Government agency to monitor blogs online

The decision of an Australian government agency to monitor online blogs for mentions of itself has caused controversy in Australia according to a recent report.

According to a recent report the Australian government agency, The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE), is to start monitoring blogs online for mentions of itself, and this will include popular sites such as Whirlpool, which provides information rating broadband services and often criticises government policy in this area.

Whilst this decision has resulted in a lot of controversy the government in Australia has claimed that it is perfectly innocent. Ironically the decision has been made just shortly after Senator Conroy gave praise to the government in Singapore for actually putting an end to its monitoring of blogs.

A spokesperson from the senator’s office defended the decision to monitor blogs in Australia, stating: “Whirlpool is a long-established online platform for news and information covering a wide range of topics across the telecommunications sector. It and other websites provide valuable insight into the industries in which we work.”

A government official from New Zealand said that there are no plans to bring in the same type of monitoring there. Communications and IT minister Steven Joyce said: “We have been following the internet filtering debate in Australia but have no plans to introduce something similar here. The technology for internet filtering causes delays for all internet users. And unfortunately those who are determined to get around any filter will find a way to do so. Our view is that educating kids and parents about being safe on the internet is the best way of tackling the problem.”