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Australia
This page
looks at Australian bodies concerned with the management
of the network. It is under construction.
the regime
The Constitution enshrines communications as a federal
responsibility, although some state/territory legislation
(eg on censorship and data protection) complicates any map
of powers and responsibilities.
Broadly, responsibility for policy and legislation
regarding the internet (along with telecommunications and
broadcasting) rests with the Minister for Communications,
Information Technology & the Arts (currently Senator Richard
Alston) - the portmanteau 'content & carriage'
portfolio.
legislative
frameworks
In Australia the primary 'network' legislation
is the Telecommunications Act 1997. It's thinner than the
taxation legislation (you can take it home in a briefcase
rather than a wheelbarrow) but often as indigestible.
It's complemented by the
Commonwealth Broadcasting Services Act 1992.
The Act was amended by the Broadcasting Services
Amendment (Online Services) Act 1999, essentially
through requirements that Australian internet service
providers and content hosts restrict access to offensive
material - ''prohibited internet content'. That content
includes graphics, animation and text.
The expectation is that
Australian states/territories will develop complementary
legislation (similar to that for film, literature and
computer games) regarding publication and transmission of
proscribed content. The Commonwealth Crimes Act
prohibits use of any 'carriage service' - including the
internet - in a way that any reasonable person would
consider offensive.
The new Broadcasting
Services Amendment (Digital Television & Datacasting)
legislation privileges the commercial free-to-air
television networks by imposing restrictions on 'datacasting'
and, many believe, on delivery via the internet of
audiovisual or multimedia content.
The Commonwealth Radiocommunications
Act 1992 and Telecommunications Act 1997 are
administered by the Australian Communications Authority
(ACA) - see below - established by the Australian
Communications Authority Act 1997. The broadcasting
and telecommunications regime emphasises self-regulation
or 'light touch' regulation, although as we've pointed out
elsewhere in these guides some touches are lighter than
others .... particularly if you own a free-to-air
television network.
agencies
Senator Alston's terrain includes
the Department of Communications, Information Technology
& the Arts (DCITA),
the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA)
and the Australian Communications Authority (ACA).
DCITA includes the
National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE)
- established as an independent entity to encourage the
private sector's move online but with underwhelming
results. That's reflected in the recent decision to merge
NOIE with the less glamorous Office of Government
Online (OGO),
concerned with getting the bureaucracy onto the internet.
The ABA has day to day
responsibility for the media regime, dealing with the
Broadcasting Services Act and thus with free-to-air
television and radio (inc. digital broadcasting), pay
television and internet service providers and hosts. The
ACA (formerly Austel, the Australian Telecommunications
Authority) is concerned with telecommunications and thus
oversights the operation of Telstra and its competitors.
A different model is used
in many other countries, with the US for example
integrating ABA and ACA responsibilities within the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
and the UK currently moving towards a single body.
Arguably that's a superior model in an era where we are
concerned with carriage and content; ie where convergence
is eroding traditional demarcations between different
media.
The Commonwealth
Attorney-General's Department (A-G's),
the Australian equivalent of the US Department of Justice,
includes the Office of Film & Literature
Classification (OFLC)
- the former censors office - responsible for the 'R' and
other ratings of proscribed content.
Competition - or
perceptions of the lack of it (Telstra often being
compared to the 800 kilo gorilla within a small cage) - is
of increasing concern to the Australian Competition &
Consumer Commission (ACCC),
the national competition watchdog.
domain naming
The 1997
telecommunications legislation reflected a commitment to
deregulate internet services within Australia, including
for example the introduction of competition in domain name
registration.
The au Domain Administration (auDA)
is a non-government body open those concerned with the
internet industry (we for example are members). It is
conducting reviews of name policy and other matters as the
basis for competition in 2002. Currently name
registration's split between Melbourne IT (a commercial
operator) and ICANN delegate Robert Elz.
The auDA
Name Policy Advisory Panel is
considering .au
domain name eligibility and name allocation policies,
considered by some to be too restrictive (or expensive)
and by others to be insufficiently restrictive.
Its Domain Name Competition
Model Advisory Panel is reviewing
existing .au operations and
overseas best practice, as the basis for a model for the introduction of competition in
the provision of domain name services in .au.
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