Australia, known for their high levels of censorship, is planning on filtering peer-to-peer (P2P) and Bit Torrent traffic in live pilot tests.

“Technology that filters peer-to-peer and Bit Torrent traffic does exist and it is anticipated that the effectiveness of this will be tested in the live pilot trial,” Senator Conroy said.

The country is making a drastic step to stop piracy, but who assumes that all P2P and Bit Torrent traffic is used only for piracy?

Two legitimate uses are the popular games World of Warcraft and America’s Army: Special Forces. The games use a Bit Torrent system of distribution to update their updates.

With all rash decisions, the idea has obviously stirred up a serious debate Down Under. “I’m aware that this proposal has attracted significant debate and criticism on this blog and at other places in the blogosphere,” Senator Conroy said. A lot of the complaints are about Senator Conroy himself and how he seems to be acting like the “big brother”.

Source: News.com.au