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.
No frills ISP (Internet Service Provider) Exetel announced on the 28th of April that they would start trialling a mandatory content filtering system. Yesterday afternoon it was announced by the company that the trial was a success and that there was no impact on Internet access to non blocked sites for any Exetel user.
In what came as shock to some end users of the ISP, they decided they would temporarily filter “illegal content” for a period of 1 week as a trial to see whether ISP-level filtering was feasible.
In a forum post from a representative from the company it was warned that it would not be responsible for “moral obligations” or the “right to free-speech”.
This is not a discussion about what it right or wrong about the content filtering, the filter list, or our trial of it. You should use other forums for that – preferably those run by the government.
The company represenatative also added that those wishing to complain should write to their local MP and promise not to vote Labor at the next election.
Any opinions or comments relating to your personal views on government filtering should be directed to your local MP along with your promise that you will not vote Labor at the next election (comments unrelated to actual technical experiences will be deleted from this thread).
The company concluded with the following summary:
This is the result summary:
- 20,000 active hits against the filter list
- no false positives
- no measurable impact on any Exetel router
- no impact on Internet access to non blocked sites for any Exetel user
- there were 56 problems reported that users attributed to the filter trial, each on investigation was a ‘harbour tunnel’ effect
- three people threatened to cancel their Exetel service(s) because of the trial
We were able to determine:
- how we could implement a mandatory non user optional filter system with very little/no disruption
- how we could implement a mandatory user optional filter system with very little/no disruption
- that we could offer a ‘clean feed’ filter system now, as a user pays option (similar to the spam filter) for a price of $5 per month per user
- the cost of a mandatory, non optional filter system would be in the order of $6 per year per user
Nick Minchin, Shadow Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has told Tech Wired that he remains defensive of the Governments 42 billion dollar National Broadband Network after Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, addressed the Nation on Tuesday last week at the National Press Club.
Speaking at the National Press Club on Tuesday last week, Senator Stephen Conroy said that the opposition had failed to invest in Nation-building broadband infrastructure.
“We should not be surprised that the Opposition fails to grasp the importance of this nation-building initiative,” said Senator Stephen Conroy.
“After all, they failed to undertake critical infrastructure investment for 12 long years,” he said.
Speaking with a spokesperson for the Shadow Minister, Tech Wired was told that this was absolute nonsense.
“He (Senator Stephen Conroy) has promised us the world, but delivered very little,” the spokesperson said.
When asked if Opposition believed that Senator Conroy was copying them with the offering of wireless services for the 10 percent not included in the FTTP (Fibre to the Premise) build, they agreed.
“We took to the election to deliver wireless services for the last-mile,”
“Conroy is now building a model very similar to that of our, now scrapped, OPEL plan.”
Responding to Senator Conroy’s latest announcment of “fast-tracking” backhaul around Australia, Tech Wired was told by the Shadow Minister’s spokesperson that under their scrapped OPEL plan they would’ve rolled out a large amount of backhaul.
“Under our OPEL plan 15,000 kilometres of new back haul was going to be rolled out,” the spokesperson said.
The Shadow Minister himself, Senator Nick Minchin, told Tech Wired in a brief phone interview that he remained sceptical as to why the Government won’t release their report conducted by the expert panel as to why the Government brought forward the decision to build a FTTP network.
When informed about Tech Wired’s failed attempt at retrieving the NBN expert panel report under FOI (Freedom of Information) laws before the NBN announcement, Minchin said that he knew about it and was currently looking at possible ways to retrieve the report now that the announcement is complete and the Government continues to refuse access to it.
“We’re having a look at it,” Nick Minchin told Tech Wired.
“We’ll be looking at all the opportunities available in the Senate to get those reports,” he said.
“It’s pretty outrageous to abandon its (the Government’s) first policy and expect the Parliament to support it without any evidence,” he added.
His spokesperson told us that they believed the government was hiding something.
“The assumption we would make is that there is something to hide,” the spokesperson said.
The Government released all but a summary from the expert panel report, which we known consists of 913 pages thanks to the FOI application.
“They only released a 3 page extract that tells us bugger all,” Minchin responded in our phone interview.
When asked if the Opposition would accept the Government’s report if commercial interests were redacted, they said yes.
“If there is some particular part that needs to be blacked out, we don’t mind,” the spokesperson said.
The Opposition is also asking the Government to release coverage maps of where the FTTP network will be rolled out.
