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In today's Twisted Wire, we put the screws on Communications Minister Stephen Conroy about his controversial internet filter policy.

Among other things, Conroy says the filter was always intended to stop people inadvertently encountering internet nasties, and that there was never an intention to use the Australian Communication and Media Authority's full blacklist.

That sensitive list, Conroy says, will only ever have a few thousand sites on it, updated regularly, and the government is open to discussion about how it will be implemented.

Conroy is copping a lot of flak for the policy but is intent onit as one of a range of approaches to try and limit access to childpornography and other nasty material. For most of us it shouldn'tmatter, so why are people getting so hot under the collar aboutit?

Well, there are three reasons. The first is the question ofspeed. If we believe the trials, both the Enex TestLab trial and aseparate one conducted by Telstra, and if we're only talking aboutblocking a few thousand URLs then there will be a negligible impacton the performance of the internet. No big deal!

The second reason is the fear of precisely what it is we areblocking. Professor Catherine Lumby from the University of NSWjoins the discussion, suggesting if the filter is to proceed weneed to look at how we classify material. For more, read the report she co-authored, Untangling the Net:the scope of content caught by mandatory internet filtering.

Thethird reason is "everything else". As Peter Corenous, chiefexecutive of the Internet Industry Association explains, therecould be many inadvertent issues that need to be examined. The costburden of applying the filter could be one of them, particularlyfor smaller ISPs.

Ravi Bhatia, CEO of Primus, is another industry supporter. I askhim if he can see any problems with the approach, or is SenatorConroy right to push ahead regardless of the vocal opposition fromthe anti-censorship brigade.

What do you think? Whatever your views on the subject, don't letit ruin your Christmas! And yes, we'll squeeze in one more TwistedWire before then. You can also read the consultation paper on measures toincrease accountability and transparency for Refused Classificationmaterial.