The issue focused on Australian telecommunications provider iiNet's servers being blocked from accessing websites hosted outside Australia by internet providers based in Hong Kong and Singapore. The dispute centres around laws requiring ISPs to store customer traffic data for two years.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard ordered an inquiry into the blocking after telecommunications lawyer Kerry Schott challenged iiNet over whether its servers could access servers located outside Australia.

Schott argued that Australian Internet users should have equal access to servers hosted overseas as servers hosted within Australia. He believed