“We’ve called on them (the Government) to release coverage maps as we’re getting a lot of angst from rural Australia that they’re going to miss out,” the spokesperson for Minchin said.
Responding to Tech Wired’s request for comment, the Department for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy issued the following statement:
The Government has released the observations of the expert panel in an extract from the evaluation report.
The remainder of the expert panel’s report contains confidential commercial information so will not be released.
The ACCC report also contains confidential information.
The Minister has asked the Department to ascertain whether or not there may be aspects of the ACCC report suitable for release.
- Government puts out request for potential tenders for a lead advisory role in the NBN implementation
- It consists of a two-stage selection process
- Role may go to a consortium of companies or people
Late Friday afternoon saw government tender documents released for a lead advisory role for the National Broadband Network (NBN) implementation study.
The documents, put forward by the Department of Broadband Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE), are a Request for Expressions of Interest (REOI) for the provision of lead advisory services relating to the implementation study.
The purpose of the REOI, consisting of 39 pages, is to compile a shortlist of respondents who are “able to demonstrate their ability to provide the required services to the required standard.”
Once respondents are shortlisted they will then be invited to participate in the Request for Tender (RFT) process.
The DBCDE has outlined in the documents that only those with “relevant experience” in lead advisory services will be considered.
“Only Respondents with relevant experience and expertise in providing Lead Advisory services relating to large complex transactions or projects, over a tight timeframe should respond,” the document stated.
The closing date for expressions of willingness to tender to the advisory role is May 19th, with the government hoping to finalise those who expressed their tender by June 16th.
“It is envisaged that the successful Tenderers(s) will commence work on the NBN implementation study immediately after the selection process is completed, subject to the conclusion of suitable contractual arrangements with the Department.”
“Responses to the REOI will be evaluated to compile a shortlist of prospective service providers able to demonstrate that they have the capability to perform the required tasks.”
In conducting the evaluation of EOIs the government has stated that the following criteria will be assessed:
- Service delivery and management;
- capability;
- capacity;
- probity and accountability;
- and financial viability.
It has also been made clear that the DBCDE may not just hire one person or company, stating in its request that multiple tenders may apply as one.
Just who is applying remains unknown, and whether the government will remain “open and transparent” in the RFT process is also unknown.
This article is continuously being updated
The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, today announced that Optus will participate in the Australian Government’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) filtering pilot.
Senator Stephen Conroy outlined the process as being evidence-based.
“The participation of Optus will help ensure the Government obtains robust results from the pilot, which will inform the evidence-based development of our ISP filtering policy.”
This news comes after iiNet withdrew from the trial process.
Optus have released Q & A info on their website.
Tech Wired have been given the following information:
Gary Smith, General Manager of Regulatory Compliance at Optus said:
- Optus has been accepted into the Governments’ ISP filtering Pilot, due to begin on 22 May 2009.
- The trial will last for approximately six weeks.
- An area covering Sydney/Newcastle will be used for the trial.
- Residential customers in the chosen area will be eligible to participate.
- Customers can opt-out of the trial, even after it starts.
- Communication via email to customers will be issued from 22 April, 2009.
- Optus is participating in order to accurately gauge the effectiveness of filtering and the impact on its network, including download speeds and customer experience.
- Participation will be strictly limited to filtering ONLY the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) blacklist which contains URLs of prohibited content.
Maha Krishnapillai Director of Government and Corporate Affairs at Optus said:
“Optus has always been a strong advocate of promoting the safety and wellbeing of our customers online, in particular families.
Our participation in the ISP filter pilot is further proof of our commitment to explore ways in which Optus can contribute to the protection of families, and their safe use of the internet.
We are looking forward to working with Government on this initiative, and to better understand the implications of internet filtering.
Additionally, as an IIA accredited Family Friendly ISP, Optus informs customers of how they can obtain a content filter which they can download onto their home computer.
The telecommunications industry must be able to demonstrate that using the internet can be as easy, safe and secure as possible – especially for families using the internet to live, work and play.
Optus believes the best way to accurately gauge the impact that this type of filtering may have on our network -including download speeds and customer experience – is to play a proactive role in the pilot.”
The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy announced yesterday the introduction of the Get Ready for Digital TV awareness campaign.
Starting Sunday April 5th the government will begin airing television and radio advertisements as well as distributing point of sale brochures and hardware labels in preparing people to ‘get ready’ for the switchover to digital television.
