Electronic Frontiers Australia, the non-profit organisation representing Australian Internet users concerned with online rights and liberties, have revealed they possess evidence of an apparent internal online forum hosted by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy to discuss controversial issues regarding the Government’s internet filter initiative.

The forum used by Stephen Conroy’s department identified the possibility of fines for promoting methods of circumventing the filter and indicated that, as of April 13th, "no complete draft of the legislation” yet exists.

Further discussion revealed that the filter legislation will also potentially allow for Refused Classification video games to be added to the blacklist at some point. This would ultimately depend on whether an R18+ classification for games is passed. The first move in restricting access to such games would begin by adding the game's websites to the blacklist, but from there on in, things get a little trickier.

According to an apparent statement from the department:

"The technicalities of filtering non-HTTP game traffic will be a consideration in any decision regarding filtering online games... One consideration could be the potential effectiveness of selectively blocking RC game traffic using IP address and port numbers, and of remote updates to that information through Border Gateway Protocol.”

Expect further information on the filter's effect on gaming once the drafting is finalised.

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Thanks to Myzteriouz1 for the tip! If you've seen something interesting that you think we should know about, why not drop us a line! We'd love to hear from you!