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The Australian government Monday admitted no Internet child
safeguards were foolproof after a teenager claimed he was able to
break through its multi-million dollar pornography filter in
minutes.
Sixteen-year-old Melbourne teenager Tom Wood said it took him less
than 30 minutes to override the cyber barrier technology which was
launched by Prime Minister John Howard earlier this month.
"I downloaded it on Tuesday to see how good it was, because for
84 million dollars (69 million US), I would have expected a pretty
unbreakable filter," he told the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation.
"Tried a few things, it took about half an hour and (it) was
completely useless," he said, having effectively disabled the
software.
Communications Minister Helen Coonan said that the NetAlert filters,
which the government has announced will be free for every family,
were always going to be challenged by teenagers.
"Sadly, just as a seatbelt will never prevent every fatal car
crash, as the government has always maintained, no filter is
foolproof," Senator Coonan said.
"But a computer with a filter is infinitely safer than one
without."
The company which provided the technology was investigating the
unconfirmed hacking report, she added.
The filter system was one of several measures, including an
information and education campaign and telephone hotline, announced
by the Australian premier earlier this month to make the Internet
safer for children and families.
--AFP
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