Gov disperses 'objectionable material' on the Net - News

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Gov disperses 'objectionable material' on the Net

October 13, 2000
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/soa/Gov-disperses-objectionable-material-on-the-Net-/0,139023165,120105042,00.htm

A Federal Government-endorsed scheme that slaps "take down" notices on Internet Service Providers for content published by newsgroups hosted on the site, is only "dispersing the problem of objectionable material," according to Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA).

A Cairns-based provider -- which preferred to remain anonymous -- was served with an interim take down notice on June 7 under the Australian Broadcasting Authority's (ABA) Broadcasting Services Act, for 15 specific postings on the newsgroup's service.

The interim take down notice was imposed pending a classification rating by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC). If the content is found to be unsuitable for public viewing a final notice demanding the material be permanently removed from the site will then be issued by ABA.

The ISP complied with the ABA's demands and deleted the 15 individual postings. However, on the same day it received a "special take down" notice demanding that "substantially similar content" not be hosted at any time during the interim.

"With 93,000 newsgroups worldwide and millions of messages circulating daily -- the only way for an ISP to comply with a special take down notice is to read every single message," Graham said. "With no feasible way to monitor each individual posting, they have to prevent access to the entire newsgroup," Graham added.

"ISPs are being frightened into deleting entire newsgroups from their sites," Graham said, explaining that ISPs face daily fines of AU$27,500 for violating the take down notice.

"They [the Government] are not getting rid of the problem, inadvertently they are likely to end up with a bigger problem because what happens is the forum for that kind of information disappears -- raising the potential for people to be exposed to that type of material elsewhere," Graham enforced.

Newsgroups cannot be controlled therefore the only way to solve the long-term problem of "objectionable material" appearing on the Internet is "to track who is uploading and posting this material," Graham said.

"Government legislation trying to make ISPs responsible is not the answer," she stressed.

When asked to comment on the EFA's concerns, an ABA spokesperson told ZDNet Australia: "We administer the Act as set out by Parliament. This is not the kind of issue the ABA can make any comment on."

The outcome of simply dispersing objectionable material, "seems to be an unintended consequence of legislation," the spokesperson added.