7.30 Report and Internet Hysteria

When we heard the 7.30 Report was preparing a report on the clean feed policy, we were hopeful that a serious piece would highlight some of the major concerns with the policy. When the story opened with "A monster is loose in suburbia", it was obvious this was not to be.

Although the ABC interviewed Internet Industry Association president Peter Coroneos and journalist/academic Catharine Lumby, they gave more time to anti-porn crusader, Michael Flood, who did a good job whipping up fear about the dangers of the net. Sadly, when it came to examining whether the clean feed is a good solution to this problem, they dropped the ball. One of the "experts" was Anthony Pillion, representing a company called "Webshield" that wants to offer their own commercial software for the policy's implementation. That's more than a conflict of interest - it's a sales pitch.


Mike at Somebody Think of the Children has some good coverage of the story.