Obama’s Concerns Over Internet Filtering Prompts Conroy Summons

Attempts to filter the Internet in Australia have raised concerns with the Obama Administration.  Reports came out on Wednesday that Australia's Communications Minister Stephen Conroy was summoned to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's office in order to discuss the issue.

From The Australian:

THE determination of the federal government to go ahead with mandatory internet filtering is not only creating diplomatic tensions between Canberra and Washington but is casting a dark cloud over the beleaguered $43 billion national broadband project. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is believed to have been summoned to a meeting with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last week after media reports revealed the US was concerned that this ran contrary to its policy of encouraging an open internet to promote economic growth and global security. One senior cabinet minister is said to have responded to the US reaction by telling Conroy: "With internet censorship you won't need a national broadband network."

While Conroy has long insisted his filtering project would target porn and other so-called "dangerous" websites, a leaked blacklist revealed that over 1000 websites were set to be filtered including one for a dentist's office and another for a popular online gambling website that operates legally from the country.