Mandatory data retention legislation that costs over $300 million dollars to implement, and around 15 cents a day to circumvent, was due to come into effect today, but most Internet Service Providers have not received a response from the Attorney-General's Department about the plans they were required to submit, Australian Greens Deputy Leader and Communications Spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said today.

The Australian Greens have warned against the Government's rush to legislate an online site-blocking scheme and today called on the Labor Party to delay a final vote on the bill when it comes before the Senate next week.

"The Government has proceeded with a punitive site blocking regime and completely ignored more practical options for copyright reform that have been on the table for years, Senator Scott Ludlam, Australian Greens communications spokesperson said today.

More than two years after corporate regulator ASIC accidentally blocked 250,000 web addresses using a poorly-understood provision of the Telecommunications Act, a House of Representatives inquiry has recommended that at some point someone should get around to writing some internal guidelines.

On the eve of the election, the Coalition has unleashed a national internet filter more expansive in scope than the Rudd Government's defeated scheme.

"Tony Abbott has actually proposed that anyone who wants to access uncensored online content will have to put themselves on a watch list by opting out of the filter," said Greens Senator Scott Ludlam.

Australia's corporate watchdog accidentally blocked one quarter of a million web addresses this March, Greens Senator for WA Scott Ludlam uncovered in last night's Senate Estimates hearings.

ASIC admitted to inadvertently filtering 250,000 addresses in March on top of 1200 websites it was known to have accidentally blocked in April. ASIC directed internet service providers to block sites it believed were defrauding Australian citizens by IP address instead of domain name, dragging thousands of innocuous or dormant sites into the same trap as a handful of ‘illegal' ones.

In an ominous escalation of internet filtering in Australia, an unidentified agency under the remit of the Attorney-General is also using section 313 of the Telecommunications Act to block an unknown set of websites – bringing the number of government agencies filtering up to three,  Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said today. 

“We now know that in addition to the ASIC and Australian Federal Police, a third agency has used the section 313 power to block websites, but the Government will not reveal which,” Senator Ludlam said.