lj user equals rorted (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} rorted) wrote in wzdd, |
Filtering technologies have been adopted by ISPs in a number of countries including the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway and Finland, predominantly to filter child pornography. In these countries ISP filtering has not affected internet performance to a noticeable level.
That's because (in Sweden, Norway and Finland at least), filtering is achieved by using DNS blacklists, which are simple to implement and have almost no performance impact because they can utilise existing infrastructure (you can easily set up a blacklist in BIND). They're also trivially bypassed by changing your DNS server, or by using a hosts file. The UK uses a blacklist too, but it's IP-based and harder to circumvent.
OTOH, the Australian Government is considering the use of content-based (or analysis-based) filtering systems, which require new infrastructure and are slower, not to mention more complex, less accurate and in most other ways wholly incomparable to blacklists.
That's because (in Sweden, Norway and Finland at least), filtering is achieved by using DNS blacklists, which are simple to implement and have almost no performance impact because they can utilise existing infrastructure (you can easily set up a blacklist in BIND). They're also trivially bypassed by changing your DNS server, or by using a hosts file. The UK uses a blacklist too, but it's IP-based and harder to circumvent.
OTOH, the Australian Government is considering the use of content-based (or analysis-based) filtering systems, which require new infrastructure and are slower, not to mention more complex, less accurate and in most other ways wholly incomparable to blacklists.
