Revealed: ISPs detail their Aussie net filter trials

ISPs participating in the first round of trials have until the end of June to complete the tests.

The official test period is six weeks but it appears that the weeks do not need to be consecutive.

"If things come up we may need to suspend the tests for a while," Pillion said.

"The test period could be reasonably fluid in its timeframe. It's not necessarily a six consecutive weeks-type arrangement.

"Every ISP has the opportunity to put things on hold."

The initial six-week block would focus on independently testing Webshield's existing services only. Other suggested tests will not be included in this period, Pillion said.

Highway1 said it expects to start testing from "mid-March". TECH 2U anticipates a start between late March and early April. All dates are dependent on when the filtering equipment is delivered, primarily from United States-based sources.

The DBCDE will, for the most part, cover the costs of ISPs participating in the trials. Equipment costs are covered but it is staffing where most of the real costs lie - at least for the trials.

TECH 2U expects to contribute a team of between 10 and 12 people on a part-time basis over two months.

Highway1 will have a project manager and two other staff "probably full time looking after the filters and requests".

Webshield - which already purchased the filter technology as part of its existing business - did not have any equipment costs to participate.

It did not, however, anticipate staff would need to put a great deal of time towards the trials.

"The Government has put aside money to pay for the staff members dedicated to the trial," Pillion said.

"We just have to submit requests for that money [to the DBCDE]".

Power believes the Government will need to examine more permanent funding arrangements if it pushes forward with a mandatory filtering regime.

"The cost of the equipment [we're testing' is probably beyond the reach of most small ISPs," Power said.

Ongoing assistance from the Government would likely be needed, he said.

The issue of commercial viability will also be covered by the trials. All participating ISPs will do so under what Robson called "detailed costing requirements".

"If filtering is technically possible, the sub-issue not being discussed is whether it's then commercially viable," Robson said.

"If it costs $600 per user, consumers won't be interested but a large company might jump at it."

Indeed, many of the end customers that will participate in this round of trials are businesses, rather than consumers.

"Our business customers want to have filtering available to help them implement their acceptable usage policies internally," Atkinson said.

Although OMNIconnect did not return calls for this story, an FAQ on its website also points to it testing filtering as just another service it can provide to business customers.

"Many businesses already have defined company policies in regards to information access," it said.

"Trialling this technology allows us to offer a filtering system that will give them the ability to enforce their policies."

A survey of 20,000 users by the broadband forum Whirlpool released today found that 90 percent of Internet users would choose to opt-out of any Internet filter.