Standing firm in harm's way Tuesday 12 June, 2001 By ERIC WILSON

The IT industry prides itself on concepts such as Moore's Law, which asserts that processing power will double every 18 months. The same principle also seems to apply to storage and memory. Yet when it comes to implementing policies concerning social responsibility, the industry suddenly has no technical capacity to manage the Internet. Blocking pornography is technically impossible. (Being a big part of ISP revenue at least 30 per cent by my reckoning is, of course, just a coincidence). Stopping Internet gambling is also technically impossible by all accounts a losing proposition.

But I remember that solving the Y2K problem by the stroke of midnight was technically impossible, too, since there were not enough COBOL programmers left in the world plus too many chips to check. I believed them and, technically speaking, they were quite right. On the day, there were millions of malfunctions. But most of the vital systems had been fixed in time to prolong life on this planet as we know it.

So with the aid of Moore's Law, why can't most harmful material, such as terrorist incitements or pedophilia, be simply screened out for the public's protection?

The standard argument is that as soon as you plug one hole, a new one can be made. After all, it's impossible to stop people dialling up an overseas server direct and downloading all the undesirable material they want. And there is nothing to stop someone making a connection to a server over a virtual private network, importing evil content in a completely undetectable manner. These are the types of reasons so-called industry experts, often with vested interests, insist nothing can be done to regulate nasty stuff pouring into this country over the Net.

Their logic is flawed, of course. If we are to accept this view, to be consistent, we had better disband our quarantine and customs services, too. After all, they are incapable of patrolling all our coastlines 24 hours a day. We must also adopt open sewers in our streets because millions of litres of dangerous effluent leak out through the cracks of pipes regardless. And after thousands of years of policing we still have crime, so I guess the local constabulary should call it a day. To say we can't stop it completely doesn't mean we should stand idly by and watch it happen.

It is true that suppressing bad things on the Internet will only drive them underground. And filtering undesirable content would be a constant cat-and-mouse game, as hackers find new ways to outflank the blockade. If, however, the bad stuff is therefore mostly limited to private networks or closed groups running from one temporary site to another, wouldn't it be worth the effort?

Yet for the sake of protecting some rather dubious business plans, the IT industry is trying to gloss over the dangers of unrestricted Internet access with technical mumbo jumbo. This is done in the most noble of causes freedom of speech and "not playing God". And now for the greatest porky of them all: screening undesirable material jeopardises Australia in e-commerce. Bollocks.

So if a politician foolishly believes the majority of Australians are against unrestricted home access to online gambling, they're asking for trouble. A totally conscience-challenged industry, with the help of technically gullible journalists, will mercilessly label them wowser, Luddite or ignoramus. But to my mind there's no question: online content made accessible to the public should be subjected to the norms of public decency. It may be technically impossible to plug all the holes but, like the Y2K debacle, it is technically possible to make a difference.

Who should pay for this and who should set the boundaries? These are the real questions. Therefore instead of whingeing about the impossibility of the inevitable, the IT industry would be well advised to pragmatically offer its guidance as to the possible before someone else decides it for them.

http://it.mycareer.com.au/opinion/rewire/2001/06/12/FFXHFQM4TNC.html

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2001