Australia's telecommunications complaints authority has welcomed federal government moves to cut off a practice whereby consumers are unknowingly lured into copping excessive telephone bills for Internet usage.

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, John Pinnock, said "there was no doubt" that consumer complaints over the practice, dubbed Internet dumping, "were on the increase in a major way" in 2002 and noted there was presently "an absence of real consumer protection in this area".

Senator Richard Alston, the Minister for Information Technology and Communications, said Friday the government had developed a package of measures to deal with the practice.

Alston described Internet dumping as occurring when, without a user's knowledge or consent, Internet dialler software transfers users from their current Internet service provider (ISP), which they have usually accessed using an untimed local call, to a premium rate telephone number.

"Most content services of this kind are accessed in Australia through the 190 premium rate number range," he said. "The package has also been developed to address concerns that children are gaining access through Internet diallers to sexually explicit Internet content, and in the process incurring unexpected high bills on their parents' telephone account".

Senator Alston said the government was also responding to consumer concerns about the potential for unexpected high bills from other content services provided on the 190 number range or through 0011 (international) numbers.

Senator Alston said last year he would act against the practice and in May released draft regulations for public comment.

Pinnock told ZDNet Australia   that complaints of Internet dumping to the TIO had risen from 274 complaints in the January-March quarter to more than 600 in the July-September quarter. This, combined with the 368 complaints received in the April-June quarter, took the number of complaints to a greater level than in 2001, when the TIO received about 1,000 complaints concerning the practice.

In 1999 the Federal Government introduced legislation requiring 190 numbers to adult services to be accessed via a PIN. However, this legislation did not cover data transferred over 190 numbers, exempting Web sites from the legislation.

Citing "ongoing consumer concern", Senator Alston said he would require telecommunications companies to present information about Internet dumping on consumer bills.

"There will be a reference on everybody's phone bill on these numbers and information on what everybody can do to prevent access to these numbers pre-emptively," a spokesperson for the Minister told ZDNet Australia  .

The Minister will also direct the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) to conduct a review into the practice, including what level a proposed cap on premium services should be, and whether the current industry code, operated by the Telephone Information Services Standards Council (TISSC), should be registered under the Telecommunications Act of 1997, which would make it legally enforceable. The new regulations will give the ACA a broad range of powers to regulate the industry.

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