Australia is deeply embarrassed by the fact that it has been named and shamed alongside Iran and North Korea in a report on countries that pose a threat of internet censorship.

Paris-based media rights group Reporters Without Borders on Thursday put Australia and South Korea on its list of countries "under surveillance" in its "Internet Enemies" report. Australia plans to block access to websites featuring material such as rape, drug use, bestiality and child sex abuse. Reporters Without Borders said that the idea is a misguided measure that will harm civil liberties by blocking a broader range of content.

Currently Australia censors adult computer games and wants to ban films with small breasted women in them, because it gets Aussie politicians all hot under the collar. Today’s inclusion on "Internet Enemies" follows the naming of Conroy as the "internet villain of the year" last July at the Internet Service Providers’ Association annual awards in London.

Peter Coroneos, the managing director of the Internet Industry Association, who said it showed the international reception to the proposed internet filter. Russia and Turkey were also added to the watchlist, which is a category below RSF's top "Enemies of the internet", the countries it considers the 12 worst web freedom violators.

These include Saudi Arabia, Burma, China, North Korea, Iran and Vietnam.