The Internet Industry Association's (IIA) is asking its members to commit to a revised version of the industry's online content regulation code that will remove their discretion to set prices for content filtering software.
Devised as part of co-regulatory scheme operated jointly with the ABA, the voluntary code of practice operates in tandem with legislative amendments to the Broadcasting Services Act passed in 1999.
Complying with the code, which requires ISP's to make software that blocks offensive material available to customers, constitutes meeting online content regulation laws.
Under the new draft revision of the code released by the IIA this week, ISPs will only be able to recover costs incurred in "obtaining, supplying and supporting" filtering software.
To meet its legal obligations the IIA must make the code available to 30-day public consultation process before re-submitting them to the ABA for registration.
According to IIA chief executive, Peter Coroneos, the change simply makes an industry understanding that software filters are provided on a revenue-neutral basis, explicit.
"We've been speaking to members over the years the code has been in place and we see no evidence that [software filter provision] is being used as a profit centre," he said.
The IIA has consistently argued that its members shouldn't have to bare the costs of regulation but its position on profiting from them is harder to pin down. In December 1999 the IIA argued that the passing of regulatory costs to consumers was not new and that ISPs should be free to decide what to charge for services in order to make return on investment.
Now it appears that the IIA has come under pressure to take a stance. In a statement sent to members regarding the new cost-provisioning requirement, the IIA encouraged ISPs to accept the change.
"Suffice to say that this concession should smooth the passage to registration of the codes and, if we are successful in registering the codes, will avoid any further obligations upon ISPs for at least the next 18 months, barring more legislation," it reads.
The IIA will launch a new initiative aimed at promoting complying ISPs as "family-friendly" later this month.