The Senator stated that this was a milestone event in Australia’s transition to digital television, saying that:
“Digital television switchover is our biggest national format change since the swap to decimal currency, and it’s important that Australia get ready,”
The Minister stated that the switchover would mean new content, better sound and vision as well as the ability for broadcasters to use additional features.
When asked whether the government would consider subsidising set-top boxes the Minister stated that there was a pilot underway in Mildura, the first place to undergo the switchover treatment, to evaluate whether funding would be required.
“We’re going to see whether it works,” He said
Some community broadcasters are worried they’ll be left behind when it comes to the switchover. The Minister said that they wont, assuring:
“There are a whole range of technical issues, it’s not just money, it’s technical issues, and we’ve been working for a while trying to resolve those,”
“I can’t speculate what’s in the budget, but we are not forgetting community TV,”
The switchover is expected to be complete by the end of 2013.
Senator Stephen Conroy from Ben Grubb on Vimeo.
Tech Wired attended the Get Ready for Digital TV Conference
Today saw news that the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) had its blacklist URLs leaked on Wikileaks, a website often known for leaking secret documents.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported it exclusively at 11:44am this morning, stating that:
“The Australian communications regulator’s top-secret blacklist of banned websites has been leaked on to the web and paints a harrowing picture of Australia’s forthcoming internet censorship regime.”
In less than an hour after publication, Wikileaks published some 2,000+ URLs to its website stating they were blacklisted URLs in Australia for the month of August 2008. Wikileaks is currently offline, suggesting it fell on its back after being linked to from various sources.
Late this afternoon Senator Stephen Conroy and the ACMA issued 2 separate statements regarding the matter.
Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy condemned the reported leak and publication of the list, stating:
“The leak and publication of prohibited URLs is grossly irresponsible. It undermines efforts to improve cyber–safety and create a safe online environment for children,”
He denied that the list of leaked URLs was that of the ACMA Blacklist, stating:
“I am aware of reports that a list of URLs has been placed on a web site. This is not the ACMA blacklist.”
ACMA said in a statement:
“ACMA has previously investigated and taken action on material—including child pornography and child sexual abuse images—at some of the sites on this list of 2300 URLs. However, the list provided to ACMA differs markedly in length and format to the ACMA blacklist. The ACMA blacklist has at no stage been 2300 URLs in length and at August 2008 consisted of 1061 URLs. It is therefore completely inaccurate to say that the list of 2300 URLs constitutes an ACMA blacklist”
What remains to be seen is if the regulator’s official blacklist was in fact leaked. What is known though is that a blacklist of some sort relating to URLs that do exist on the ACMA blacklist list was leaked. One has to ask how such a leak occurred.
Mark Newton, a Network Engineer for Adelaide based ISP Internode told Tech Wired:
“It’s interesting that I’ve been warning about security of the blacklist for close to a year, and it’s only today that the Minister has shown the slightest bit of interest in it. The fact that the blacklist appears to have come from an ACMA-approved filtering software package comes as no great shock, and I guess that means the Internet Industry Association can expect an apology for Minister Conroy’s slur this afternoon suggesting that the list could be made more secure by beefing up the IIA Family Friendly ISP scheme”
A user on Australian Broadband forum Whirlpool did an analysis on one of the governments defunct Net Alert funded filtering products, Integard. The user found a file using reverse engineering techniques to obtain a file named “Websites_ACMA.txt” within the programs architecture.
He found that there were similar URLs on the blacklist when comparing it to the Wikileaks list:
“It’s not the wikileaks list (it’s a month earlier I think) but it sure is similar…and that’s as far as I’m willing to look.”
The user’s post has since been deleted by moderators of Whirlpool as being inappropriate.
ABC did a story on Lateline about the leak, you can watch below:
Senator Stephen Conroy Media Release
Steve Dalby, iiNet's Chief Regulatory Officer
After talks with iiNet’s Chief Regulatory Officer, Steve Dalby, iiNet has agreed to cover the costs for Tech Wired Australia to continue to pursue the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) under the Freedom of Information Act for documents it wont release before tendering, relating to the Nation’s National 4.7 billion dollar Broadband Network.
Tech Wired today learned that the Australian Government will release its secret National Broadband Network Report if paid fees of up to $3,631.99.
Just yesterday we reported on the progress of a Freedom of Information application put forward by Tech Wired to the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE). Today we received confirmation of certain costs to go forward. Read more
With the National Broadband Network a hot topic at the moment, Senators in Parliament are starting to worry that Senator Stephen Conroy won’t deliver. Read more
