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According to SAGE-AU, the "artificial conditions of the testing methodology, together with unacceptable limitations in the test's terms of reference, combine to reduce the usefulness of the report for real-world conditions".
Mark Newton, SAGE-AU member and network expert, pointed out, "While it's probably true to say that filtering software doesn't present noticeable performance degradation when you've already artificially constrained the offered traffic rate to below dial-up speeds, it's difficult to see the relevance of that conclusion in a world where the Minister wants everyone in Australia to connect over 500 times faster".
The interpretation of the results is also cause for significant concern says SAGE-AU, as the most accurate filter tested by ACMA "incorrectly blocked Internet access 3% of the time. The report noted that the over-blocking result was a significant improvement on previous surveys (pages 49 to 51), but failed to consider that medium-to-large Australian ISPs routinely carry in excess of 100,000 HTTP requests per second during peak times".
