Net filter trials 'unlawful', claims engineer

The internet filtering "live trials" conducted by the Federal Government in conjunction with internet service providers (ISPs) were done illegally, according to claims by network engineer Mark Newton.

Newton, who has been a vocal opponent of the Federal Government's mandatory internet filter proposal, has been involved in a year-long dialogue with the government over this claim.

The Department of Broadband

His claim centres on whether the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE), in conducting its filter trials with ISPs, intercepted customers' internet traffic.

He claims that one particular device used in the trials and publicly outed by ISPs — the Marshall R3000 series web monitoring, filtering and reporting package — probably intercepted customer's traffic and therefore breached section 7(1)(b) of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 by authorising, suffering or permitting said equipment to be used in that manner.

The Marshall R3000 device

The Marshall R3000 device, Newton said, is designed to sift for blacklisted content by listening to all internet communications to and from the ISP's subscribers who had opted into the trial.

"Mr Newton has written to the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy on several occasions querying whether the ISP filtering pilot was in breach of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979," the department confirmed to ZDNet Australia yesterday. "The department has informed Mr Newton that it does not consider that there has been a breach of the Act or other Commonwealth legislation."