Ambassador questions Australian Web censorship plan

The US ambassador to Australia on Tuesday questioned the logic behind the local government's plan to begin censoring its citizens' access to certain Web content, stressing the Internet "needs to be free."

Australian officials have long defended their proposed online filter as the most effective way to combat objectionable Web content, including child pornography. But US ambassador Jeff Bleich told the Sydney Morning Herald this week that there are other, less controversial methods at the country's disposal that would allow law enforcement to catch sex offenders without also censoring the Internet. "[The United States has] been able to accomplish the goals that Australia has described, which is to capture and prosecute child pornographers ... without having to use Internet filters," he told the newspaper.