starrylizard | 'Secure your PC or lose the net'

And Just to prove (even without Conroy's input!) the Australian Government will continue to come up with fun ways to regulate Australian internet users... *facepalm*

'Secure your PC or lose the net' ~ The Age

Australians would be unable to access the internet without having anti-virus and firewall programs installed and a virus-free machine under a new plan put forward by a year-long parliamentary cyber-crime inquiry.

Well that's my parents off the web. And then...

"There is software available, which could be on end-user machines, that would allow my ISP, as I log in, to check that I have my firewall turned on, that I have an antivirus that [it] approves or recommends installed on my computer, and that my operating system and browser are patched. And if those things aren't met, then [my ISP would not] give me [access]," MacGibbon said.

Colin Jacobs, chairman of the online users' lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia, complained that this would be the equivalent of installing "spyware" on users' computers.

You think? *facepalm*

I also hate to be so cynical, but I wonder how much a company would have to pay to be an "approved" antivirus or firewall provider?