Australia: Moving to Block Internet Poker?

Online poker players in Australia may have a tougher time finding and utilizing online poker websites in the near future if a proposed mandatory internet filtering program is instituted by the Australian Government.

The filtering program would be based on a prohibited site list maintained by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Currently, the ACMA blacklist is provided to makers of software that consumers can purchase to filter their personal or work computers. The primary purpose of the (ACMA) blacklist is, ostensibly, to identify and restrict access to sites that violate Australian law. What sorts of sites would those be? Well, according to the ACMA website:

[...] the following categories of online content are the sole categories that are prohibited

* Online content that is classified RC or X 18+. This includes real depictions of actual sexual activity, child pornography, depictions of bestiality, material containing excessive violence or sexual violence, detailed instruction in crime, violence or drug use, and/or material that advocates the doing of a terrorist act.
* Content which is classified R 18+ and not subject to a restricted access system. This includes depictions of simulated sexual activity, material containing strong, realistic violence and other material dealing with intense adult themes.
* Content which is classified MA 15+, provided by a mobile premium service or a service that provides audio or video content upon payment of a fee, and not subject to a restricted access system. This includes material containing strong depictions of nudity, implied sexual activity, drug use or violence, very frequent or very strong coarse language, and other material that is strong in impact.

However, a leaked version of the ACMA blacklist posted on WikiLeaks, a site that seeks to post (usually controversial) documents that would otherwise not be part of the public record, suggests that the scope of the list exceeds the categories described above. Included on the WikiLeaks version of the ACMA blacklist are online poker websites such as FullTiltPoker.com, some internal pages of PokerNews.com, CDPoker.com, PokerStars.com, AbsolutePoker.com and others.

WikiLeaks claims to have received the list from a software maker that works with the ACMA. The AMCA is disputing the authenticity of the list posted on WikiLeaks. In a statement posted on their website:

However, the list provided to ACMA differs markedly in length and format to the ACMA blacklist. The ACMA blacklist has at no stage been 2300 URLs in length and at August 2008 consisted of 1061 URLs. It is therefore completely inaccurate to say that the list of 2300 URLs constitutes an ACMA blacklist.

It also appears that many of the 2300 URLs provided on the list are no longer active. However, some of the URLs that remain active appear to relate to online depictions of child sexual abuse. Possessing, distributing or accessing such material may amount to an offence under the Commonwealth Criminal Code and relevant State laws.

In an article published by TheAge.com.au, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange attributed the URL differential to duplicate URLs compacted on the ‘official’ ACMA list and the possibility that the software maker who leaked the list may have added additional URLs.