MEDIA RELEASE

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ACS Welcomes Government Legislation to Manage Internet Content

Friday 23 April 1999 - The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has welcomed moves by the Federal Government to introduce Internet content management legislation which seeks to protect children and prevent material considered illegal in Australia in any form of publication.

Chairman of the Society's Economic, Legal and Social Implications Committee (ELSIC), Philip Argy, said the Government's measures to protect Australian children from "illegal or offensive" material on the Internet are consistent with the position the ACS has recommended for over three years to the ABA Inquiry and various Senate Standing Committee hearings.

"The ACS has consistently stressed that the debate is not a censorship or no censorship debate - Australia has a censorship regime. The ACS has tried to explain why it is inappropriate to make ISPs the censors, which is akin to requiring Telstra to prevent people from swearing during telephone conversations," said Mr Argy, who is also a senior partner with law firm, Mallesons Stephen Jaques.

Mr Argy said the ACS acknowledges and supports the key principles recently stated by Senator Alston that: "It has never been the intention of the Government to impose strict liability on service providers for material of which they are not aware. Accordingly, service providers will only be required to take steps to prevent access to material once a complaint has been lodged and the material has been examined and found offensive by the ABA. In addition, service providers will be indemnified from litigation by customers affected by an ABA notice.", and that the 'steps' required to be taken will be, "as detailed in an industry Code of Practice to be developed in consultation with the Australian Broadcasting Authority".

However, the ACS "would not support a requirement that ISPs implement any technical mechanism that degrades performance of their service. Unless it can be demonstrated that technology has reached a point where such filtering and blocking can be implemented at negligible cost and without affecting service performance, public education and parental vigilance is a course that has much to commend it," he said.

Mr Argy has represented the ACS in two appearances before the Senate Standing Committee on Community Standards, and also submitted a number of reports calling for a non-discriminatory regime.

"The Australian Broadcasting Authority is best positioned to handle complaints and provide direction to ISPs regarding material located on their servers. I'm sure that given the appropriate technical capabilities and a reasonable timeframe in which to respond, most providers would be happy to accommodate an ABA directive for the removal of access to illegal material," he said.

Mr Argy also cautioned the Government against creating unrealistic expectations about what was technically feasible.

"If the Government suggests these measures will completely stop the availability of objectionable material to Australian citizens, then that's obviously a fantasy. There is no way to prevent people from calling an international ISP to access material that might not be available locally, or from using Internet tunnelling techniques and anonymisers to avoid restrictions on adult Internet users.

"The Government must also be careful that the proposed regime is realistic and not too onerous or expensive for service providers to accommodate. Otherwise we might see a situation where international ISPs pull out of Australia because it's too costly to operate here, or the ISP market could become concentrated into large national companies able to afford high-cost new technologies. This would be disastrous to the small operators who currently provide a significant contribution to young employment opportunities in Australia," he said.

This media release is located on the ACS web site at http://www.acs.org.au/news/argyint.htm

ENDS

The Australian Computer Society is the recognised association for information technology (IT) professionals, attracting a large and active membership from all levels of the IT industry and providing a wide range of services to its members. It is the public voice of the IT profession, the guardian of professional ethics and standards in the IT industry, with a commitment to the wider community to ensure the beneficial use of IT. See the ACS Home Page for more information.

Media Enquiries:

Philip Argy, Chair, ACS ELSIC, Tel: (02) 9296 2054, Email: pargy@msj.com.au

Prins Ralston, ACS President, Tel: (0411) 755 069, Email: prins@bmconsult.com.au

Caroline New, Caroline New PR, Tel: (02) 9980 8060 or (0411) 889 456, Email: cnew@acslink.net.au