The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has released its response to Senate questions it took on notice regarding current operation procedures it uses to act upon when it comes to handling reported prohibited online content.
Yesterday afternoon the ACMA submitted to Parliament its answers to Senate questions regarding numerous practices it undertakes to ensure prohibited content online is dealt with appropriately.
The questions, put to the ACMA by various Senators on February 23rd of this year, were put on notice for the ACMA to come back at a later date to answer.
One of the questions, asked by Greens Party member Senator Ludlam, was whether the ACMA had been referred to any content that was found to be that of “RC – Child – depiction”, and if so, whether it had been reported to the Australian Federal Police or State or Territory police forces.
The ACMA responded by stating that where possible it notified the Country of where the content was hosted.
“In the financial year 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008, ACMA took action on 410 items of prohibited content and potential prohibited content which were hosted outside Australia and which were considered likely to be classified RC in accordance with item 1(b) of the Films Table of the National Classification Code.”
“Of the 410 URLs, 344 URLs were referred to a hotline which is a member of the International Association of Internet Hotlines (INHOPE), for assessment under applicable legislation in the country concerned, and referral to the relevant law enforcement agency in that country, if appropriate.”
“Sixty-six items of content were referred directly to the Australian Federal Police, due to the lack of an INHOPE member hotline in the country in which the content was hosted.”
The ACMA also added that an additional 11 items of prohibited content were hosted in Australia during that period.
“In the same period, a further 11 items of prohibited content which were hosted in Australia, and which the Classification Board classified RC in accordance with item 1(b) of the Films Table of the National Classification Code, were referred to Commonwealth, and State or Territory law enforcement agencies.”
When quizzed by Ludlam about the time frame that ACMA operates by when dealing with prohibited material, the ACMA responded by stating that it acted on material as soon as possible.
“In the case of other Australian hosted content likely to be classified RC, ACMA generally issues an interim take-down notice and asks the Classification Board to classify the content within 2 to 5 working days of receipt of the complaint.”
“As the process for content hosted outside Australia does not require initial consultation with a law enforcement agency or mandate classification of the content by the Classification Board, ACMA is also able to make a decision about and take action on such material within two to five working days in most cases.”
“ACMA must ask the Classification Board to classify all potential prohibited content that is hosted in or provided from Australia.”
“This process generally takes 5 to 10 business days from the date of the request. Complaints about other content hosted outside Australia are generally able to be resolved within five business days.”
The ACMA also responded to claims from Ludlam that suggested from a study that authorities act 150 times faster on bank phishing websites than they do on child sexual abuse websites.
The ACMA saw no relevance in the study as it was conducted overseas.
“ACMA understands that the July 2008 study examined processes undertaken outside Australia.”
“As ACMA is not aware of comparable studies of reporting and take-down processes undertaken outside Australia it is not in a position to advise on such a comparison.”
“ACMA can however provide information on the general timeframes which apply to its processes for dealing with complaints about suspected online depictions on child sexual abuse.”
“Under clause 47 of Schedule 7 to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (BSA) (and prior to 20 January 2008, clause 30 of Schedule 5 to the BSA), if in the course of an investigation ACMA locates online content that is prohibited content (as defined by clause 20 of Schedule 7 to the BSA) or potential prohibited content (as defined by clause 21 of Schedule 7 to the BSA) hosted in Australia, it must direct the host to take-down the content or otherwise take action to ensure that it is not prohibited content.”
“A person who is given such a notice by ACMA must comply with the notice as soon as practicable, and in any event by 6.00 pm on the next business day, after the notice was given to the provider.”
“Since 1 January 2000, ACMA has directed the take-down of 372 items of prohibited content hosted in Australia.”
“In all cases the content host, hosting service provider or links service provider has complied with the notice within the required timeframe.”
Many other questions were asked and are available for download online,
Some quick interesting facts:
- The ACMA revealed that it currently staffs close to 600 people on an ongoing basis and hires 26 temporary staff.
- According to the ACMA 1122 complaints about online content were received during the period 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008.
- Forty-six of those complaints were anonymous and did not contain contact details.
