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Dec 29, 2013

Proposed Law: offering Internet filtering

Are we coming to the end of the days of unfiltered Internet?

According to a law proposed by MK Orli Levy Abuksis (Likud Beyteynu) and MK Penina Tamno-Shata (Yesh Atid), Internet Service Providers would be obligated to offer, free of charge, filtering of any harmful content - porn, violence, etc.

The proposal was actually toned down from its original format. Originally the proposal was to require ISPs to set the filtering automatically, and it would be incumbent upon the customer to explicitly say that he wants no filtering. After complaints regarding issues of freedom of information and privacy, it was changed to the current format in which the ISP will have to tell customers about the option, but filtering will not be the automatic default. The ISPs will also be obligated to advertise the availability of the option of filtering.

The law was submitted and passed its initial reading last week.
(source: Ynet)

I don't think this will put the filtering companies out of business, nor will it satisfy those behind bans of the Internet, filtered or unfiltered. They will say the concerns of secular people running filtering systems are not going to be the same concerns of religious and/or haredi people requiring filtering. Any filtering down by a secular company for secular people, will still allow content that is inappropriate for haredi or religious people. I don't think we will see, even if this law passes, the end of Internet Rimon or the end of the Haredi internet ban any time in the near future. At least not because of this.


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2 comments:

  1. Rimon may have to drop their prices though.

    Also, the UK managed to push through on by default filtering. If they managed to get around the complaints, no reason we can't here

    ReplyDelete
  2. There is already a law from 2011 I think, that all ISPs have to provide free internet filtering, they just don't bother to tell you about it and play dumb, but with some minor assertiveness, they should provide it to you at least some basic version.
    http://www.mako.co.il/nexter-consumerism/Article-2cbd04157ebef31006.htm
    End of Internet Rimon? No. IR provides a few unique solutions/features the other ISPs do not offer for their free service, including being able to change filtering on the fly, and how they do the filtering at the server by having trained girls filter out the smut and anything with skin.

    ReplyDelete

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