The Australian government’s plans to block access to R-rated Internet content are progressing, with the controversial bill passing through the Senate Wednesday. The legislation is expected to pass through the House of Representatives as early as Monday.
The Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online Services) Bill 1999 was hanging in the balance of Independent Senator Mal Colston this morning after the Australian Labor Party, Australian Democrats and Australian Greens voted against the Bill in yesterday’s sitting.
“The decision by these parties, especially Labor to not only vote against this bill but to fail to suggest an alternate approach, despite their clearly stated understanding of the need for a regulatory framework, is impossible to understand,” said the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Richard Alston.
Both the government and opposition Labor party proposed changes to the bill, which address the industry’s most serious concerns.
The government passed several late amendments to the legislation to appease angry Internet industry representatives, while only one of the Labor party’s many amendments were accepted.
Under new amendments, private e-mail will not fall under the scope of the regime but news group postings and mail lists are to be censored. Industry Codes of Practice will cover e-mails that direct the recipient to highly offensive or illegal material, according to Senator Alston.
In addition, provision has been made for the inclusion of ‘technical and commercial feasibility’ for the reasonable steps that ISPs must take to restrict access to illegal and highly offensive overseas material.
A community advisory body will support the ABA’s role, an initiative requested by Senator Harradine on Monday, although the nature and membership of this body have not been detailed.
New amendments also call for a review of the legislation in three years time and that ISPs have a full working day (rather than 24 hours) to ‘take down’ illegal or highly offensive material.
Senator Brian Harradine is believed to have voted for the legislation after appeasement concerning the establishment of a community advisory body.
According to Senator Alston, the new amended Bill now:
- establishes a complaints-based legal regime, using existing systems and methods of classifying content, administered by the ABA, to regulate the carriage of content over the Internet;
- ensures that ISPs are not, in the first instance, liable for material carried on their service, but that primary responsibility for such material lies with the creator of the material;
- confirms that, once notified of the existence of illegal or highly offensive material on their service, ISPs have a responsibility to remove or block access to such material;
- requires that, in the case of overseas-hosted material, ISPs develop a code of practice which sets out the ‘reasonable steps’ that an ISP will take to block access to illegal or highly offensive overseas-hosted material; and
- provides that the ABA, rather than a service provider, will be the first point of contact for complaints about Internet content and that a community/industry body be established to monitor online material, to provide advice about the complaints mechanism, to provide community education and information and to operate a public complaints ‘hotline’ to receive information from the public about offensive material and to pass on this information to the ABA and to relevant law enforcement agencies in Australia or overseas.
It appears that some industry bodies opposed to the legislation have been caught off guard by the movement of the bill.
Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) had marked this Friday for a series of protest marches across the country.
“The government has turned Australia into the global village idiot,” said EFA spokesperson Danny Yee.
“Canada, the United States, and even Malaysia have taken a hands-off approach to the Internet. The information revolution is hurtling along, and Australia is now tied to the railway tracks instead of being in the driver’s seat.”
