Australia's new $70 million (USD) porn-filter bypassed in 30 minutes by teen
Kevin Spiess - Monday, August 27, 2007 1:25pm (PST)
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Doubtful whether wall will get between teens and porno
In an attempt to protect young minds from the large percentage of the Internet that is X-rated, the Australian government commissioned a downloadable porn-filter. The porn-filter, called NetAlert, somehow cost the government around $70 million dollars to set up.
Unfortunately, the filter seems easier to get around than a scooter on the freeway with a flat tire. A teen-aged student in a Melbourne private school told reporters that he was able to bypass the filter, and get to rich streams of porno, within 30 minutes of NetAlerts launch. Apparently, all it took was a few mouse clicks. Ironically, the student's name was Tom Wood.
Mr. Wood was quoted as saying: "[the porn filter] is a horrible waste of money. They could get a much better filter for a few million dollars made here rather than paying overseas companies for an ineffective one."
Source: Teenager cracks govt's $84m porn filter
Section: Internet Related
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The lonely DSL/Cable equipped men of the world salute you son.
Impeding access to porn is a good idea and all, but really, that's next to impossible. Not many parents are as computer-savvy as a male teenager.
Honestly, what sort of crappy security must it have, that a person (who appears to not be a coder or anything of that sort, as he said he did it with a few mouse clicks) can crack through it, within 30 minutes?
How in the hell can you spend $70 million bucks developing what is essentially a 'Packet Sniffing','URL Blacklisting', 'NetNanny' piece of software?
Oh, and they did this to try and woo Christian voters.
Personally, I'd be proud.
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