Regulators have forced an Australian webhost to censor one of its customers' sites after it published a link to a page which is being blocked in the government's ISP-level filtering trials.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), which maintains the blacklist of sites currently filtered as part of the trials, told webhost Bulletproof Networks it would be fined A$11,000 ($7,271) for each day the link remained online, the Australiansaid.
The popular webforum Whirlpool - a Bulletproof Networks customer - had posted a link to an anti-abortion site that had been added to the blacklist. Whirlpool voluntarily took down the link within the 24-hour deadline ACMA had given.
The site had been submitted to ACMA by a netizen known online as Foad, who wanted to conclusively determine whether sites not related to child pornography would end up on the blacklist.
The site was added to the list, and last month Foad posted online about his experience - including a link to the site. At the time, ACMA said there was nothing preventing web users from posting a link to sites they had submitted for possible inclusion into the blacklist.
The blacklist contained 1090 web pages as of January 31, ACMA said.
The government's mandatory filtering proposal, which could see up to 10,000 sites
blocked
, has been
repeatedly
opposed
, both on anti-censorship grounds and based on the fact that implementing such a scheme could slow net traffic by up to 90%.