ISPs and political members have rebuked the notion of compelling service suppliers to trail every Australian internet user’s browsing history.

A Telstra spokesperson said that the corporation was conscious of the Government’s contemplations.

The spokesperson said that whilst Government strategy is an affair of the Government, consumers' privacy is a main concern for them, and they will be making that obvious.

iiNet’s Chief Regulatory Officer, Steve Dalby, said that though the idea was easy to implement, it would need immense storage space and funds. He asserted that the present system is running effectively.

He said that tracking the URLs alone would not be adequate. They would also have to record the identity and contact information of the people.

Steve added that it would require an alteration in the ruling to make it feasible, since he doesn’t believe that it would be lawful today.

He remarked that he does not believe that anyone would be open to having their private activity scrutinized or recorded.

A Director of one ISP, who preferred to stay anonymous, said that he was worried by the reports and that the infrastructure necessities would be inconceivable.

The Director said, “I can’t imagine how it would impact on the bigger players like Telstra or Optus. I don’t think a policy like this will ever get there – I hope common sense will prevail”.