Australia is backwards in a lot of ways, most notably the toilet going backwards thing. Another way: Their porn filters block educational stuff, but not not the porn.

AN INTERNET filter installed by the NSW education department gave students access to pornographic material – but blocked educational sites.

One site a Year 10 student opened while searching for a type of bird contained graphic sexual material and was only barred on Monday after inquiries from The Daily Telegraph.

George Cochrane said his school-aged son and daughter, who study by distance education from their farm in Grenfell, were horrified by the sites they could access.

Other educational sites and harmless web pages for the local member of parliament – and even Education Minister Verity Firth’s own site – have been blocked by the filter.

The Department of Education and Training confirmed that the filter would be used on thousands of laptops for high school students. It is also currently used on all computers in schools.

“My daughter typed in ’swallow’, as in the bird, and it blocked access to a documentary on swallowing toothpaste but gave you access to a male site talking about inappropriate material,” Mr Cochrane said.

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