In an exclusive, wide-ranging interview with ZDNet Australia Justin Milne also said:
- Telstra had no plans to slash prices or ease download caps, with only "a small vocal group" urging the telecommunications heavyweight to drop usage charging;
- He believed Microsoft's decision to close its chatrooms in several countries, including Australia, was made on economic and business grounds;
- He advocated "responsible" use of the Internet, with children and teenagers "needing supervision on the Internet just as they do in real life";
- He viewed a recent International Telecommunications Union report which said the price of broadband in Australia was "too high" as just one of many broadband-related reports whose findings often conflict with each other.
Milne told ZDNet Australia the code of conduct was about protecting individuals' privacy while establishing a protocol by which Internet service providers pass information about allegedly criminal activity to law enforcement agencies.
This existing information -- including log-in times, caller identification details, activity logs and data transfer volumes -- was already held in ISP billing systems and log files. But, he said, it was "not about requiring ISPs to collect any information additional to what they already collect".
"In general terms, it's not up to ISPs to be judge, jury and police," he said.
Milne has been actively involved in developing the code through his membership of an Internet Industry Association "virtual taskforce" tackling the issue.
The code -- the final version of which is due for release at the end of this month -- was about "protecting people's privacy," he said, with other parties such as music piracy investigators required to deal with law enforcement agencies directly in their efforts to tackle copyright infringement activities.
The music industry's copyright enforcement unit, Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI), wants Internet providers to cooperate more directly with it in the pursuit of customers who use the Internet to illegally swap or distribute music files. MIPI's boss, Michael Speck, recently distributed an analysis of ISP terms and conditions which he claimed revealed most leading ISPs -- including BigPond and OzEmail -- could release user details to the music industry without breaching their user contracts.
MIPI believes that legislation should govern the area in the same way that it does banks and cash transaction reporting.
Net supervision
Milne said BigPond undertook extensive monitoring and filtering across many of its chatrooms. However, the key to the safety of children and teenagers on the Internet generally was, he said, supervision and education. In the same way that children were told not to talk to strangers in the park, he said, common sense rules should apply to home usage, to the point that both parents and their offspring developed a "cyber-second nature".
These rules included supervision, ensuring personal computers were in a "public" place in a household -- as opposed to being located in a child/teenager's bedroom -- and installation of the appropriate content filters.
Broadband too expensive?
Milne said the carrier had spent AU$1 billion on its DSL network to date -- with plans to spend AU$1 billion more -- and the "laws of capitalism" stipulated it should seek a return on its hefty investment.
He also added that lower-level users of broadband Internet services -- those for whom a quick surf or checking e-mail constituted the vast proportion of their usage -- should not subsidise those whose usage entailed downloading vast quantities of data or extensive file-trading.
The carrier has come under fire from many in the Internet community for its broadband pricing structure, which many believe is too high. A recent report from the International Telecommunications Union rated Australia the seventh most expensive country in a table of 30 in broadband pricing and second from bottom in broadband access per 100 inhabitants.
However, Milne said Telstra had seen many reports, some of which indicated that broadband pricing in Australia was too high and an inhibitor to takeup and some of which suggested that current levels were appropriate.
However, he specifically cited a recent report by analysts A.T. Kearney which -- after equalising for currency differentials and purchasing power -- revealed Australia's broadband Internet pricing was "around the middle" of several countries surveyed.
"We believe we're priced about right," Milne said.
Applications for BigPond Internet services had grown by 40 percent in September over August, Milne said, adding that while discounting had probably influenced that figure, "we have arguably reached an inflection point in the market".
However, he added that while Australia bore a significant cost relative to its competitors in the area of egress from exchanges, greater economies of scale over coming years would enable providers to reduce their costs and consequently pass those savings on to customers.
Still out of touch.
Telstra had no plans to slash prices or ease download caps, with only "a small vocal group" urging the telecommunications heavyweight to drop usage charging