Canberra Public Wi-Fi Network to Purge P2P, Porn and More

CANBERRA, Australia—The first phase of a new city-wide Wi-Fi network for the Australian capital of Canberra is about to launch, but not everyone will be able to access whatever their heart desires. As the Sydney Morning Herald put it yesterday, “Web surfers hoping to use the free access to obtain the latest episode of download TV sensation Game of Thrones, or even something a little racier, are in for a disappointment.” Called CBRFree and operated by government service provider iiNet, “The network will be Australia's largest free public Wi-Fi system and will enable Canberrans to download 100 megabytes of data a day via 745 access points across Canberra, with the first point to be turned on at Garema Place in Civic in October.” It was iiNet that reportedly raised the issue of blocking certain content and certain types of peer-to-peer activity, according to Kathy Leigh of the Chief Minister's Department. "During negotiation of the contract,” she said, “iiNet requested blocking of certain types of traffic generally considered to be bandwidth-intensive and not in the spirit of free public Wi-Fi.” A whole slew of generally anti-familial content and activity is prohibited. “There will be no accessing material that is 'pornographic, offensive or objectionable, engaging in any conduct that offends Federal or Territory laws and regulations, bullying or harassment (sexually or otherwise) of another person',” reported the paper. “Sending defamatory messages is also out, including reading and then forwarding messages.” Additionally, and perhaps obviously, “Distributing abusive, sexist, racist, pornographic, offensive or otherwise illegal material is banned on CBRFree, as are activities of ‘illegal or fraudulent nature.’” But that’s not all. “There is also a prohibition on ‘anonymous peer-to-peer file sharing, television restreaming, hosting of internet services or services, unauthenticated email.” Perhaps a list of what one will be able to do would have been shorter.