Senate committee continues to hear evidence on censorship bill

At the end of a week of Senate hearings into the Federal Government's controversial proposed Internet content regulations, the bill has received little in the way of support from a sceptical industry. Despite a press release from the Minister for Information Technology, Senator Richard Alston, earlier in the week claiming widespread support for the bill, the response from many industry players in the Senate has been decidedly lukewarm. Senate Select Committee on Information Technologies chaired by Senator Jeannie Ferris has been hearing submissions from industry and community groups this week, before it hands down its findings next week. After first coming out with limited support for the bill, the Australian Computer Society has now made a submission to the committee hearing which argued that the bill would be technically difficult to implement. "We are concerned that the Government has unrealistic expectations of what the technology could achieve and believe more time should be spent in discussing this issue before a final resolution on the draft legislation is made," said Mr Freeman, who was supported in his presentation by Tom Worthington, ACS Immediate Past President. Electronic Frontiers Australia has also stepped up its opposition to the legislation, noting that there is widespread dissatisfaction with the proposed bill. According to EFA Executive Director, Darce Cassidy, Alston does not have widespread support for the legislation. "We particularly welcome statements in the Senate by the Labor Party, the Australian Democrats, and the Greens which show that they have not been hoodwinked by the emotive rhetoric accompanying the Bill", Cassidy stated.

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