The winds of change are moving out of China and into Australia. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd stated that Australia would be joining the People’s Republic of China in the effort to largely censor the internet.

This tightening policy was announce during the recent Australian Elections, when the Labor Party deemed the previous government’s internet policy ineffective, as the free copies of NetNanny that were distributed to Australian homes were not sent to every home.

Telecommunications Minister Stephen Conroy highlighted one change in the Labor Party’s online gaming policy, when he spoke of the new program as mandatory. Prior to this new development the representatives who were running for Prime Minister assured their people that this would be an opt-in program, instead of an opt-out program. This new approach will permit people to opt-out of the program, however it requires an explanation to the government, which could potentially lead to government monitoring.

High on the government’s to be censored list is online casino play, as well as inappropriate adult materials and speech. This conservative approach to the internet was impending when Kevin Rudd took the Prime Ministers Office, however much of the online casino legislation that has been proposed is directed specifically at significantly limiting online casino and online gaming play. With this proposed program, anything that might be considered offensive will be blocked. An example of this may include such online sites as IWON because it has an online casino game format built in. Additionally something as simple as questioning the Australian Governments policy regarding Aboriginal tribes may be considered discrimination, and thus any site that remotely questions the policy will be banned. The largest concern that stems from online censorship, is that the government will not stop at any threshold, regardless of what the state at the onset of the program. Anything related to adult entertainment, such as the online casino games, online casino blogs, and online casino forums, will be banned. Lobbying has already begun against this policy, as well as for it.

Regardless of the clean feed requirements Australian Internet Users can reassured that there will be an increased cost to their already higher internet fees. To fully put in place a ‘Clean Feed’ environment the changes on the ISP’s side will involve significant cost. Under the previous prime minister any communication about the possible change with the ISP’s made it clear they would pass on any financial burdens to the customers. Australian internet users already pay the highest amount of money for the slowest available speeds.