Australia to test Web filter

The Australian government said yesterday it would begin testing a pilot system next month to filter harmful information from the Internet, amid criticism that any such plan would be a technical failure.

The government's cyber safety policy aims to place a mandatory filter on the Web to shield children in particular from accessing illegal and inappropriate material.

But Internet user groups, the pornography industry and others have opposed the plan, saying any such measure would be impractical to enforce, block access to some legitimate websites and slow down Internet speeds.