Yes, I think this is absolutely ridiculous for a democratic nation. Australia is not a communist state, so why control what people can and can't look up on the Internet? I understand offices, schools, and libraries filtering what can be displayed on THEIR computers, but what someone does in the privacy of their own house is not the government's business, nor should it ever be. If someone wants to watch porn, so be it. If parents are worried about what their kids are looking up on the Internet, then either they need to get some kind of strong filter (i.e. Net Nanny) or restrict their kids to using the computer while being surpervised. I think that if the kid is deemed old enough to be unsurpervised on the Internet, then they're mature enough to handle whatever shows up on the screen. Search engines like Google and Yahoo have their own filters that block adult content, so those should be activated if the kid needs to look something up. Same thing with TV. Satellite and cable companies often have a feature where an adult can input a password to block any adult channels and any other channels that the parents think are inappropriate.
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