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.
TRYING to get all perspectives on the Internet filter regime, I’ve had the opportunity to interview another interested party regarding the proposed Australian Internet Filter, the Electronic Frontiers Australia.
I spoke with Colin Jacobs of whom is representing them as Internet censorship spokesman.
I have transcribed the interview as best as I can below:
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