Let That Be a Lesson: Nothing Will Ever Come Between a Teenage Boy and His Porn
by John Paczkowski
Posted on August 28, 2007 at 12:01 AM PT
Good thing the Australian government’s $84.8 million NetAlert Internet filtering program was never intended to take the place of parental supervision, because it’s already been cracked. Tom Wood, a 16-year-old from Melbourne, managed to bypass the filter in 30 minutes on the day it was released to the public. “I downloaded it on Tuesday to see how good it was, because for $84 million (Australian), 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.”
Understandably embarassed by Wood’s achievement, the Australian government began distributing a second filter. Wood cracked that one in 40 minutes. This time the government had only rhetoric to offer in response. “Sadly, just as a seatbelt will never prevent every fatal car crash, as the government has always maintained, no filter is foolproof,” said Communications Minister Helen Coonan. “But a computer with a filter is infinitely safer than one without.”