- Complaints containing contact details in the form of a contact email address came from 740 unique email addresses.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) yesterday demanded Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) remove a link to an abortion website from their blog, stating it would fine them $11,000 per day if not removed.
The document, issued by the ACMA to EFA’s hosting provider yesterday, explained that it was a final link-deletion notice, and if they did not comply by 6PM next business day their hosting provider, Sublime IP, would be fined $11,000 per day.
Speaking with Mark Newton, an IT expert, Tech Wired understands that a final-link deletion notice must be sent to the Classification Board for it to be “final”.
The decision from the Classification Board, available online, overruled the ACMA’s initial decision of the content being “refused classification”. The Classification Board instead deemed the content as being R18+ of which is also “prohibited content” and in turn blocked.
As seen in March of this year, Whirlpool, a Broadband discussion forum, received an interim link-deletion notice from the ACMA.
It is understood by Tech Wired that Whirlpool’s hosting provider, Bullet Proof Networks, received a final link-deletion notice last week.
Colin Jacobs, a representative for the EFA outlined in a blog post that this should alarm Australians.
“…the link was part of a political discussion about the merits of the existing and future Internet censorship policies,” he wrote.
“Nevertheless, we were forced to remove the link on pain of severe penalties.” he added.
Tech Wired was reminded of what Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy said at the ALIA Online conference on January 20th.
“…there has never been any suggestion that the Australian Government would seek to block political content.”
This decision by the Classification Board is sure to spark another chapter in the debate of whether blocking political content through ISP-level filtering is right or wrong.
Tech Wired has interviewed Professor Alan Knight, you can listen here.
It’s all about who you ask when it comes to newspapers dying, especially in Australia. When 200 journalism students were surveyed at Queensland University of Technology asking what their main source of news was, it certainly seemed the case of a dying era for newspapers.
Professor Alan Knight of QUT found that 90 per cent of students do not like reading the newspaper, preferring commercial television and online news.
“More than 90 per cent of the respondents were aged under 21 and many of these want-to-be journalists don’t read newspapers,” said Professor Knight of Queensland University of Technology.
He points out that the survey was not aimed particularly aimed at journalism students, but those in the age bracket of 17 to 19 years.
Mr Knight told Tech Wired that the results were not surprising, but had this to say:
“On the web anyone can say anything they like, which is why so much material on the web is rubbish”
When questioned about a recent ACMA survey that found the Internet as Australia’s most trusted medium Alan replied:
“Good luck with that”
When asked where these journalism students were heading if newspapers were not their main source he replied:
“Commercial TV, of which is not the best source at all I’d have to say, but they’re heading away from newspapers,”
“I guess the point of this study was to see if 17, 18 and 19 year olds were reading newspapers”
Professor Alan Knight will be publishing his full report in July.
Flickr user etrusia_uk
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has today released a new report titled Australian household consumers’ take-up and use of voice communication services.
The report supposedly confirms that… “young Australians are increasingly choosing not to connect a fixed line phone when moving out of their parental home, relying instead on mobile technology”
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has agreed to the introduction of a short recorded voice announcement (RVA) for the Triple Zero (000) emergency call service.
The short RVA, to be introduced today, will say:
‘You have dialled emergency Triple Zero. Your call is being connected.’
Callers will hear the message before being connected to an operator. Read more
THE Australian Communications and Media Authority has issued a formal warning to Hyarchis Company Limited (who run such services such as ezyfriends.net NSFW) for alleged breaches of the Spam Act 2003.
INTERNET Service Provider Dodo got a slap on the wrist last week with a $147,400 fine from ACMA.
For what reason you might ask?
Dodo thought they would get sneaky and get an overseas call centre to make calls on their behalf.
Read more
WEBSITE http://greypag.es has recently stepped out from the shadows, to help you fill that void that the White pages just won’t, but is it legal?
THE Australian Communications Media Authority has released it’s latest report of 6 on the topic of Australian Internet activity and content.
The report outlines how the Internet is being used more within Australian households with over 6.21 million active households in Australia at the end of June 2008 having access to some sort of Internet connection.
Number of internet households, March 2003 to June 2008 [ACMA Report]
