d live in China.
When the voluntary DIA filter was introduced, many of us were nervous that one day other groups would try to extend it beyond the narrow remit of child abuse images, and try to have it block all material that different groups want blocked. As it is voluntary, that can’t happen easily – ISPs would stop using it. But beware the day when a political party proposes making it mandatory.